Auction Is Canceled As King Papers Go To College
Yes, sometimes things do work out in a way that makes you breathe a sigh of relief:
An agreement has been reached to allow thousands of papers from the estate of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior to remain in his hometown in the southeastern United States. The collection of handwritten documents was to have been auctioned in less than one week.A group of influential black citizens, including former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, arranged to purchase the personal papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. for $32 million.
The papers had been scheduled for auction at Sotheby’s in New York later this month. David Redden, Sotheby’s vice chairman, said the collection included drafts of Mr. King’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize and the famous “I Have A Dream” speech he delivered in Washington in 1963. “They really are remarkable, wonderful, and important and moving documents and I’m so thrilled that you will have them in Atlanta,” he said.
I visited Atlanta some years ago, on one of my vacations while I was a staff writer on the San Diego Union and went to as many sites connected with MLK, Jr. as I could. It has been a wrenching experience the past few weeks thinking that King’s papers could vanish into private collections. That surely was NOT what he would have wanted — and it would not have been a suitable way to perpetuate his memory and vital legacy. MORE:
The collection also includes Mr. King’s personal library of about one thousand books. It will be given to Morehouse College in Atlanta, where King graduated in 1948. Morehouse is the nation’s largest private liberal-arts college for black men.
That’s a wonderful ending to this dramatic historical saga. His papers will stay in town, in one place, for visitors and locals. And his papers will serve as an inspiration — in a place where the inspiration could have an important impact.
6 Responses to “Auction Is Canceled As King Papers Go To College”
Martin was a hero for all of Humanity.
Thank You Joe for inspiring me to do some reading on this subject.
How did his papers end upon the auction block in the first place? Did the family sell his legacy?
His legacy was for all mankind to share. What a shame that mere money could take it away.
This was some awsome news. King’s papers are for all to read, and learn from, and I’m glad Morehouse is going to be the recipient of the documents. They should be for the public, and housed in Atlanta for all time.
Diane, I think the King family suffered the same next-generation malaise as many publically important dynasties do.
Heroism doesn’t breed true; the offspring of heroes are likelier to be regular folks, or regular organization men (and women), than trailblazers. That’s particularly true in a society, like ours, which has collectively decided that freedom grows neither from the barrel of a gun nor from collective action by idealists, but from a well-padded bank account.
MLK Jr.’s kids heard that message. Considering the country they live in, I can’t entirely blame them. But I’m very glad there were enough people with enough passion – and enough money – to rescue King’s legacy and preserve it for all of us.
Hey, give the King falimy a break. The Kenedy’s have money, wheres the outcry when JFK’s memobilia is put on the auction block. A group put together all the money and everyone won this time.
IIRC correctly, it was *Jackie* Kennedy’s memorabilia that was put up for sale – and the proceeds went to charity, BTW.
JFK’s, and RFK’s, are both available in the libraries named for them.
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TITLE: Auction Is Canceled As King Papers Go To College
BLOG NAME: Booker Rising
And Joe Gandelman over at The Moderate Voice is relieved. The moderate-liberal blogger writes:”I visited Atlanta some years ago, on one of my vacations while I was a staff writer on the San Diego Union and went to as many sites connected with MLK, Jr…
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TITLE: King’s Papers at Morehouse
BLOG NAME: Cobb
I am quite pleased that the appropriate millions were found and that this important set of documents will have a secure institutional home. We can only hope that when my kids are old enough to read them, the spiderwebs will have been kept at bay, which was a bit much to ask of their previous caretakers.