A photo of Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking ran between poems celebrating pacifism by Tom MacMorran Jr. and Tim Fleck. | 1968/The Daily Cougar
On Jan. 20, the nation celebrated the birth of Martin Luther King Jr., the revolutionary civil rights leader who shook the world and changed how it looked at race, discrimination and equality.
King died on April 4, 1968, and the April 10, 1968 issue of The Daily Cougar devoted a full page in memoriam. The page had two poems by Tim Fleck and Tom MacMorran Jr., as well as a letter of condolence from then-Student Body President Richard G. Poston to Coretta Scott King. Alongside a biography of King’s life was an editorial saying that, though white Americans may mourn King, they do not understand the plight of African-Americans.
46 years later, King remains one of the most important figures in American history, and though he never saw the fruits of his actions, his death still affects people today.
“He reached the mountaintop and, like Moses, looked toward the land he was never destined to walk upon.”
