In October of 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. was on a tour of California and received a letter from Sacramento State’s Cultural Programs Committee asking him to stop and speak on campus.

The purpose of his visit was to address the concerns of more than 7,000 faculty members, students and community supporters who had questions about the future of the civil rights movement. Of particular interest was his speech “Beyond Vietnam,” which was a reflection upon how far society has come in regards to racial relations, and how far it still has to go.

“(Beyond Vietnam) is the speech that put him on our trajectory,” said Kim Harrington, co-chairperson of the MLK committee. “These folks were trying to get an idea of what was going on.”

Forty years later, on Oct. 16, Sac State will celebrate the anniversary of King’s visit by paying tribute to his ideas and legacy.

The anniversary celebration will take place all day in the University Union and will include panel discussions and speeches by Clayborne Carson, Director of Stanford’s Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute, and Juan Williams from National Public Radio. They will lecture about King’s ideas presented in the “Beyond Vietnam” speech, as well as the progress that has been made in the past 40 years since his visit.

“We’re moving beyond diversity to inclusion,” Harrington said. “Then it was black and white – now it’s in Technicolor.”

Later in the evening, those attending will be entertained with performances by Sacramento Black Art of Dance, Sacramento Metropolitan Community Choir and MLKJ Mass Choir, and dramatic presentations by the university’s Department of Theatre & Dance.

In addition, former state Sen. Mervyn Dymally, who now serves as the chair of the legislative black caucus, will give the introduction he gave in 1967.

A short film of King’s address will be shown and recordings of his speech will be played throughout the day.

Harrington said her hope is that students leave with an understanding of “the parallels of the time as well as the striking differences” between the America of then and the America of now.

Natalye Childress Smith can be reached at [email protected].