"A man in Wichita, Gerald Norwood, called to see if I was interested in a program from Martin Luther King's funeral or a copy of King's 'Letter from Birmingham Jail,'" Crawford said. "We got to talking, and when I mentioned that we didn't have any audio from King's speech at K-State in 1968, he said, 'I think I know someone who does.'"
"I listened to Dr. King's message, which was superb as usual," Vesey said. "Shortly thereafter, I called KFH radio in Wichita and asked if I could get a copy. In those days when I heard a great speech, if there was any chance at all to acquire it, I did so. The net result was that I received two reel-to-reel tapes of Dr. King's message."
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Vesey has had the tapes in his personal library since 1968. But when the tape is played at K-State's MLK Fellowship Luncheon Thursday, Jan. 27, it will be the first time in more than 40 years that the speech is heard again at the university.
"The whereabouts of the tape has always been a mystery, a missing piece of history and King's legacy here at K-State," Crawford said. "Recently I had a lightbulb moment that maybe it had been destroyed in the fire."
Crawford is referring to a Dec. 13, 1968, fire that gutted Nichols Hall. The act of arson is believed to have been the work of anti-war protestors. The home of the music department at the time, Nichols Hall also housed the university radio station, KSAC, and the student-run station, KSDB. Crawford surmises that any audio recording of King's speech that had been saved may have been lost then.
"For years I've been saying that it's mind-boggling that there wasn't a recording of the event," said Myra Gordon, associate provost for diversity and dual career development. "Even though it was in the '60s it was incomprehensible to me that it wouldn't have been recorded in some way. We've been blessed by the revelations of more information and more artifacts that help tell the whole story of Dr. King's historic visit to K-State, now including this tape."
The speech was recorded Sept. 12, 1962, at the Park-Sheraton Hotel in New York City, where Gov. Nelson Rockefeller had convened his state Civil War Centennial Commission. It was delivered at a dinner celebrating the 100-year anniversary of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
King originally had a conflict that night, but Rockefeller enticed him by donating money to rebuild black churches that had been destroyed by arson in Georgia, said Jennifer Lemak, senior historian at the museum.
During the talk, King previewed many of the themes he would return to the following year in his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington.
"The Negro will never cease his struggle to commemorate the Emancipation Proclamation by making his emancipation real," King said that day. "If enough Americans in numbers and influence join him, the nation we both labored to build may yet realize its glorious dream."
In the 26-minute speech, King spoke of the inequality that African Americans still faced in the 1960s. He discussed the history and importance of the Emancipation Proclamation and its failures to truly free African Americans and create equality:
Enoch Squires, a former radio reporter in Schenectady who became a research associate for Rockefeller's commission, recorded the event's speeches. His widow donated nearly 400 of his recordings to the New York State Museum in 1979, but King's speech went undiscovered until late last year.
"I encourage you all to listen to Dr. King's words and to reflect on this seminal moment in our nation's history," New York's state education commissioner, John King, said in the exhibition's video. "As you'll hear in his final remarks that night in 1962, Dr. King knew that progress had been made in the struggle for civil rights but there was still so much work to be done."
"This audio recording allows us to experience the real power and courage of Dr. King's speech as he delivered it back in 1962," John King said in a statement. The state Education Department oversees the museum. 152ee80cbc
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