In the wake of Martin Luther King’s assassination, on April 4, 1968, the  Concerned Black Students organization (CBS), began planning a “Black Martyrs’ Weekend” that would commemorate the one-year anniversary of Dr. King’s death, the following spring. The first Black Martyrs’ weekend took place from April 3rd to the 6th (1969), and included a range of talks, performances, panels, and lectures honoring those who had died in the struggle for racial justice, while also educating the campus and community, more broadly, about Black culture and the continuing fight for equality. That year’s program included:

  • a talk by the head of the Black Student Party (from San Francisco State)
  • a panel discussion, “In Defense of Black People—The Black Panther Party” (led by members of the Des Mones Black Panther Party)
  • a lecture by Dr. Charles Nichols on “Martin Luther King, Jr. and the present American Mood,”
  • a performance of African dance by members of CBS
  • a concert by The Jackson Five
  • a screening of Martin Luther King’s speech, “Remaining Awake through a Great Revolution.”
  • a performance by the Chicago Ensemble Gospel Group (pictured here)
  • a sermon by the Father Kwasi Benefee, a black liberation theologian/priest.

     

While some events were held in the Forum, many of the talks and performances took place in Herrick Chapel, which would serve as the main site for future iterations of the Black Martyrs’ Weekend that were held throughout the 1970s, and would include many prominent figures like Angela Davis, Gwendolyn Brooks, Dick Gregory, Herbie Hancock, and more.

On today’s campus, the commemoration of Martin Luther King has shifted to January, with the advent of the federal holiday marking MLK Day, in the 1980s. There is something fitting, however, about the fact that this year’s MLK Day speaker, Jamelle Bouie, will delivering his address on “The Civil Rights Movement and the Reconstruction Amendments,” in Herrick Chapel (this Thursday evening). It’s a space, and a pulpit, that has a rich tradition associated with this topic, thanks to the work of the CBS and others who began this process more than fifty years ago.