On January 31, 1961, a packed Union Building auditorium on the campus of the University of Utah anxiously awaited the arrival of a world renowned activist and integrationist leader. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an hour late, delayed by a snow storm, when the U’s professor of politics, Dr. J. D. Williams took to the stage. Williams stalled while the overcrowded room of nearly 1,500 waited with remarkable patience (Krans 1961). When King finally arrived, he waited behind the curtain on stage and listened to Dr. Williams tell the story of the first Black slaves to arrive to the North American shores in 1619 (McGriff 2023, Krans 1961). Dr. King stepped up to the microphone and he thanked Williams for his speech, referring to him as Reverend Williams (McGriff 2023).
King continued to give his speech titled, “The Future of Integration.” He had given this speech to dozens of universities across the nation. While the archives lack a record of what exactly King said in Utah, we do have copies of the same speech that he gave elsewhere. Six years after the Supreme Court declared that segregation was unconstitutional, integration still seemed far off. Violence spread, not just in the South, but across the nation.
There seems to be a desperate, poignant question on the lips of thousands and millions of people all over the nation and all over the world. They are asking whether we have made any real progress in the area of race relations. (King 1968).
Dr. King did not mince words. Progress was relative. On one hand, Black Americans were no longer slaves. Plessy vs. Ferguson, the case that stated that Blacks could live in separate, but equal status, was reversed. Segregation was found unconstitutional. But, on the other hand, where did the nation actually stand in race relations? And more precisely, how did Utah measure up?
Integration seemed to come slowly to the nation and lingered at a virtual stand-still in the Beehive State, even after the United States Supreme Court declared segregation “constitutionally dead” (King 1968). King commended the students that left Utah to join others in protesting segregation. They and tens of thousands of people were forced to march the streets, sit in at lunch counters, and boycott busing systems- all to desegregate racist systems. But was this enough?
According to King, no.
Now it is a fact that we have come a long, long way, but it isn’t the whole truth (King 1968).
The truth was that the United States and Utah lagged behind in racial relations. Not only did they lag behind, but citizens went to great lengths, even murder and rioting, to stall integration. King spoke about the problems that plagued the nation over the previous decade. Dozens of Black churches were burned, civil rights workers were beaten and killed, and justice for these acts had yet to be realized. Just as damaging to the cause of integration was the economic status of the majority of Black families. Abject poverty, substandard housing, and a lack of adequate education plagued Black Americans (King 1968).
Day in and day out, we are reminded of the fact that no area of our country can boast of clean hands in the realm of brotherhood (King 1968).
King wondered aloud if Americans were expected to become adjusted to the inequitable status of millions in a nation that boasted that “all men were created equal.” Dr. King argued that in order to bring about integration, we needed to be maladjusted.
There are some things in our society and in our world to which I am proud to be maladjusted–to which I call upon all men of good will to be maladjusted until the good society is realized.
I never intend to become adjusted to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to adjust myself to religious bigotry. I never intend to adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessity from the many to give luxury to the few. (King 1968, page 65).
While the prognosis seemed bleak, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of hope. He saw hope in the youth of the nation. He found hope in those that stood up to tyranny and sought equality for all people. King concluded his speech at the University of Utah by stating that his goal was freedom. The song, “We Shall Overcome” was King’s rallying hymn. “We shall overcome because the universe bends toward justice.” It was his hope that the nation would “be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood” (King 1968).
As we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let us renew his hope that he found in the words of a song, “free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty! We are free at last!” (King 1968).
References
King, Jr., Martin Luther. The Future of Integration. Lawrence: The University Press of Kansas. 1968.
Krans, Elaine. “Martin Luther King Sets Campus Speech.” University of Utah Chronicle. 1961.
McGriff, Jamie. “Associate Professor Explains Drama Surrounding Dr. King’s Historic Visit to Salt Lake City.” KUTV News. 2023. Retrieved from https://kjzz.com/news/local/associate-professor-explains-drama-surrounding-dr-kings-historic-visit-to-salt-lake-city.