Importance of recognizing Kings speech

Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights activist, visited Saint Joseph’s University on Oct. 26, 1967 as part of a speaker series organized by the student government to speak to students, faculty and staff along with community members about racial and economic injustices and desegregation.

This year, St. Joe’s is commemorating the 50th anniversary of King’s visit to campus to show the importance of the event as part of St. Joe’s history and as a memory that is not to be forgotten.

“Part of it really is the fact that it is an important time in history,” said Chris Dixon, the Archival Research Librarian. “The 1960s were a time with the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. A lot of things were happening in this country and ways Dr. King in some ways was probably a representation of what was going on in the country.”

King led the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-50s and 60s as a powerful speaker focusing on non-violent ways. His work allowed African American voices to be heard in a time when they felt no one was listening. James Mingle ’68 was the student government president at the time of King’s visit who organized the event along with Ralph Kates ’68, lecture chairman, and Dennis Foreman ’68, activities chairman.

“We ran an entire lecture program and we were trying to get notable leaders in different fields and so Martin Luther King was one of three or four folks,” Mingle said. “He was a towering leader back then, highly affective and intellectual and succeeding against incredible odds and we wanted to hear him speak about civil rights and what was accomplished and what still needed to be done.”

The committee wanted King to speak as he was an important leader in the nation. They wanted the community to understand what he was advocating for and why he was doing it.

“To listen to a such an intellectual leader speak about such an important issue on civil rights at such a critical time it was very timely and we thought the community could learn a tremendous amount from him as to how they went about it and what needs to be done to continue the Civil Rights Movement at the time,” Mingle said.

Mingle was fortunate enough to meet King before he spoke and believes that King was humble and unassuming.

“Giving this 50 minute speech without notes, he had no notes whatsoever,” Mingle said. “Speaking so eloquently and powerfully about issues and about how far we’ve come and how long we still have to go. It was a marvelous speech. Not only what he said but he said it with such forced authority.”

In order to tell the story of when King came to campus, Dixon created an exhibit that explains why King came, what he said, and people’s reactions to his visit.

“It has taken some time to pull the exhibit together and to kind of get it so it flows and it tells a bit of a story,” Dixon said. “I tried not to give much more narration than what’s actually in the news release and the articles because they can speak for themselves.”

Dixon wanted to create a timeline with the exhibit, starting with the press release announcing King was coming to campus and ending with an article from 1986 with King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

“It was basically kind of saying here we have this important person coming to speak here who was rather controversial at the time and maybe going back and saying we now look at Dr. King 50 years later maybe a little bit differently than when we looked at him in that time frame,” Dixon said.

Mingle gives credit to the university for commemorating King’s visit and recognizing its importance in the school’s history.

“You have to think back he comes in October at the end of ’67 and five months later Dr. King is assassinated in April of 1968,” Mingle said. “Obviously there is no way of knowing that this was going to happen but this is a speech that he gave and there weren’t many more that he gave after the St. Joe’s speech so to commemorate a great American leader who was struck down just a few months later is something that I credit the university on doing.”

Mingle thinks there is a lot for St. Joe’s to learn and understand from King’s powerful words, even today.

“To spotlight not only his coming to St. Joe’s but also underscoring what he said in his powerful speech and the current students to remember and commemorate such an important national leader and understand what Dr. King faced and what he and his team were able to accomplish,” Mingle said. “It’s an extraordinary history lesson.”