On this holiday celebrating the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., people are remembering his legacy in many ways.
One of those instances was his famous visit to Phoenix and Tempe about a month prior to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
“You developed the inner conviction to bear something so dear, something so precious, something so eternally true that they’re worth dying for. And if a man has not discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live” said King in a speech delivered at Arizona State University.
It was recorded on a reel-to-reel tape by Lincoln Ragsdale Sr. and later donated to a local Goodwill store, according to an account published by ASU.
The recording was purchased for $3 at the store in 2013 by Mary Scanlon who turned it over to an ASU archivist to authenticate.
Government agencies, banks, many corporate offices and most schools are closed for the federal holiday.
