The world lost civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr. over four decades ago, and since then we’ve been looking back on his words of hope, equality and nonviolence for wisdom on how to lead our society into the dream he crafted all those years ago. But thanks to a Tennessee man, the world can now hear a new recording of King.
According to CNN, Stephon Tull was rummaging through his father’s old things in his attic when he stumbled across a lost interview of the civil rights legend, conducted by his father, marked “Dr. King interview, Dec. 21, 1960.”
“I could not believe what I was hearing,” said Tull.
Tull’s father grew up during the height of the state’s Jim Crow segregation laws and was planning to write about that era of racial tension.
“He planned on writing a book on how bad things were back in that era,” said Tull, but he never finished it, “He fell ill, and is now in Hospice care.”
In the interview, King speaks about his nonviolent views and foreshadows the importance of the Civil Rights Movement in our nation’s history.
“I would … say that it is a method which seeks to secure a moral end through moral means,” he said, “and it grows out of the whole concept of love, because if one is truly nonviolent that person has a loving spirit, he refuses to inflict injury upon the opponent because he loves the opponent.”
King continued, “I am convinced that when the history books are written in future years, historians will have to record this movement as one of the greatest epics of our heritage. It represents struggle on the highest level of dignity and discipline.”
Keya Morgan, a collector and expert on rare historical artifacts is working with Tull to arrange a sale through his Keya Gallery in New York. The two hope to sale the recording to a museum or a university.
“When I heard it, I got goose bumps all over,” Morgan said, “It feels like he’s sitting in your living room and talking to you.”
Listen to King’s lost recording here and check out some other famous recordings that were thought to be lost. –nicholas robinson
