ADDRESS BY CORETTA SCOTT KING ANTIOCH REUNION 2004

Coretta Scott King's '51 acceptance of the Horace Mann Award

Thank you President Joan Straumanis ’57, for your gracious introduction, and thank all of you for your warm welcome.

Mr. Dan Kaplan ’76, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mr. John Feinberg ’70, President of the Antioch Alumni Association, members of the Antioch faculty, administration and student body, members of the Yellow Springs community and other distinguished guests, it is a great pleasure to be here with you today and to participate in the Reunion weekend and celebration of the Antioch Sesquicentennial. I am so pleased to see former classmates and schoolmates in the audience today, Dr. Lonnie McDonald ’50, who I met during my second year at Antioch and we have remained friends for all of these years, Mary Leuba ’50 and others. I want to thank my children, who made time in their busy schedules to be with me here today: Yolanda, Martin III and Bernice. Two devoted staff members, Lynn Cothren and Patricia Lattimore are here as well.

I am especially delighted to take part in the 150 th anniversary celebration. When I think of Antioch’s pioneering accomplishments in the field of higher education and the distinguished alumni that Antioch has produced, I am very proud to be an alumnus of this unique institution. Antioch has blazed an indelible trail in academia that has inspired other colleges and universities to follow suit.

Antioch was among the very first colleges to have work-study programs and to institute elective choice for students in its curriculum. Indeed, Antioch has been the pace-setter among American colleges in empowering students to shape and design their own education. Antioch was also among the first to encourage people of color to enroll as students on an integrated basis. Antioch also lead the way in allowing women to become faculty members on the same basis as men. More than any other college I know of, Antioch has risen to the challenge of preparing students, not just for a career, but for life, through a truly, broad-based liberal arts education.

I thank you for presenting me this beautiful and prestigious award bearing the name of Antioch’s first president and great visionary, Horace Mann, as an Antioch Freshman, I remember being shown the monument to Horace Mann and reading the powerful words, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” These were his parting words to the class of 1859. These words provide a worthy challenge for every student and young person, indeed for all people of all ages. It is a challenge I took very seriously, and which became a paramount goal in my life. Horace Mann’s challenge is more relevant and compelling in our times than ever before, because humanity still needs victories and public-spirited people to win them. Every Antioch graduate shares in this obligation to do something for humanity, and many have risen to the challenge and made extraordinary contributions.

“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity” is not only Antioch’s motto, but also the central value of Antioch’s philosophy of education. It is such a strong and eloquently worded challenge that it calls every Antioch student to think seriously about what is most important in life. Antioch students learn that it’s not enough to have a great career, material wealth and a fulfilling family life. We are also called to serve, to share, to give and to do what we can to lift up the lives of others. No other college emphasizes this challenge so strongly. That’s what makes Antioch so special. That’s why I feel blessed to be an Antiochian and so honored to receive the Horace Mann Award for 2004.

Horace Mann’s challenge is not one that is easy to forget after graduation. It is a lifelong challenge that should be centered in the conscience of every Antioch alumnus. That’s why Antioch has produced so many leaders who have made significant contributions to human progress.

And so we Antiochians are heirs to a wonderful legacy of humanitarian service. Yes, it is a daunting responsibility as well. It is so much easier just to concentrate on developing our careers, fattening our bank accounts and feathering our nests. But Horace Mann understood that it is possible to have all those things and still feel empty inside. He understood that all of humankind was interconnected in some profound way, and that human fulfillment is best served when everyone rises together.

As my husband, Martin Luther King Jr., said, “We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” This is why service to others brings a unique sense of lasting fulfillment.

By emphasizing the challenge to win victories for humanity, the Antioch experience speaks to the heart and soul, as well as the mind. This is holistic education in the truest, deepest sense of the term, and no school does it better than Antioch.

The Antioch legacy embraces many of life’s most important values—equality, freedom, dignity for all, pioneering spirit, courage to change, creativity, balancing theory with practice and service to humanity, among others. We hear a lot of talk about values education these days. The wonderful thing about Antioch is that it is structured to encourage living according to these values. Antioch’s values education is in the structure and the curriculum. But even more important, it’s in the people, the faculty, administration and students. I’ve learned this is something not to be taken for granted, especially in today’s materialistic world.

Attending Antioch was an enormous change in my life, coming as I did from the rural south. Yet, education was a strong value in my family, and there was never any doubt that I would go to college. My parents did not have much formal education, but they were strongly committed to educating their children. As my mother said, “My children are going to college, even if it means I only have but one dress to put on.”

I was also prepared for Antioch by my education at the Lincoln School in Marion, Alabama, a very unique educational institution which shared in the progressive values that Antioch embraced. The Lincoln School was undoubtedly one of the finest schools in the entire south, and if I had gone to any other school in the south, I doubt I would have been as prepared academically for Antioch.

