This is an article written by Ward Wijndelts.
On September 24th, 1962, President John F. Kennedy sends a telegram to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in which he compliments the civil rights activist with ‘the excellent work being done’. More than fifty years later we kan take a look at the original document.
The first part of the telegram in which President John F. Kennedy applauds the work of Dr. King and the SCLC. It was sent on September 24th, 1962. Source: www.thekingcenter.org/archive.
These kind of documents are making history come alive. When you look at it your imagination takes over, and takes you back to that day in September where Dr. King first opened this telegram. Where was he? Did he stand in the doorway of his own house? Did his wife bring it to him? And then he started to read:
I extend to you my wish that the Southern Christian Leadership conference will move steadily toward achieving true equality of opportunity for all without regard to race, color or creed.
Was he impressed? Maybe he wasn’t as impressed as I think he was. After all, he already corresponded with the powers that be for years. I discovered that by browsing through ‘The King Center Imaging Project’.
Last week, on Martin Luther King Day (January 16th), The King Center opened this digital archive on their website. In it: nearly a million documents from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other figures from the Civil Rights Movement. And al of these documents are describes, so you can search for anything. Letters from children to Mrs. King, the day after he was assassinated, famous speeches of Mr. King, everything was digitalized and categorized in 9 months. Over two hundred people worked on it. If you would like to read more about ‘The King Center Imaging Project’, you can start by reading this press release.
This is the third part of a series of Pearls, found by Pearl Divers United, a group of enthousiasts for online archives. More on this here.
