In Black America; Martin Luther King Statue Dedication on UT Austin Campus

You From the Longhorn Radio Network, the University of Texas at Austin, this is in Black America. Today is the first time in the 116-year history of the University that a statue of an African American has been erected on campus.

Finally, it is fitting that the statue looks out toward East Austin to a community that has produced great leaders, ordinary citizens and exceptional students who fought for the same dream that Dr. King had. Today is a historic day. From this day forward, the presence of this statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will say that the University of Texas at Austin of the 21st century is not only a University of the 1st class, but a University that serves and embraces all Texans. Terry Wilson, Executive Director, Office of Community Relations and Chair, the Martin Luther King Jr. statue committee, the University of Texas at Austin. On September 24, 1999, the unveiling and dedication ceremonies took place on the East Mall of the UT Austin campus.

The 12-foot tall bronze sculpture of the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shown to the public for the first time. Created by Jeffrey and Anankova Rilla, the sculpture portrays King dressed in his Dr. Yorove as a philosopher. It is placed on a bronze pedestal reminiscent of the pulpit used at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church. The full-size statue is one of only two on university campuses in the world. I'm John L. Hanson Jr. and welcome to another edition of In Black America. On this week's program, the UT Austin celebrations to unveil the Martin Luther King Jr. sculpture in Black America. It is truly a very special honor and privilege to be here this day as this work that has gone on ten years is in a sense finalized.

I want to first say to President Faulkner, all of the administrators, faculty and staff, particularly Terry Wilson, and most particularly to Jeff and Anankova Rilla for dedicating three years of their lives to capturing the essence of what Martin Luther King Jr. stood for. Martin Luther King III, the idea to erect a sculpture of the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the University of Texas at Austin campus, was suggested in the 1970s. It wasn't until the fall of 1987 that student organized the Martin Luther King Jr. sculpture foundation. Over the next several years, student organizers met with university officials who authorized $150,000 for the statue's pedestal,

but were told they would have to raise the funds for the statue themselves. In 1995, a breakthrough came in the spring semester when a student referendum passed by a two-third majority vote. This past September, under the noon day Texas guy, the Martin Luther King Jr. sculpture on the U.T. Austin campus was unveiled, the following is an excerpt of the dedication ceremonies. Twelve years ago, three students at the University of Texas at Austin had a dream. They had a dream to the statue of a great hero who represented the best ideals of America, which stand out among the statues which line the South Mall of the campus. These students had a dream that a statue of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would fill a void on the grounds of the University of Texas, the flagship University of this great state. But there was a barrier to making their dream a reality. There were no funds to create and erect a statue to honor Dr. King.

So time passed. Five years ago, three new students found a way to remove the barrier to creating and installing a statue to honor Dr. King. These three students dreamed that all students who were enrolled at the University of Texas could pay for the statue by adding one dollar to their student fees every semester for four years. The student body overwhelmingly approved the new fee that funded the sculpture of Dr. King. Three years ago, a committee of students and administrators were appointed to make the dream of erecting a statue of Dr. King a reality. The committee and consultation with art experts asked artists from around the nation to propose a vision and submit a miniature representation of a statue they would stand here on the East Mall. The artists were told that the statue of Dr. King would gaze out toward the library of LBJ, the 36th president of the United States, who signed landmark legislation, outlawing segregation and discrimination in almost every aspect of American life. The committee and consultation with art experts and with feedback from the student body agreed that the artist, Jeffrey and Anna Kovarilla from Chicago, best captured Dr. King and what he stood for.

At five feet six inches, Dr. King was not a tall man, but he is a giant in American history, a husband, a father of four, a man of the cloth, Dr. King put his life on the line for his dream of a better America. In 1955, Dr. King was a young minister, only 26 years old when he agreed to speak out against the plurable treatment of blacks and Montgomery, Alabama. Miss Rosa Parks had been arrested for simply refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. Throughout the South, including Texas, blacks were denied the rights we take for granted today, rights that were only a dream in 1955.

