College to mark 50th anniversary of King talk

Associated Press

DAYTON

An Ohio college will have 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 professor 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 Tuesday.

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