Remembering when Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at HLS

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we share an image of Dr. King from our collection, and remember Oct. 24, 1962, when he participated in The Harvard Law Forum with a speech entitled “The Future of Integration.”

Dr. King began his speech by recalling his time at Harvard as a “special student” [a non-degree student allowed to take graduate-level courses] while he was enrolled at Boston University.

“I always consider it one of the very rewarding experiences of my life to take a brief break from the day-to-day demands of our struggle in the south, and discuss the issues involved in the struggle with college and university students. And so, this is a real pleasure, and privilege, and I am certainly happy to be here.” 

His speech focused on the history of segregation, the progress toward desegregation, and the future of integration. He touched on economic injustice and deprivation, legal segregation, sit-ins and freedom rides, school integration, arson, church bombings, environment vs. race, social isolation, hate and fear, poverty ignorance, the role of the federal government, the importance of voting (and past poll taxes), nonviolent direct action, “love ethic,” and much more.

Regarding economic injustice, Dr. King said in 1962, “Approximately 42% of the Negro families of the United States still earn less than $2,000 a year, while just 17% of the white families earn less than $2,000 a year.”

“Not only have we come a long, long way, but we have a long, long way to go before this problem is solved in our nation.”

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The Future of Integration”
The Harvard Law Forum
Oct. 24, 1962

He said, “We’ve broken loose from the Egypt of slavery; we have moved through the wilderness of segregation; and now we stand on the border of the Promised Land of integration….Not only have we come a long, long way, but we have a long, long way to go before this problem is solved in our nation.”

He said, “In the final analysis, racial discrimination must be uprooted from American society because it is morally wrong…this is the great challenge of the hour…God is interested in the freedom of the whole human race and the creation of a society where all men will live together as brothers, and every man will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. This is our goal and this is the meaning of the movement.” 

Dr. King concluded, “I believe that we will somehow work out a solution to this problem. With this faith, we will be able to adjourn the counsels of despair and bring new light into the dark chambers of pessimism. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. This will be a great day, this will be that day when all of God’s children all over this nation will be able to join hands, all men – Black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics – and in the joining of those hands they will be able to cry out and sing in the words of the old Negro Spiritual, ‘Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last’.”

The speech can be heard in two parts, part 1 and part 2.