This month in history (28 years ago)
In 1989, California State Assembly Speaker Willie Brown Jr. gave the opening address at Hill Auditorium as part of the University of Michigan’s celebrations honoring the great civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Brown gave his presentation to a crowd of more than 300 students, faculty and Ann Arbor residents. He cautioned the audience against reducing King’s memory to a myth, and implored them to “evaluate how Martin lived and (how we can) replicate it.” According to The Michigan Daily archives, in a private interview after his presentation, Brown lauded the increased enrollment of minority students at U-M, but maintained that the amount of these students on campus needed to expand even more. He also stressed the importance of U-M retaining these students once they enrolled.
— from The Michigan Alumnus and The Michigan Daily archives
