Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech has been recited many times since its initial delivery. Dr. Gregory Carr, professor of humanities at Harris Stowe State University in St. Louis, Mo., delivered it again at UMKC last Monday, Feb. 18, as part of a dramatic tribute to King.
Carr's performance, "Conversations With a King: The Life and Speeches of Martin Luther King," was part of the Black History Month celebration and was held in the School of Education.
Performing before an audience of college students, faculty and schoolchildren, Carr portrayed King through a 45-minute narrative featuring excerpts from famous speeches of the late civil rights leader.
Carr, who normally stages his show in and around the St. Louis area, said he extensively researched King's biographical past to bring his historical account to the public.
"One of my goals eventually is doing it in Atlanta," said Carr, whose speech patterns and vocal inflections closely resembled King's, especially during the public speaking segments of the show. "That will be the true challenge: to go to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s hometown and say, 'Hi, I'm going to be portraying Martin Luther King,' [because] they're going to go, 'Hmm, you better be good.'"
Along with King's often-celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech, Carr performed portions of several other orations. Beginning with his youth and his affection for his grandmother, Carr followed with King's rise to the ministry through his career of social activism.
Carr's presentation showed many in the audience an unseen side of King.
Between delivering King's oratories, Carr provided in-character dramatizations of King's childhood and adult reminisces, which served as historical background for each speech. Carr also engaged in several wardrobe changes to befit each occasion, like changing into a tuxedo as he alluded to, and then performed, part of King's 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.
As the newly-elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association in 1955, King was depicted as a reluctant leader before addressing a crowd at the Holt Street Baptist Church . It was his "Rosa Parks Speech," which outlined a massive city-wide bus boycott in protest against Parks' arrest and the existing segregation laws of that time.
"They were looking for a leader and I was praying it wasn't me," he said, "because I did not want to be in charge of all of that. I just wanted to pastor."
Carr also described the fatigue and hesitance King felt before his final speech on April 3, 1968, which was made amid a sanitation worker's strike in Memphis, Tenn. King's friend, Ralph Abernathy, had phoned King the night before his assassination to attempt to coax him from bed to make an appearance at a rally in front of strike supporters that evening. King balked at the suggestion initially, but Abernathy feared a riot if the increasingly vocal crowd, many chanting King's name, did not get to see the civil rights crusader.
"So I came down there and I was heavy-hearted," Carr said. "And they asked me to say something to encourage the people, so I had to say what was in my heart that night."
What followed was Carr's highlighted rendition of King's "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech.
Shortly after, all attendees were urged to join hands and participate in the singing of "We Shall Overcome" before Carr, just as King often did, reverently doffed his hat and exited out a rear door. Carr returned moments later to field questions from the audience.
For Loyce Caruthers, associate professor of urban leadership and policy studies, the show was a nostalgic experience. Caruthers, who "came up" during the civil rights era, said she was repeatedly impressed by the way Carr humanized King throughout his monologue. She said the overall effect of the presentation left a lingering impression on her.
"It just caused me to be a little bit more reflective about what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was really about, and then what I need to do in the time I have on this earth, to just do a little bit more to help people understand he was really about," she said.
Also present in the crowd was a group of elementary and middle school children from GEAR UP, (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness Undergraduate Programs), a federal grant initiative for students grades two through eight. Looking over her group after the program, Verneta White, educational advisor for GEAR UP, said she hoped the children gained insight from King's message and legacy.
"They all need to be leaders," White said. "[You shouldn't] just settle for where you are - reach for the top."
dcordill@unews.com