Back then, and for some years afterwards, black and white children weren't allowed to go to the same schools. Blacks couldn't sit down to eat in white-owned restaurants, and blacks weren't permitted to drink water from the same fountain as whites. And in cities and rural communities across the South, blacks were barred from voting in local, state, and national election. Here in Texas, my in-laws voted, but they had to pay a poll tax to do so. Dr. King did not single-handedly wipe out segregation and discrimination. There were many great leaders, ordinary men and women, college students and children, throughout Texas, the South, and the nation, who fought for the dream that Dr. King described in 1963, as he stood before the Lincoln Memorial, looking out at 250,000 people who had come to March on Washington. Dr. King probably best articulated the dream that he shared with our parents and grandparents, and he died for the dream of a better America.

Dr. King was assassinated while standing on the balcony outside his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. He had gone to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers, campaigning for a better standard of living. When Dr. King was killed, he left a wife and four young children, and a nation that was stunned and outraged, that this pence of peace, who advocated nonviolence and dreamed of a better America, would be struck down by an assassin's bullet. It is fitting as we prepare to celebrate the start of a new century, and millennium, that we gather today to unveil a statue of a great American hero. It is fitting as we look to the 21st century, that we have committed to changing the artistic landscape on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. Terry Wilson, Chair, the Martin Luther King Junior Statute Committee.

Martin Luther King III was only seven when his father was assassinated on April 4, 1968. As the elders of the slain civil rights leader, he is so far the only family member to hold elective office. At age 41, he was a county commissioner in Fulton County, Georgia, from 1987 to 1993. Also, he founded America's United Forferment of Action, and last year, he became the fourth president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Your organization has father helped found and led to national prominence in the 1950s and 60s. This sculpture will be here for many, many years, so that when people from all over the world come to this campus, that they know and hopefully can understand that which Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to do. It is very special also to be here and hear music, music by a gospel choir from the University, music by other young people of this community, and music by children, as well as words that were recited by the Mary Jane.

By the Mary Jane Sims Elementary School Choir. I cannot say enough about how honored I am to be here this day. Now, while I have had the pleasure of attending many street dedications and other dedications in memory of my father, I was particularly moved by the story behind this magnificent sculpture. For if there was ever a story that epitomizes what the civil rights movement was all about, it is the story of the effort of the students of UT to erect this statue.

Victor Hugo often said that there is nothing more powerful in all the world than an idea whose time has come. In 1955, Martin Luther King Jr. and others had the idea that the time had come for a segregated America to end. In 1987, a group of students here at this great university had the idea that the time had come for a statue to be erected on this campus. And in 1999, on this day, the time has finally come for us to rejoice in the power of an idea. Like students who sat in lunch counters throughout the south, the students who worked on this project refused to be turned around.

Like the freedom riders who rode the buses to desegregate transportation on our nation's highways, you refused to be turned around. Like those who continued to fight for justice and equality in our nation and in our world, you refused to be turned around. And so on behalf of the family of Martin Luther King Jr., I say thank you to each and every one of you. In the spirit of my father, as I applaud your actions and thank you for your efforts, I want to share some words that I often use and I hope that as you continue, that these words maybe can be applied to. Your lives as you make decisions for in our lives every day, we do have to make decisions.

Some decisions are difficult decisions and some are easy, but I remember the words of my father and I'm honored today to also be here with one who. A pharmacal through photography, my father's life, Flip Shoki. But my father said that the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in times of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy. On some questions, cowardice ask, is a position safe, expediency ask, is position politic, then it's the ask, the question is a position popular, but that something deep within side call conscience ask, is a position right? Sometimes he went on to say, we must take positions that are neither safe nor popular nor politic, but we must take those positions because our conscience tells us they're right.

And so I say to you today as you go through life making decisions, hopefully you always utilize the ingredients of conscience because our consciences will not leave us wrong. And finally, I want to leave you with these words. As a small child, as you know, I lost my father. I lost my uncle about a year after my father through a mysterious drowning. About the age of 16, my grandmother was gunned down by an assassin's bullet also in the church while playing the Lord's Prayer. I didn't know how we were going to make it through those difficult years. But people throughout our nation and our world were praying for us.

