Christine King Farris dared the Boston University community to continue her brother Martin Luther King Jr.’s social change efforts as part of the inaugural Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Lecture Friday.
Farris, the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center’s first Martin Luther King Jr. Fellow, spoke to more than 150 attendees in Boston University’s Metcalf Hall in honor of the reopening of her brother’s files, which have been sealed for more than two years.
‘I challenge you to dedicate your lives to social change and to fulfilling my brother’s dream by creating a universal health care system, providing multinational aid to whoever needs it and ending homelessness,’ Farris, a professor of education and director of the Learning Resources Center at Spelman College, said.
Farris described her brother in his college years as a sharp dresser and an excellent jitterbug dancer who would frequently attend parties. Despite her brother’s highly social nature, Farris said King took his studies at BU very seriously.’
‘His time at BU was possibly his greatest period of academic growth and achievement,’ Farris said. ‘I was proud that he was surrounded by great scholars.’
Her brother began to formulate his ideas of a nonviolent campaign for civil rights when he attended an off-campus lecture about Mahatmas Gandhi, Farris said. She also emphasized the role the King family had on shaping his ideals.
Farris, who attended every sit-in, demonstration and rally with her brother, also discussed the roles of women throughout the civil rights movement, emphasizing Coretta Scott King, who always courageously supported her husband.
She included anecdotes of her own personal struggles, including when Georgia University paid for her entire Columbia University tuition, fees and travel expenses in order to keep their own institution segregated.
‘For that and that alone, I am thankful for segregation,’ Farris said.
Poet Nikki Giovanni, whose own files are archived at HGARC, introduced Farris by presenting the audience with a metaphor. She compared Farris to a baby elephant whose family gets captured by poachers, but she continues to tell the family’s history.
HGARC Research Intern Christina Thompson said the King files contain the largest collection of primary documents about him, including over 83,000 documents, letters and photographs.
Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore said the opportunities for archival research with King’s works were one of the reasons he chose to study at BU.
‘A big reason why I decided to study here as a graduate student was because of the opportunities to do archival research on Dr. King and because he was an alumnus of this institution,’ he said.
College of Communication freshman Paige Buckley said that as an MLK Scholar, she is very excited to be able to learn more from Dr. King’s files. The MLK Scholarship is a full, four-year, merit-based scholarship offered to a select number of incoming BU students.
‘I felt honored to be in the same room even as such an incredible woman,’ Buckley said. ‘I almost felt a tremendous pressure to live up to whatever expectations she may have, as I was awarded a scholarship bearing her brother’s name.’
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