On today, one of the most significant dates in U.S. history, especially as it relates to events involving civil rights and Black Americans, the Young, Black & Giving Back Institute (YBGB) is promoting financial giving for black-led and black-benefiting nonprofits. It’s the perfect day to give in honor of the anniversary of the brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955, the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963, and then-Senator Barack Obama becoming the first Black person to accept a major-party nomination for president in 2008. The year 2020 marks the third year of YBGB’s efforts and comes at an important time as the current movement for racial justice highlights the importance of investing in the leaders working directly in our communities. You can give at Give828.
Speaking of memorable events on August 28. On this day 67 years ago—August 28, 1963—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. This speech, arguably one of the most famous and powerful speeches of all time, was just as important in 1963 as it is now. With the dream of a nation united and just, Dr. King was fighting for a cause that is still being fought for today.
Just four months after Dr. King gave his famous speech, and only four weeks after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. King came to Kalamazoo to deliver another speech at Western Michigan University (WMU). Although it wasn’t a well-known speech that he gave on the evening of December 18, 1963, Dr. King covered a lot of ground in the WMU Read Field House in front of an estimated 2,000 people. This speech is now known as MLK’s “lost” Kalamazoo speech because the recording of the speech was “lost” for almost 30 years, only to be rediscovered in 1997 after being stored in a basement.
The context of the Kalamazoo speech is largely similar to the context of the “I Have a Dream” speech. Then, the country was in the most important year of the civil rights struggle, and Dr. King, a leader of the movement, was advocating for the passage of civil rights laws in Congress. “We’re challenged, after working in the realm of ideas, to move out into the arena of social action and to work passionately and unrelentingly to make racial justice a reality,” said Dr. King in Kalamazoo that evening. Read the full transcript of the speech here or learn more about this historic occasion for our community.
