ML King's "fiery" speech rarely heard: family retains copyright

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: King's Fiery Speech Rarely Heard
Tapes Are Copyrighted; Schools Often Use Text
By Valerie Strauss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 15, 2006; Page C01

It is the time of year when students are taught about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, so passionately delivered that his call for freedom changed U.S. history. Once heard, it is impossible to forget.

But many students won't get to hear it -- and most who do will hear only snippets, educators and historians said. And that, they said, is affecting the legacy of the preeminent civil rights leader, whose life will be honored tomorrow with an annual federal holiday.

"It lessens the historical saliency of King for younger kids," said Robert Brown, assistant dean of undergraduate education at Emory University in Atlanta who specializes in African American politics. "It is one thing to read King and another to see him. Hearing him is so much more powerful than reading it."

H. Patrick Swygert, president of Howard University, heard King on the Mall in Washington at the end of a day of marching and speeches in 1963. Tired listeners were respectful at the beginning, he said, but began to stir at the rhythm of King's words, the intensity of his voice and the power of the message, which was not just a description of the condition of blacks in America but a vision of something better....

***

All of King's speeches and papers are owned by his family, which has gone to court several times since the 1990s to protect its copyright; King obtained rights to his most famous speech a month after he gave it. Now, those who want to hear or use the speech in its entirety must buy a copy sanctioned by the King family, which receives the proceeds....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011400980.html

[H2O Man]

1. "In Search of Freedom"

I have an album of King's speeches (Mercury Records). It contains parts of nine of his greatest speeches. I would just as soon his family made money off it as anyone else. It came out long ago, though, and so probably someone else pocketed the money I paid for it. Either way, enough people have heard my copy in the past 25 years that I've gotten my money's worth. I will be listening to it Monday.

[Rose Siding]

2. If the alternative is seeing it manipulated for GOP campaign ads,

I hope they hold the reigns tight.

[cantstandbush]

3. His greatest speech was one of his last...about the Viet Nam war.

It's a masterpiece but the powers-that-be would rather have us focus on "I Have a Dream."

[H2O Man]

5. "A Time to Break Silence"

(aka "Beyond Vietnam") was delivered at the Riverside Church in NYC on April 4, 1967, a year to the day before his death. It is, in my opinion, the greatest American speech.

[BeHereNow]

11. Link to Audio and transcript:

"I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight
because my conscious leaves me no other choice..."
If you have never heard this speech- it is a "MUST-hear"
recording.
Link to listen and or read:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm
BHN

[Tom Joad]

6. He really saw, by that time, how corrupt and morally bankrupt

US policy had become. He made it exactly one year before he was gunned down.

[ProSense]

4. Well, they can read a few, including

"Letter from Birmingham Jail," "Beyond Vietnam" and "I've Been To The Mountaintop" here:

http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/popular_requests/

[Tom Joad]

7. some from the Christian community have suggested that...

the "letter from a Birmingham Jail" be added to the scriptures.

[H2O Man]

8. "A Testament of Hope"

(the essential writings of Martin Luther King, Jr) contains the texts to 57 of his essays, speeches, interviews, and the full text of his five books. Harper & Row published it in 1986; I've seen it in paperback in recent years.

[ProSense]

10. Thanks for this info. n/t

[Donna Zen]

9. Great American Speeches

Each year the sophomores I teach are required to write a research paper, with an analysis of persuasive techniques, about a great American speech. Part of the pre-teaching for the paper includes a unit focused on six speeches: "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God," "Patrick Henry's Address to the Virginia Assembly," "The Crisis Part I," "The Gettysburg Address," "I Have a Dream," and finally Robert Kennedy's speech on "The Death of MLK."

This weekend every one of those students is doing "close reading" of "I Have a Dream" including studying the tone, word choice, and imagery. They will be highlighting, and creating margin notes. Finally, they will be writing a comparison with Lincoln's speech.

One of them has chosen the Riverside Church address as the subject for their paper, another has chosen "I See the Promise Land."

If NCLB had its way, this unit would be gone from the curriculum to be replaced by prepping for some bullshit standardized test.

Just thought you might want to know.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. Excellent, Donna! You're teaching those kids to think --

not take a test -- while educating them about our country's history.

[Solly Mack]

13. For 364 days a year, people ignore the writings and teachings of King

and for 1 day a year,King comes down from the shelf,gets dusted off, and people pretend like they give a damn about what MLK Jr stood for. The day after they promptly place King back on the shelf and go about business as usual....until next years "MLK Jr Day"


The greatest tribute to King comes in how you live the other 364 days...not that 1 day of the year. If 10 bucks is too much for 1 day of teaching, then maybe the lessons of King should be spread over the remaining 364 days. Would it then be cost effective to spend 10 bucks for 1 copy, or even 100 bucks for 10 copies?

I wonder how much schools pay for other tapes that do not have the same value?

It's because King did speak of more than just racial equality that he is put on the shelf. His ideas on economic equality and the oppression of the poor are what the establishment still fears today.

*this ,naturally, does not apply to everyone.

[H2O Man]

14. It's a variation

of putting Jesus on a stained-glass window.

[Solly Mack]

15. Exactly like that

Sadly

[ThomWV]

16. They Can Not Copyright My Memory - Was There When The Speech Was Given

My closest friend and I went down town out of teenage curiosity all those years and years ago. We were so far back (about half way down the reflecting pool) in a sea of people that only the speakers let us know what was going on, but we were there.

Long long ago, in a galaxy far far away.

[DeepModem Mom]

17. Wow, Thom -- what a memory to have! nt