Fall Class On King Papers

A leading scholar of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will teach a class on the civil rights icon this fall at Morehouse College, using the collection of documents, books and other items housed at the school. Clayborne Carson, who was named executive director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Collection in January, will teach "Martin Luther King Jr. and the Modern Freedom Struggle." Carson was tapped by King's widow, Coretta Scott King, to edit and publish his papers in 1985. King graduated from Morehouse with a degree in sociology in 1948. The collection was bought on June 23, 2006, in a, 11th-hour, $32 million private sale brokered by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin that thwarted a public auction to be held at Sotheby's in New York.

(Associated Press)

Clayborne Carson to Lead Morehouse's MLK Collection

Morehouse College has named civil rights historian and author Clayborne Carson head of its Martin Luther King Jr. collection. Carson has written and edited numerous works on the civil rights movement, among them The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. He also served as senior advisor for the award winning public televison series "Eyes on the Prize." Carson will be speaking at Morehouse College's International Chapel on Tuesday, January 13th at 10:30 a.m. about his plans for the King collection as its Executive Director.

Nat'l Fair Housing Comm. calls for better enforcement

Forty years after lawmakers targeted some of the last bastions of segregation - American communities - a national commission met today in Atlanta to discuss whether federal officials have failed to ensure equal housing opportunities.

The bipartisan National Fair Housing Commission's daylong meeting at Morehouse College Friday concludes a three-month investigation into enforcement of fair housing laws.

Today’s meeting focused on fair lending practices amid the nationwide foreclosure crisis.

Shanna Smith is president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance:

“Over the last 40 years, we have failed as a government, as states, as local communities, to enforce the fair housing laws and to promote social integration.”

Henry Cisneros, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1993 to 1997, under President Clinton chaired the morning session.

Cisneros says that a comprehensive solution may be necessary for the Atlanta area:

“This is a metropolitan area that needs to function as a whole, and it may be necessary to think in regional solutions that involve all of the counties, excepting some fair share of responsibility for creating economic opportunities.”

The panel, chaired by Henry Cisneros (center), former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development hear testimony at the morning session, held at Morehouse College, Atlanta on Friday, Oct. 17th, 2008. (Dave Bender)

The commission previously convened in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and Boston.

A December report will outline recommendations to strengthen housing laws.

(With The Associated Press)

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Civil rights museum gets site

A proposed civil rights museum is planned for Atlanta's central tourist district. The Center for Civil and Human Rights will be located between The New World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium. The center is scheduled to break ground next year and will showcase the city and state's contributions to human rights efforts around the world. Morehouse College's Martin Luther King Jr. Collection is expected to be the centerpiece of the project.

Ga. college presidents want to cut student drinking age

Four Georgia college presidents have signed on to a national initiative to fight binge drinking by their students -- by lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18.

Spelman College President, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, says learning responsible drinking is part of adapting to adulthood:

“At the age of 18 students are able to vote, they’re able to join the military – you know, fight in wars - but we are saying that they’re not mature enough to drink a beer.”

Tatum and three other presidents joined 96 other colleagues in signing on a petition to lower the legal drinking age, called the Amethyst Initiative.

Tatum says too many kids are turning into binge drinkers, about as fast as they can flash their fake IDs at the liquor store:

“When you say something is off-limits at a time when people are trying to assume adult responsibilities, sometimes what you get is irresponsible behavior.”

20-year-old Georgia Tech student Teddy Ingalls agrees. He can’t drink yet, but says letting students drink at a younger age, would keep them from endangering themselves or others:

“I think it’s a great idea. A lot of kids end up making stupid decisions because they’re trying to figure out ways to go drink when they’re underage, and end up either hurting themselves or somebody else.”

But Georgia Tech grad student, Vivek Pitchaimani is worried that college freshmen are inexperienced, and may not know when to say no:

“The minute you start taking a drink or two it goes on, and you start to party and stuff. And then you go out on the streets and you’re being reckless, whether you’re driving or going to a shop or something.”

Mothers Against Drunk Driving agrees, and says several studies prove that lowering the drinking age has a direct link to a rise in DUI accidents and deaths.

MADD National President Laura Dean-Mooney says dropping the age is giving in, and will only drop the problem in the laps of a younger generation:

“We believe this initiative is basically waving a white flag. These presidents are passing the problem on to high school principals, high school communities who are already dealing with a number of their own problems…"

The Presidents of Georgia Southwestern State University, Morehouse College, and Oglethorpe University also signed the petition.

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Exhibit marks King assassination 40th

A special exhibit opens tomorrow at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta. It commemorates the 40th anniversary of the civil rights leader's assassination. The artifacts and photographs of "From Memphis to Atlanta: The Drum Major Returns Home" chronicle the final days and hours before King's death to the funeral procession by thousands of mourners through his hometown five days later. The centerpiece is the actual wagon drawn by two mules as it carried King's casket from the funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church where he preached to a memorial service at Morehouse College, his alma mater.

Proposed museum could bring in millions

Organizers behind a civil and human rights museum planned for downtown Atlanta in 2010 say it could attract more than one billion dollars and thousands of jobs to Georgia over the next decade. The Center for Civil and Human Rights announced the findings of its financial feasibility and economic study today. The facility will feature documents from the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection. A site is expected to be named by spring.

Morehouse College's bold vision

The new president of Atlanta’s historically black, all-male Morehouse College has announced his vision for the school. Robert Franklin says Morehouse will develop socially-conscious “Renaissance Men.” He says they will follow a higher standard of leadership and address crises in the black community. Franklin says graduates will follow in the tradition of famed alumnus Martin Luther King Junior.