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SMU to unveil historical marker where Dr. Martin Luther King delivered speech on campus
A Texas Historical Commission marker will be placed on the campus of Southern Methodist University on Tuesday to mark the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King delivered a speech called ‘The Future of Integration.’
DALLAS - A Texas Historical Commission marker will be placed on the campus of Southern Methodist University on Tuesday to mark the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King delivered a speech called ‘The Future of Integration.’
The marker will be placed outside McFarlin Auditorium on the Dallas campus, where Dr. King made the speech on March 17, 1966.
"It was one of the most exciting days of my life," said retired Methodist minister Charles Cox, who was a 20-year-old student at the time.
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He, along with another student, Bert Moore, met Dr. King at Love Field Airport.
"He was very down to earth, had a great sense of humor, asked questions about Dallas. He was interested in us as students and our school," said Cox.
Charles Cox wrote a letter to his mother about the experience.
"What a great person and I was privileged to be with him when he spoke," he said.
The school's newspaper reporting on King's speech and his inviting the 2,800 who filled McFarlin Auditorium to think about the future of integration.
"When I first came to SMU I had no idea that Dr. King had spoken here," said Matt Hutnyan.
Hutnyan came to SMU for grad school and was moved to make this hidden history known.
He worked to have a Texas Historical Commission Marker placed outside of the auditorium.
"It was hearing his words, and hearing his own voice, and just learning the historical significance of his time at SMU," said Hutnyan, a doctoral student.
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SMU was one of the few predominantly white universities in the South where Dr. King spoke, and the only one in Texas at the request of students.
"As a student, that excited me to know 57 years ago we had bold students like Charles, like Bert Moore and others that were doing those sorts of things here on campus. This was just our way of adding a little to that story," Hutnyan said.
The hope is the marker and King's 1966 SMU speech will in some way move us.
"We hope that people who walk by this are motivated to listen to that speech and to hear those words from Dr. King today and to think about that exact question: How does this apply to me today?" said Hutnyan.
LISTEN TO DR. KING'S SPEECH HERE
The celebration is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Pastor Richie Butler of the Saint Luke Community Methodist Church will speak and the St. Luke choir will sing.
Students are coming back to SMU from across the country as the hidden history of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at SMU will be hidden no more.