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SLU Remembers Its History at Annual MLK Speech Reading

by Joe Barker on 10/12/2023

10/12/2023

Just like they did 59 years ago, the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. filled the West Pine Gym at Saint Louis University.

On Thursday morning, members of the SLU community gathered in the former West Pine Gym, now the Center for Global Citizenship, for the annual reading of King’s speech at SLU. 

Aric Hamilton, Program Coordinator for Academic Affairs at the SLU School of Law, read a speech from Martin Luther King Jr. on Thursday, Oct. 12. Photo by Joe Barker.
Aric Hamilton, Program Coordinator for Academic Affairs at the SLU School of Law, read a speech from Martin Luther King Jr. on Thursday, Oct. 12. Photo by Joe Barker.
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Aric Hamilton, Program Coordinator for Academic Affairs at the SLU School of Law, read a speech from Martin Luther King Jr. on Thursday, Oct. 12. Photo by Joe Barker.
Aric Hamilton, Program Coordinator for Academic Affairs at the SLU School of Law, read a speech from Martin Luther King Jr. on Thursday, Oct. 12. Photo by Joe Barker.
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SLU President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., offered remarks at the annual reading of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech given at SLU on Oct. 12, 1964. Photo by Joe Barker.
SLU President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., offered remarks at the annual reading of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech given at SLU on Oct. 12, 1964. Photo by Joe Barker.
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Rev. Tracy Watkins delivered the closing remarks at the MLK speech reading ceremony on Oct. 12, 2023. Photo by Joe Barker.
Rev. Tracy Watkins delivered the closing remarks at the MLK speech reading ceremony on Oct. 12, 2023. Photo by Joe Barker.
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Members of the Central Baptist Church Choir performed at SLU's MLK speech reading event on Thursday, Oct. 12. Photo by Joe Barker.
Members of the Central Baptist Church Choir performed at SLU's MLK speech reading event on Thursday, Oct. 12. Photo by Joe Barker.
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SLU President Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., shared the story of how the annual event began and the significance of October 12th in the University’s history. Pestello told the gathering about the initial Occupy SLU occupation in 2014. 

Occupy SLU started on October 12, 2014, with six days of peaceful occupation at the clock tower that included daily teach-ins and community conversations following the officer-involved shootings of  Michael Brown and VonDerrit Myers Jr., the son of a long-time member of the SLU community.

Occupy SLU ended six days later on Oct. 18, 2014, with the adoption of the Clock Tower Accords. In 2016, to mark the anniversary of the end of Occupy SLU, the University opted to also highlight King’s visit to SLU in 1964. 

Pestello said the University had photos of the event but, for many years, didn’t have a copy of the speech. After archivists at Washington University found an audio recording of the speech, the remarks were transcribed and ready for the 2016 anniversary. 

Following Pestello’s remarks, Aric Hamilton, former SGA president and program coordinator for academic affairs at the SLU School of Law, took the stage to read the entirety of King’s speech. After he was done, Hamilton received a standing ovation from the crowd and a warm embrace from Pestello.

All the speakers at the event noted that while King’s speech was decades old, its themes of justice and equality still resonated today. Rev. Tracy Watkins, executive assistant in the Office of the Provost, offered the final remarks at the event. She refused to call them “closing remarks” because, as she told the audience, “we can’t stop.”

“Being able to work here for 20 years, SLU has taken up the banner and has started making (King’s) dream a reality,” Watkins said. 

Watkins encouraged everyone to keep going forward and pushing for more progress. 

The event ended with a performance from the Central Baptist Church Choir.