And I just want you to know, as I close the prayer, changes things. But prayers cannot be answered unless they are prayed. The words say life without purpose is barren indeed. There can't be a harvest unless you plant seed. There can't be attainment unless there's a goal for man as just a robot unless there's a soul. We send no ships out, no ships will come in for unless there's a contest. Nobody can win for games cannot be won unless they are played and prayers cannot be answered unless they are prayed. So whatever is wrong with your life today, I'm here to tell you and I'm convinced that you will find a solution if you kneel down and pray. Not just for pleasure and enjoyment and health, not just for honor's prestige and wealth, but pray for purpose to make life worth living in. Pray for the joy of unselfish giving for great is your gladness and rich your reward when you make your life's purpose the choice of the Lord's. Thank you very much and may God bless you always.

So it's 1993, Martin Luther III has been a motivational speaker, community and human rights activist and has worked with Atlanta area youth groups. Last year he became the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for president and the first who is not a minister. I asked him what does it mean to have this statue on UT Austin campus. I think it means a number of things, but more probably most importantly is that on this very very large campus in the state of Texas where there are already statues of Confederate generals, which is a part of history heritage, whether or not it was a very painful, of course, part of history heritage for people of African descent. But it is a part of history and heritage, but to bring Martin Luther King Jr. on the campus, I think it's very very significant, particularly as we get ready to go into the new millennium in a state where there's still a lot of racism and oppression. And so this has got the resolution of issues, but what it is is that saying we acknowledge that this man made a contribution to our nation and brought people together.

But also I want to remind people that the work is nowhere near finished. We've taken over the leadership of LCLC, the organization and your father helped find how has that come along. LCLC is in a transitional period in terms of our focus for the 21st century. We're still a human and civil rights organization. In fact, when incidents occurred in Jasper, we had people from our Dallas chapter to go down to Jasper every day and represent us. As long as people are being mistreated and justice occurs, we're going to be in the forefront of that struggle. Secondly, this is the age of technology, and so we're trying to get our technology together so that we can communicate with those who are followers, but also to teach and train them in the current technology. So that we can utilize emails, so they can utilize our whole computer link up that we are doing because we have about 100 chapters across the country.

So we're moving in the right direction. How are you going about attacking more young people to the organization? We're doing two things in relationship with that. Number one, our focus is on young people. We have a call to manhood program and a call to womanhood program. We have the works specifically with at-risk young people in 10 different cities. We've targeted also to help get young men and women elected who are about 20, 21 years old. So we believe that if young people are elected officials, then they will, in fact, bring others because others are going to, I believe, follow their peers. And so we've made a very specific effort to target 10 cities, and that is how we want to build between that and our call to manhood and womanhood program. We're also dealing with the criminal justice system, so there are a number of issues that we're dealing with that impact young people.

After the Texas State Legislature approved the financing package and a student referendum endorsed a $1 per student per semester fee to pay for the statue, a call was sent out to qualified artists, with the assistance of the Texas Commission on the Arts. A panel of distinguished jurors reviewed the submissions and nominated five artists. The recommendations were approved by the MLK selection committee, and the finalists were awarded $5,000 to create a model of the proposed sculpture. The committee with the assistance of the jurors selected the verulers at the artists who work most successfully conveys Dr. King's message of equality and brotherhood. As 1986, Jeffrey and Anna Kovarilla has been collaborating on commission works of sculpture. In late 1996, they began to read books on Dr. King. They visited his home, church, and museum center in Atlanta and watched videotapes. First, they choose five finalists, and then we were invited here, and then we thought about, that's how we designed them.

And that's how we tried to, you know, went to Atlanta King Center. We did all the research, a lot of discussion, but the idea was done in that day because it's so important to harmonize with the site, with the specific sculpture. And relationship to environment are crucial, I think, for success of outdoor sculpture. So we looked at the level of the trees, we looked at the general coloration of the buildings and the scale, and we planned the site at Nusper Portions as a result. But lots of research, that is so important, lots of research. How do you grow about building a sculpture? Oh, do you explain, Jeff? Well, you have to start off with a little model, because without a little model, you're lost. And then once that's accomplished, then you make an armature, which is made out of wood, and pipe, and wire, and all kinds of inner construction. Because clay, by itself, can't support itself. It's very soft and heavy.