My older sister, Edythe, who some of you would remember, also attended the Lincoln School, and was a member of our high school chorus which toured and performed in Indiana and Ohio and sang at Antioch in the spring of 1942. Antioch had envisioned itself as a laboratory in democracy, but had no black students. In the summer of 1943, Antioch had decided to integrate its student body by offering Edythe a full scholarship, which included tuition and fees. She became the first African American to attend Antioch on a completely integrated basis, and was joined by two other black female students in the fall of 1943, pioneering is never easy, and all of us who followed my sister at Antioch owe her a great debt of gratitude.

My sister was and still is a fine writer, and in her letters to me from Antioch, she painted a wonderful picture of the vibrant intellectual life at Antioch. I was much impressed by her descriptions. And so, when I reached twelfth grade at Lincoln, I applied, was accepted and awarded a partial scholarship to Antioch.

I made many good friends at Antioch, some of whom I still keep in touch with. Yet, Antioch was not completely free from racial discrimination and prejudice. I did have one disappointing experience when Antioch’s supervisor of practice teaching and the president of Antioch at the time supported the Yellow Springs School Board after they refused to allow me to teach in the public schools. At that time, all of the teachers in the local public schools were white, even though the student body was integrated. I had the support of two wonderful faculty counselors, Mrs. Jesse Treichler and Dr. Walter Anderson, as well as some of my fellow students, but it wasn’t enough to change this unjust policy. And so I did two years of practice teaching to fulfill my requirement in the Antioch private school. This means that an exception was made in order for me to get my Ohio teaching certificate.

This was a very difficult experience and it made me determined to become more involved in addressing issues of social and political injustice. I had been active in the Ohio Progressive Party and I attended my first National Political Convention in 1948 as a student delegate. I was already a member of the campus NAACP, Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees, and I was also active in political and peace activities at Antioch. I developed a growing sense that I would become increasingly involved in the work of social reform.

During my Antioch experience with racial discrimination at Antioch a half century ago, Antioch was and still is much more advanced than most schools in overcoming racial discrimination and other forms of bigotry and prejudice. Antioch understood early on that colleges and universities in America must do more to recruit people of color. But racial injustice is like a tenacious virus, and it requires constant vigilance to keep it at bay.

And I am glad to see that Antioch today shares the conviction that diversity is not just about securing broad racial representation and greater opportunity for people of color. Diversity means students and faculty of varied religious, ethnic and age groups should also be well represented and respected on campus. The same is true for gay and lesbian people, people with disabilities and people from low-income families. The university should look like America—a vibrant multi-cultural mosaic. Colleges that maximize the diversity of their student body and faculty give their students a competitive edge over schools that are culturally monolithic.

At Antioch I faced other difficult challenges, as a young black woman coming from such a remote and rural part of the country. I believe most of my classmates were from urban centers, and they had lots of cultural opportunities growing up that were unavailable to me, even though I did have the benefit of attending the Lincoln School.

Like all college students, there were times when I felt inadequate, but fortunately for me Mrs. Jesse Treichler, who was the Assistant to the President at Antioch and the College’s fundraiser and also headed the Interracial Scholarship Fund, was assigned to be my counselor. A very caring and capable woman, Mrs. Treichler took a special interest in my growth and development, as well as all of the black students. When I felt discouraged and all I had left was tears and frustration, somehow Jesse Treichler would be there to lift me up and give me the strength and confidence to persevere. She was like a surrogate mother, a sister and a friend all in one. She wrote letter of recommendation on my behalf and made sure I had everything I needed. She used her fundraising skills to help me get a full tuition and fees scholarship to the New England Conservatory, where I could pursue training for my music career. She was a God-send in my life. Even though she is gone, her love, generosity, and kindness still inspire me.

Dr. Walter Anderson, who headed Antioch’s Music Department, was my second faculty counselor and was also a great blessing to me. Dr. Anderson, who died late last year, was not only a superb musician and a brilliant educator, but also one of the kindest and most caring human beings I have had the privilege of knowing. A man of extraordinary compassion and generosity, he was on of those rare people who enriched the lives of everyone who had the privilege to know him, and he had a lasting impact on my life. He was probably the most popular professor at Antioch College during my undergraduate experience, and he was a role model for me as well as the entire Antioch community. In addition to his remarkable professional accomplishments, Dr. Anderson also cared very deeply about helping disadvantaged people have a better life and I greatly admired his activist involvement in support of numerous humanitarian causes.

