ATLANTA – The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 78th birthday in January will feature a gift to the city: the first public viewing of more than 10,000 of his documents, notes and other personal items.
Pieces of the King Collection – from a term paper he wrote as a student at Atlanta’s Morehouse College to a draft of his “I Have A Dream” speech – will be on display at the Atlanta History Center.
This summer, Mayor Shirley Franklin led the effort to acquire the papers from New York-based Sotheby’s auction house, which had planned a public sale.
“The Martin Luther King Jr. Collection is home,” a beaming Franklin said Monday.
The collection includes handwritten versions of King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at the 1963 March on Washington, and his acceptance speech for the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.
After years in the basement of the King family home, the documents, books, and other items in the collection were moved to Sotheby’s nearly a decade ago. Sotheby’s tried to sell the collection, but previous negotiations fell through. It put them back on the market after King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, died in February.
The mayor pulled off the 11th-hour deal to buy the papers in June for $32 million with the help of more than 50 corporate, government and private donors.
NEW YORK – Those people wearing “Stewart/Colbert ‘08” T-shirts can stop hoping – Comedy Central’s fake news stars have no intention of making a run for the White House.
Jon Stewart said the T-shirts promoting him and Stephen Colbert “are a real sign of how sad people are” with the state of affairs in the country.
“Nothing says ‘I am ashamed of you, my government,’ more than ‘Stewart/Colbert ‘08,’ ” Stewart told an audience Sunday at the New Yorker Festival. He was interviewed by the magazine’s editor, David Remnick.
Stewart, who recently hosted Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, on “The Daily Show,” said he’s been trying to get top Bush administration officials to appear. “We have requests in there to everyone including Barney,” Stewart said. “Only Barney replies.”
Barney is the president’s Scottish terrier.
From Herald news services
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