Ohio college to mark 50th anniversary of MLK talk

DAYTON, Ohio — An Ohio college will hold a series of events to mark the 50th anniversary of hosting a speech by the late civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The University of Dayton on Tuesday will offer a discussion and readings from the Nov. 29, 1964, speech in UD’s Fieldhouse arena. King spoke to more than 6,000 people on race relations in America, nonviolence and the power of unconditional love.

A local pastor helped arrange King’s visit. The visit came just days before King accepted the Nobel Peace Prize at age 35. King was assassinated less than four years later.

The university says a pro- fessor emeritus, Herbert Martin, had the only known audio recording of the Dayton speech. He donated it to the university after a filmmaker working on a documentary found it in a box in Martin’s garage. Martin will read speech excerpts Dec. 2.

Other teachers will discuss changes over the last 50 years in key issues addressed by King such as racial segregation and poverty.

“In his speech, Dr. King noted that progress towards achieving civil rights has come ‘a long, long way,’ but still had ‘a long, long way to go,’ “said Patty Alvarez, assistant dean of students and director of multicultural affairs. “This event will commemorate his historic visit to campus and explore where there is work yet to be done on a variety of social justice issues.”