The Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department documents and preserves the history of Brandeis University, including the University's rich history of involvement with the Civil Rights movement and Social Justice movements in general. 

Resources in the exhibit:  Accompanying the "Icons of the Civil Rights Movement" exhibit on the third floor of the Goldfarb Library was a display case featuring photogrpahs and other materials associated with Civil Rights and Brandeis's history with the movement.  The materials were selected by the MLK Scholars and Friends group and Archives and Special Collections team.

Resources online:  What follows below is only a small sample of the rich collections curated by the Archives and Special Collections team, many of which are accessible online.

On April 3, 1957, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at Brandeis University as part of the Helmsley Lecture series. The six-part series addressed the topic of race relations and included talks by Bruno Bettelheim and E. Franklin Frazier.

At the time of his Brandeis visit, Dr. King was the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama and President of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization that led the Montgomery bus boycott (1955-56). Earlier that year, he had been elected President of the newly-founded Southern Christian Leadership Conference. A recent Gallup Poll indicated that he was already – at the age of 28 – among the most admired religious leaders in the world.

King’s talk was entitled “Justice without Violence” and addressed the segregation crisis in the South and his theory and practice of non-violent resistance. Following an introduction by Brandeis Sociology Professor, Jerome Himelhoch, King spoke for 45 minutes, then opened the floor for questions. His presentation was followed by an informal reception attended by Brandeis community members and supporters.

Rev. King returned to Brandeis University in 1963, shortly before the historic March on Washington.

On January 8, 1969 approximately seventy African-American students took control of Ford and Sydeman Halls. The students quickly presented the administration with a list of ten demands for better minority representation on campus. Although the administration did not come to an agreement on all ten demands, the students left Ford and Sydeman Halls on January 18th, eleven days after the occupation began. The administration did grant most of the students amnesty and President Morris Abram stated that every legitimate demand would be met in good faith.