The legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., one of Boston University’s most celebrated alumni, was on full display Wednesday night at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center in Mugar Memorial Library.
About 40 people braved the snow to attend the seminar, which focused on the Civil Rights Movement and King, who earned his doctorate from the BU School of Theology in 1955.
The HGARC staff displayed more than 83,000 artifacts from BU’s King collection, allowing visitors to explore a visual representation of King’s role in the Civil Rights Movement.
Ryan Hendrickson, the assistant director for manuscripts at the HGARC, chose the night’s displayed material. He said he wanted to show not just King, but specifically his role within the Civil Rights Movement.
“I wanted to focus [the documents] around events, not handwritten stuff as much because it’s harder to read,” Hendrickson said. “We wanted to make this more user friendly.”
Attendees were able to access six tables full of primary documents. The display included artifacts from when King was a student at BU, his 1959 trip to India, the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Hendrickson showcased blue books full of King’s writings, along with essays for Harold DeWolf, his mentor and professor. He praised King’s involvement with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which he called “ground zero of the Civil Rights Movement.”
Full text copies of King’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech and the “I have a dream” speech were also on display.
Those observing the documents were able to see the significance of King’s legacy, for both BU and our nation, up close.
“It’s fascinating to see [that] my university has such a historic person as an alumnus,” said College of Communication freshman Kendall Croutier.
Despite the statue dedicated to him in Marsh Plaza and a sign with his image by the College of Arts and Sciences, Croutier said she still thinks students need to know more about him.
CAS freshman Sua Morales agrees that BU students do not have enough appreciation for King.
“I have a feeling that others, including myself, feel that what he did is no longer practical and relevant,” Morales said. “We take how we live today for granted.”
Morales said she thought it was “crazy” to imagine a young King writing his graduate essays when he was her age.
College of General Studies sophomore Brandon Wood said he felt a connection to the doodles he saw while flipping through King’s journals.
“I do that too,” Wood said. “I wish BU did more to embrace him. He’s my hero and he [played] a huge role in me wanting to come to BU.”
Another speaker, STH professor Walter Earl Fluker who studies King and ethical relationship, said he believes there should be no limit to how much King can be appreciated at BU and in the United States.
“We can engage his legacy and ask important questions of what he did for society and recognize him more as a global citizen,” Fluker said.
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