And once that's done, we get the gesture, get all the proportions right, and then we add the clay on. And that's very laborious. It takes a lot of people to help us. And then we start sculpting away, making measurements with calipers using proportion wheel to get the right proportions from the model and to the enlarged final piece. And then once it's done, that takes about, or maybe three or four months of just sculpting and clay. And we had a sculpt, because the piece is so high, we had to sculpt the piece in two sections. We had the clay pedestal on one side of the studio, and then of course we had the Dr. King figure himself on the other part of the studio. So when you look at the clay piece, actually the first stage is like a skeletal stage. So all the inner structures, the second stage is a nude stage, so Dr. King was nude first too. And then we sculpt the cloth on. So because of the reason is, if you sculpting your clothes right now, it looks boring. It's not exciting. So actually we have to enhance it. It's almost like improvise all different movements.

So that movement is to help hold the sculptures. The clothing should also imply the structure and form underneath. It can't be just something that you kind of drape over. It plays a very heavy material, so you have to make your illusion of that lightness too. And the final product is made of what? Silicone bronze. Bronze is an alloy comprising copper, zinc, lead, tin, and a little bit of silicon. And this bronze is extremely suited for outdoor work. It's very permanent. It's very resistant to acid rain and other elements that are in the air. And the statue stands hot tall and how much does it weigh? It weighs 2,600 pounds. And from the bronze piece, from the bronze pedestal to the top of his head is 12 feet high, total. The pedestal is a 4 feet and actual sculpture Dr. King is 8 feet. Jeffrey and Anacovarillo. The statue of the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is the only college-based sculpture of the civil rights leader outside his alma mater, Morehouse College in Atlanta.

It is the first African American statue on the UT Austin campus in his 116-year history. Although it took 12 years to raise the fund for the statue, the 5-4 Increased Minority Representation on campus began in the 1960s. Colteo Davis hangs with a student back then. Her company hangs, eagles, and waters constructed the base for the statue. I am a graduate of the university, undergraduate as well as graduate school. And Kirk and I have been able to build a successful construction business here in Austin. And we saw this opportunity and one just go for it and much to our delight. On bid day, we attended the bid opening. There were two other bidders other than ourselves and turns out we were the little bidder. So we were excited about that. We went on to sign a contract and get started with this work. With any particular specifications for the base? Oh yeah, the University of Texas physical plant department was responsible for the actual design of the base and everything, all of the specifications that go into a project like this. And our job was to take those specifications and make them into a reality.

And what is the base actually made of? I mean, I asked Kirk to answer that question. Well, the base consists of several parts, two different stones, one is limestone, and one is dolomite. And how long did it take you all to construct a base? Two months. Two months. And a cost of what? The actual cost of construction. Well, somewhere we're still involved in making a few additions. So probably somewhere between at the end of this thing, close to maybe 150,000. Being a form of student here at the University of Texas at Austin and this project started long before the 10 years it actually takes to finance the project. What does it mean to you as an ex-student being involved in the project, but also seeing the project come through fruition? Well, it means an awful lot to me because I remember being here in 1969 and it was a very tumultuous year following the very tumultuous 1968 when Dr. King was assassinated. Now, remember John that at that particular time we didn't know really how to react of the 30,000 students at the University of Texas less than 300 or black, me being one of those.

And we wanted to see significant changes at this university. We wanted to see black studies programs. We wanted to see more students recruited. We wanted to see black faculty brought on board. And one of the things we also wanted, and in fact, in a set of demands presented to the University, wanted to see something to commemorate Dr. King. So to have been a part of those meetings with students who are just searching for a way to connect, then to actually present those demands to the University. To now be a part of this thing coming to fruition and seeing the statue constructed before us now is, I just can't really tell you in words what it means to me personally. Cotillo Davis-Haines. If you have questions, comments or suggestions asked your future in Black America programs, write us. Also, let us know what radio station you heard us over.

The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or of the University of Texas at Austin. Until we have the opportunity again for IBA Technical Producer Cliff Hargrove, I'm John L. Hansen, Jr. Thank you for joining us today, and please join us again next week. Cassette copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in Black America Cassettes. Communication Building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. That's in Black America Cassettes, Communication Building B, UT Austin, Austin, Texas, 78712. From the University of Texas at Austin, this is the Longhorn Radio Network. I'm John L. Hansen, Jr. Join us this week on in Black America. This sculpture will be here for many, many years so that when people from all over the world come to this campus,

that they know and hopefully can understand that which Martin Luther King, Jr. was trying to do. The Martin Luther King Jr. statue on UT Austin campus this week on in Black America.