The Antioch experience strengthened my self-confidence immeasurably. I had decided in high school that I wanted to pursue a career in music when I went to college. Although Antioch did not offer a degree in music at the time, it did offer an opportunity to study privately. At Antioch I began to seriously study music under the tutelage of Dr. Anderson, and I performed several concerts and recitals as a solo vocalist. My major was Elementary Education combined with Music, but I took as many courses in music as Antioch offered, including choral practice, and studied privately piano, violin and vocal coaching. During my practice teaching, I especially enjoyed having the opportunity to teach music to students at the Antioch Laboratory School. My music training at Antioch and the New England Conservatory of Music enabled me to use my talent in support of the civil rights movement, doing benefit concerts for the movement. I raised and donated thousands of dollars from my freedom concerts to the civil rights cause. This was my unique contribution to the struggle, and it gave me a great sense of satisfaction and fulfillment.

The Antioch work-study program provided me with a wonderful experience, which demonstrated how theory and practice are combined in producing the most meaningful learning experience.

On the whole, I look back on my times at Antioch almost as a state of grace. Yes, I had my share of tough times and struggle at Antioch, and it was never easy, but it was such a fertile period for me, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and in many other ways. The excitement of being in this wonderful learning environment permeated every moment for me, and the extraordinary people who were my teachers, counselors and friends have influenced my life in numerous ways.

My Antioch experience was so rich and meaningful to me that it is an important part of who I am and all that I have accomplished. I feel that I own the Antioch community more than I can ever repay.

I feel that my training and experiences at Antioch helped to prepare me for my work in the civil rights movement. With its progressive outlook and its advanced attitudes on racial integration, Antioch gave me invaluable experience in interacting with people of difference races. The comfort level I had gained at Antioch was quite helpful in the civil rights movement in working with friends and supporters, as well as dealing with antagonists. I doubt any other school could have prepared my as well for meeting that challenge.

Antioch’s philosophy of holistic education, preparing the student not just for academic study but for life in general, was very much in keeping with my personal philosophy. I have always felt that it is important to integrate all aspects of one’s life into a harmonious whole, instead of compartmentalizing the roles we are called to play in life into rigid little boxes. Antioch affirmed a way of life that allowed me to better coordinate my roles as pastor’s wife, mother, friend, performing artist, civil and human rights activist, and as a person of faith.

Antioch was also ahead of its time in that it emphasized critical thinking. Antioch students have long been encouraged to speak out, to challenge orthodoxy, to question authority, to be open to new ideas and to exercise freedom of speech. Antioch faculty have encouraged students to be original and creative, and this is very important for developing wholeness in personality and for resolving conflicts in a constructive way. I certainly welcomed this philosophy, and it helped me to develop a flexible and creative style of problem solving that was very much compatible with my later work in the civil rights movement. I think it also helped me to appreciate the special genius of the philosophy of nonviolence and how it might be adapted in the African-American freedom struggle. I feel I was more receptive and open to the philosophy and strategy of nonviolence and its rigorous requirements because of Antioch’s emphasis on critical thinking and creative problem solving.

And so I celebrate Antioch’s 150 years of excellence in education with a special appreciation. Antioch was never one of those colleges that you just endure or breeze through on the way to bigger and better things. I think Antioch affects its students more deeply than most colleges, and it had a powerful resonance, a sense of community that stays with you throughout your life.

In recent years, other schools have begun to emulate some of Antioch’s pioneering educational philosophy and programs, with mixed results. But America is still a long way from having a truly progressive educational system, not only at the University level but also at the primary and secondary levels. Regretfully, funding for education is still a relatively low priority. All across the nation, public schools are dumping arts, music, and even driver education programs because of lack of funds. College tuition is becoming too expensive for many middle class families, as well as low-income families.

Our Congress, it seems, would much rather invest in questionable military actions that in the education of our young people. In addition to the terrible loss of human life in the war in Iraq, we have spent more than 200 billion dollars on the war, with no end in sight. How many young people could we send to college if we invested some of this money on education? How many schools could we improve? How many at-risk young people could we enroll in job training programs? These are some of the questions we need to be asking candidates for elective office.

In this crucial election year, few things are more important than a large turnout of young voters in November. In the last presidential election, only 42 percent of young people ages 18-24 went to the polls and voted nation-wide, compared to 70 percent of those over the age of 25. And there are big differences between the states in youth voter turnout. Up in chilly Alaska, 63 percent of the 18-24-year-olds voted in the 2000 elections, the highest youth turnout of all the states. But over in balmy Hawaii, only 22 percent of this age group went to the polls, the worst youth turnout of the 50 states. Here in Ohio, the youth turnout rate was 42 percent in the 2000 election, the exact same as the national average. But the turnout for those over age 25 was 62 percent, substantially lower than the national average of 70 percent.

