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>> Elizabeth Davenport: These are some words from Dr. King's speech,
which he gave at Rockefeller Chapel in 1956.
"We cannot slow up, because we have a date with destiny,
and we must move with all deliberate speed.
There are some things we never intend to become adjusted to: Lynch mobs, oppression,
economical exploitation, and political domination.
I call upon you to resist, with your hearts and strength, the forces of evil."
Dr. King came to the chapel twice -- both in the 1950s.
The first was April 13th, 1956, which was just a few weeks after the beginning
of the Montgomery bus boycotts and after the firebomb --
firebombing of Dr. King's own home, which was January, 1956.
He came, actually, at the invitation of the local Unitarian-Universalists,
which is the church immediately to the north of the chapel.
And he came and gave a major speech here.
And the place was -- by all accounts -- crowded, with people outside listening in, as well.
And it was just a very major occasion, and this was very early,
of course, in the civil rights movement.
And then he came again about three years later, towards the end of 1959.
This was on a Sunday morning.
It was October 25th.
It was within the university quarter.
And it was one of our normal Sunday services that we hold at the chapel to this day.
And he was invited by the then dean to come and preach at that service,
following his earlier visit here.
And so, he came and was the university preacher.
And we have notes in our own historical records that he --
that the chapel was filled for that occasion --
which it isn't always filled on a Sunday morning.
But he, of course, attracted a very big crowd.
He hoped that he would come back again for a third visit, and we have records
of correspondence of him hoping to come back in the 1960s --
a letter that he signed saying that he looked forward to his next visit.
And of course, it wasn't to be.
So we're going to be having a commemoration celebration, it's called for,
in memory of Martin Luther King and in honor of his legacy.
It's going to be January the 12th of the new year, 2012, at 6:00 p.m.
And Geoffrey Canada is going to be coming from the Harlem Children's Project, as the speaker.
And we're hoping very much that we will fill the chapel, as we did in Dr. King's day.
Leading the chapel today, thinking back over the many historical events that have happened here,
and the sense of hearing Dr. King's footsteps echoing through the chapel --
even today, the sense of his voice in this -- this very space.
There is this wonderful sense of this place being a place where history's been made.
Every time I think of him being here
and his having loved his visits here and wanting to come back again.
It's just a very special thing.