Filmmaker finds lost Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. recording in Dayton, Ohio

2/25/2009
ASSOCIATED PRESS

DAYTON, Ohio A filmmaker says he's discovered a long-lost audio recording of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at the University of Dayton in 1964.

David Schock said Wednesday he discovered the 50-minute recording in a box of materials owned by Herbert Woodward Martin, a poet and retired university professor. Schock recently completed a documentary on Martin, who is known for his performances of Paul Lawrence Dunbar's poems and his own works.

Schock says the unlabeled reel-to-reel tape captures King discussing the state of race relations before an audience of more than 6,200 people in November 1964.

The late civil rights leader is heard telling the crowd, "We've come a long, long way, but we have a long, long way to go."

Martin says he didn't know he had the tape, never listened to it and is not sure how he came in possession of it.