Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

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Institute of the Black World : Introduction
This official Memorial Center will . . . like
Martin Luther King, emerge proudly out of the
heart of the black experience in America, but it
will address the experiences of all people, especially
those who are broken and oppressed, those who
desperately search for justice, liberation and peace .
In all of its parts, the Memorial will attempt to
meet with uncompromising insistence the problems
and needs which face black people today . . . .
CORETTA SCOTT KING
Announcement of the
Martin Luther King Jr .
Memorial Center
January 15, 1969
In January 1970, a year after the widow of Martin Luther
King Jr . officially announced the establishment of the Memorial
Center for her late husband, ceremonies were held dedicating
the Institute of the Black World . The director, of
course, is Vincent Harding, professor of History at Spelman
College . The Institute's purpose and structure are outlined
on the following pages . In keeping with the Institute's principles
and emphasis, the appeal goes out to the Black Community
to support the Institute's projects, which include a
library and a laboratory school for children, as well as research
facilities . The Institute's first fellows included historians
Lerone Bennett Jr ., William Strickland and Sterling
Stuckey, economist Robert Browne and sociologist Joyce
Ladner . There are associates of the Institute throughout the
Black World .
NEGRO DIGEST March 1970 19