Listen to Speech Martin Luther King Jr. Gave at Grinnell College in October 1967

Jan 19, 2018

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr at lecturn with stained glass window behind him

Grinnell College will commemorate the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by hosting a listening event on Tuesday, Jan. 23, the day after classes start for the spring semester.

It will be the first time in 50 years that it will be possible to listen to the audio recording of the speech King gave in the College’s Darby Gym on Oct. 29, 1967. King was on campus for a convocation and received an honorary degree.

The listening event, which is free and open to the public, will start at 7 p.m. in Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center, Room 101. A brief reflection and reception will follow at 8 p.m.

King's speech was titled “Remaining Awake Through A Revolution."

“The ideas put forth by Dr. King in this speech have never been more relevant than they are today,” says Grinnell College President Raynard S. Kington.

“The nation still struggles in 2018 with the same challenges identified by Dr. King,” adds Barbara Trish, professor of political science and director of the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations and Human Rights, sponsor of the listening event. “I suspect listeners of all ages will think about images from their own lives — and from recent developments in the nation — while listening to the words from 1967. “

On the day of his speech, bad weather delayed King’s arrival. He was introduced by Benjamin Mays, president of Morehouse College and a mentor to King. Following his speech, King had to return to Birmingham, Alabama, immediately to begin serving his 19th jail sentence for his involvement in the civil rights movement.

Billionaire Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and his late wife, Susie, attended King’s speech at Grinnell at the invitation of Joe Rosenfield ’25, who served for 59 years as a member of the Grinnell College Board of Trustees. Buffett joined the Board of Trustees in 1968 and worked closely with Rosenfield to increase the College’s endowment.

“That was one of the most inspiring speeches I’ve ever heard. Took me right out of my seat,” Buffett said in the HBO documentary “Becoming Warren Buffett.”

“In that speech, he talked about ‘truth forever on the scaffold, long forever on the throne, but that scaffold sways the future.’ Well, he was going to be dead in six months, but that scaffold did sway the future,” Buffett added.

The Rosenfield Program is joined by several co-sponsoring organizations: the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Office of Intercultural Affairs, and Burling Library Special Collections and Archives.