Volume 3: Birth of a New Age,
December 1955-December 1956

On 10 December Hill, dean of Howard University's Rankin Chapel, had commended King for his talks at the university on 6 December, when King delivered a morning sermon, "Remember Who You Are?" followed by a dinner address, "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life." "It is difficult for us to estimate the tremendous amount of inspiration and good which [accrued] to the students of Howard University as a result of your visit," Hill commented. On the evening of his Howard visit, King also spoke at an NAACP mass meeting; over the course of the day, one newspaper reported, more than four thousand people heard King's words.

Dean Daniel G. Hill
Howard University
Washington 1, D.C.

Dear Dean Hill:

Thanks for your very kind letter of December 10. Absence from the city has delayed my reply.

Let me thank you again for your kind hospitality on my visit to the campus of Howard University. I will long remember the rich fellowship we had together and the total experience. My only regret is that an extremely busy schedule made it necessary for me to rush in at the last moment and leave immediately after my presentation.

After returning to Montgomery I became aware of the fact that our Institute on Non-Violence and Social Change will be an annual event. It will take place around the fifth of December of each year. In the light of this I find it necessary to make some changes in the tentative commitment that I made with you in Washington for the Annual Day of Prayer on Thursday, December 5, 1957. I am more than sorry that this conflict has arisen. I look forward with great anticipation to being able to come back to Howard University. If there is any other date available in the Fall of 1957, I will be more than happy to consider it. Please feel free to contact me concerning the possibility of such.

I have enjoyed very much reading "Well-Springs of Life." You certainly did a masterful job of editorship. You have my prayers and best wishes for continued success in the noble work that you are doing.

With warm personal regards, I am

Sincerely yours,
M. L. King Jr.,
President

MLK:mlb

TLc. MLKP-MBU: Box 82.

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