#TBT: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Villanova
On January 20, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to an audience of over 4,000 Villanova students, faculty, and local community members. He addressed the crowded field house on the ongoing struggle toward desegregation and the Civil Rights Act, which had passed only six months prior.
Photo credited to the Villanova University Archives
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The VU Black Alumni will meet on July 28th. I will provide some context to their meeting.
I was a sophomore at VU living in Sullivan Hall. On Jan. 20, 1965, I went to the fieldhouse and and saw Martin Luther King deliver his speech. The fieldhouse was packed. I was in the Navy ROTC at school. Little did I know that, 3 years after I saw Dr. King speak, I would be a naval officer during Vietnam, serving on Guam, when I received shocking news of his assasination. A few months later, it was tragically followed by the assassination of Robert Kennedy.
I frequently return in my mind and thoughts to that historical event at the fieldhouse when I was in Dr. King’s presence. I am so fortunate that VU brought him to campus to speak and I took this opportunity to see him.
I will never forget this important event.