beyond the green

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Every year Bethel College has some type of celebration in honor of Dr. King. This year was a very special celebration. The whole celebration centered around the speech that Dr. King presented on this campus in Memorial Hall about 50 years ago. Bethel was able to locate an audio copy of the speech that Dr. King spoke and professionally restored it along with getting the speech transcribed so all can have access to it.

Follow up:

I went to the presentation of the speech. It was AMAZING! Dr. King was a fabulous public speaker. I felt very honored to have been able to hear him speak, let alone the very speech that was presented on this campus. When Dr. King came to Bethel, I believe, it was before he became the front runner for the Civil Rights movement. And, to me, that is just amazing that Bethel was able to have him here on campus to speak before the Civil Rights movement really got heated.

I will never forget that day because hearing one of Dr. King’s entire speeches is pretty monumental. He has a face in history and I admire everything he accomplished in his lifetime and also his influence after his death.

The rest of the events of the celebration included: a panel of people that were at the speech and were able to answer questions and give their perspective of that day many years ago, a plaque commemoration, a choir concert, and also a speech. I did not attend the rest of the day’s events, but I believe that every event turned out spectacular. There were also news stations reporting on the events. It was just amazing to see all of the support for such a great man!