On June 3, 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech at Goodwin Stadium, then the home of Arizona State University’s football team.
The speech was titled “Religious Witness for Human Dignity” and was delivered just days before the Civil Rights Act was passed by the U.S. Senate.
“The bill must pass,” King said before a crowd of 8,000 people, “and it must pass soon if our nation is to maintain its health.”
King’s speech got lost in the passage of time until 2014, when Phoenix resident Mary Scanlan was shopping at a Goodwill store and found a box of 35 reel-to-reel recordings that had been donated by deceased Phoenix businessman and civil rights leader Lincoln Ragsdale Sr.
MLK's 1964 speech at ASU subject of new, continuing exhibit