Legendary Speech Writer for Dr. King Jr. Visits MKA
What must it have been like to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s immortal "I have a Dream" speech as it was delivered? Thanks to the Mason family, MKA 2nd and 3rd grade students, as well as the entire Upper School community had the honor and privilege of hearing history come alive first-hand from King's personal counsel, good friend, advisor and draft speech-writer, Stanford University Scholar-in Residence Professor Clarence B. Jones.
Born to parents too poor to raise him, Jones spent the ages of 6-14 in a Catholic boarding school, going on to graduate from Columbia University and Boston University School of Law. He was the first African American to become a partner in an investment bank, the first African American to become a member of the New York Stock Exchange, and was the person King entrusted with delivering the letter that was to become known as his Letter from a Birmingham Jail – a text that is coincidentally, an MKA Core Work for 11th grade.
Jones mesmerized his audiences with his description of an America "addicted to segregation" where he and his white friends were unable to drink from the same water fountain, sit in the same station waiting room or sit together on a bus. His relationship with King began when King visited his home in California and urged him to join him as his legal counsel working in Birmingham. Jones agreed to help, but resisted the request to go south, until, hearing King speak at a local church, he was persuaded by King's message to African American professionals that, if they were lucky enough to have received an education, they had a duty to help their brothers in Birmingham.
Jones told of how, in a world before cell phones and the internet, 250,000 were galvanized through flyers, landlines and radio appearances to march on Washington D.C. to hear Dr. King speak, and how he "was standing 50' behind Dr. King as he gave his speech and I watched him and listened to him and saw 250,000 acknowledge his presence." Jones went on to explain that while he himself had provided King with a draft for much of the speech, about seven paragraphs into it, and exhorted by the singer Mahalia Jackson to "Tell them about the dream Martin! Tell them about the dream!" King "put his notes aside, put his hands on the podium and spoke extemporaneously the words that came into his mind at the time – those words that electrified the nation – it was like capturing lightening in a bottle."
Jones, who has just published Behind The Dream: The Making of the Speech that Transformed a Nation told his young audiences that "You young people are the most important people in the country today. People like myself are trustees – we have a legal responsibility to protect our country's assets and you are our most precious assets." He encouraged the students to be committed to the pursuit of personal excellence and education, to have values and to understand the importance of love – for themselves, their families, their friends and their classmates; suggesting that it was King's deep love and respect for all people and for his country, combined with his unshakable belief in non-violence, that gave him the tools to make a difference. "Martin Luther King Jr. was unique," concluded Jones, "you will never, ever, ever, ever see that shooting star again."
Click here for photos of the Primary School visit
Click here for photos of the Upper School visit