The Ohio turnout rates are especially interesting this year because this is a key swing state, according to many political observers. This means that those of you who will be here in Ohio in November may well have an opportunity to make history. So I would encourage you to get involved in campaigns to increase voter registration, education and turnout. If you work hard enough and increase the turnout by just 5 or 10 percent, you just might decide the election.

Please, never forget that people have sacrificed and suffered and bled and died so we can all vote. We owe it to them and to our children to pick up the ballot and use that power for the good of the nation. It doesn’t matter how strong your opinions are. If you don’t use your power for positive change, you are indeed part of the problem, helping to keep things the way they are.

One of the reasons we lack adequate funding for education and a host of needed social programs is that women are poorly represented in our political institutions. I appeal to all of you to support women in our quest to bring a better gender balance to America’s political institutions. Today, women hold only about 13.6 percent of the seats in the U.S. Congress and 22.4 percent of the seats in the fifty state legislatures. America has no shortage of capable and committed women, and the time has come for women to take their rightful places in the legislative halls of America. Your support is urgently needed for women to achieve parity in leadership positions throughout our society.

Although our nation has made substantial progress in many aspects of race relations since the civil rights movement, racial discrimination continues to undermine America’s credibility as a champion of freedom and democracy. Indeed, until all races achieve a fair share of employment and educational opportunities in our society, our loftiest ideals about freedom and equality will be viewed as empty rhetoric by other nations. To provide a credible example of democracy, we must affirm the sisterhood and brotherhood of all people—every race, every ethnic group, every religion, women and men, gays and lesbians, people with disabilities—every person. That must be the American way, and we must take this conviction to the polls in November.

It is equally important that we become involved in working for needed reforms, like gun control, universal health care, affordable college tuition, better job training and more employment opportunities. Let us also support movements to stop pollution from fouling the air we breathe and the water we drink. And let us work to cure the debilitating neuroses of racism, sexism, homophobia and all forms of bigotry and discrimination. In this election year, it is important to take all of these concerns with you into the voting booth.

To be sure, we face daunting obstacles in the struggle for greater inclusiveness and social justice in our society. Yet we also have a responsibility to work harder for more just and compassionate policies toward the impoverished peoples of the world. Right now there are more than 600 million children living in poverty, according to the World Health Organization. About 150 million children are suffering from malnutrition and it is estimated that 11 million children will die of preventable illness this year.

One of the most important single reforms we can make to address the suffering of these children would be the complete cancellation of Africa’s debt to the west. America owes Africa far more than Africa owes America, and the time has come for America to begin repaying this debt.

The countries of sub-Saharan Africa, which includes 33 of the 41 most highly indebted countries, now owe more than 350 billion dollars in foreign debt to the U.S. and other wealthy nations. Some of these countries pay as much as 40 percent of their annual budgets just for interest on the debt, more than they can budget for health care or education.

This immoral, unjust debt is a shameful form of financial colonialism against nations that have been exploited for far too long. If we can create a successful global coalition to cancel the debt, the impoverished countries of the world can at long last use their resources to address their health care needs. Please join this movement to cancel the debt and be a part of the great struggle to create the beloved community.

What we most desperately need in our world today is a new nonviolent revolution, a revolution to provide hope and opportunity for disadvantaged people; a revolution that is set on eradicating racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and all forms of prejudice, bigotry and discrimination; a revolution that embraces justice, peace, sisterhood and brotherhood.

People of conscience everywhere must now rise up and come forward from the shadows. The world is waiting for the torch-bearers of human liberation to light the way forward to a brighter future.

Let us now rise up and lead our country and world to a greater destiny. Let us rise up and sound the knell for poverty, racism, war and violence. We’ve got to rise up with an unwavering determination and use our power to invigorate democracy and reclaim our environment from the ravages of industrial pollution. Rise up and lead nonviolent movements to feed the hungry and work for peace and human rights for all people in every nation.

Rise up, now, with an indomitable spirit of justice, compassion and love, united and determined to create the beloved community of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream. If we meet this challenge with courage and determination, we will not only help make a better community, nation and world, but stronger and more fulfilled human beings of ourselves.

With this commitment, we can become a powerful force for a more compassionate and loving world. If we come forward now with courage and determination, we can lead the way to a new era of hope and opportunity and a world where peach with justice for all is no longer a distant dream, but a glowing reality.

Thank you and God bless you all.

COPYRIGHT©
CORETTA SCOTT KING
JUNE 25, 2004

"It doesn't matter how strong your opinions are. If you don't use your power for positive change, you are indeed part of the problem, helping to keep things the way they are."
-Coretta Scott King '51

Originally featured on antioch-college.edu in the Fall 2004 Antiochian