MLK Tape Lost For 45 Years And Found Again

(CBS)  This month marks the 41st anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Now, thanks to a quirk of fate, some of his most stirring words are getting a whole new hearing, as CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports.

The halls of the University of Dayton field house echoed with the voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. The November 1964 speech was powerful and passionate in its optimism.

"I must say that we have come a long, long way in the struggle to make civil rights a reality," King said that day.

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Click here to read more about the rediscovery of the recording and to listen to audio of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1964 speech at the Universty of Dayton.

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King was in Dayton, Ohio to raise funds for his civil rights agenda.

Ted Clark was 28 at the time and was one of the few whites in attendance. He remembers exactly where he sat.

"I have to admit there was some apprehension," Clark said.

During the 1960s, Dayton, like so many American cities, was caught up in the struggle for racial and economic equality.

"Where do we see it? We see it in housing, I imagine you have some residential areas here in Dayton," King said to applause in his speech.

"I am convinced today that segregation is on its deathbed," he said.

"You could just feel the electricity in this place it was unbelievable," Clark said.

Over time the recording of King's Dayton speech had been forgotten, until Dayton professor emeritus Herb Martin stumbled across it.

"I was gonna tape over it, but luckily fate kept me from doing that," Martin said.

Martin collected old reels to re-record his performances of poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar - a hobby that inspired a documentary by independent filmmaker David Schock.

That's how Schock and Martin came to hear the King speech.

"You think, 'Wow, this is really something of value,'" Martin said.

45 years later, Dayton has changed, but Clark believes there is still progress to be made.

Friends of mine, they have racially tinged attitudes. So yes, it's out there," he said.

To further that goal, Martin has donated the tape to the university archives, giving a piece of newly discovered history, a second chance to be heard.

[CALawyer]

With President Obama, we are all part of an amazing history that, in 200 years, will be looked upon in a similar fashion to the times of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. What a great time to live, share, and work together to make the world a better place for everyone! Share your thoughts with me at www.twitter.com/mitchjackson

[hamiltongrad]

I would like to hear one more, last interview with Sen Ted Kennedy, to bring closure to his "episode" with Mary Jo, and so he and us can move on. There may be tears if he at last opens up, and tells us the truth. It must be painful all these years.

Time for Ted to Talk.

[jumpbackhoney]

There IS a site: http://www.jumpbackhoney.com. When I discovered the tape I called Herb Martin and he agreed that we should post the digitized audio file and the story behind it...the rally, the speech, the protest, the process of my finding the tape which had remained unknown in his garage. It's quite a story and in the nature of a miracle--at least from my point of view. We were delighted to share this with the world. After all, this is so much bigger than any one of us. The resolve for justice that Dr. King espoused is still so much needed. We CAN do better.

Cordially,

David B. Schock, Ph.D.
Producer, Jump Back, Honey: The Poetry and Performance of Herbert Woodward Martin.

[caligula1--2008]

"Today it is hard for us to imagine the Iron Grip the Religious Terrorist held over the people in the South in the 1950's but it was worse than what we see today in the Middle East."

I KNOW you're younger than 50, and i'd be willing to be money at even odds that you're younger than 30, or perhaps you'd you alittle of what you're talking about. The "religious" people in the 50's were largely PRO desegregation, and the pro segregation people were largely non-denominational and biased by years of what amounted to government endorsement, even encouragement, of pro-segregationist policies. Most of those policies were a backlash to the segregation to desegregation of certain institutions following World War II, and others were local backlashes to people who simply refused to be confined to one area on the basis of their race, but there was NEVER an attitude on the part of people that black Americans weren't HUMAN, or that they, absent agitation, didn't deserve to live.

IFF (if and only if, math notation) the people had been as bad as you say then logically after the end of slavery and before there was every a civil rights movement they would have "ethnically cleansed" the south, yet the only evidence of that we see is in black flight to the northern cities, a natural reaction to an environment where they were more accepted and living conditions were, before the advent of air conditioning, far more acceptable. Instead the people in the south were largely content with a policy of live and let live as long as the two worlds didn't collide.

The middle eastern terrorists, on the other hand, are inclined to seek out their enemies no matter where they are, and will be content with nothing less than the total domination of Islam globally, a huge huge world of difference!!!

Get a clue and a High School diploma, the late 20th century version of which is issued by community colleges and other secondary education institutions as a "bachelor of arts" degree. Frankly what you get from most high schools nowdays isn't worth wiping your ass with.

[tvnupe8]

To hear the entire speech, there is a massive blue link in the middle of the written version of the piece.... the link has clips and the entire speech

[Rsk87]

We also had new pictures resurface...why is this all coming up now? Whats next? A spoon he used to eat cereal?

[logotech]

THE RACISM WILL ONLY BE DEMOLISHED IF THE OR THOSE WHO GENERATES BY THE ROOTS OF ITS CAN BE CURED. EXAMPLES, FOXNEWS GUYS LIKE HANNITY,LAURA INGRAHAM, RUSH, AN CO.

[logotech]

ALL WHAT I WILL SAYS ABOUT THIS IS THAT DID AMERICANS AND AMERICA DO CHANGE??????NOT AT ALL!! SINCE YOU STILL HAVE PEOPLE LIKE HANNITY, RUSH (BIG FAT HEAD) GLEN BECKS, AND CO, SURELY NO UNITY. THE HATE PREACHERS'RE FULL OF FOXNEWS CHANEL. THAT' S HOW THEY MAKE THEIR OWN FURTUNE.

[timothyww]

"Friends of mine, they have racially tinged attitudes. So yes, it's out there,"

LOL!! That is SOOOO funny! Racially tinged!!! as in racist MFing SCUM! If you have a "racially tinged attitude" in the year 2009, you have a serious learning disability, especially if you are part of a college faculty.

[WayAround]

National Geographic News
April 6, 2006

"After being lost for nearly 1,700 years, the Gospel of Judas was recently restored, authenticated, and translated."

...I think we have a trend here