I saw last night that after years of trying to secure a buyer, the heirs of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King have decided to auction off the bulk of his papers and archival materials at Sotheby's on June 30. The papers include materials that had been stored at the financially troubled King Center in Atlanta, as well as a trove of valuable letters that were in Mrs. King's basement. Among the documents, according the The New York Times, are a draft of Dr. King's Nobel Prize acceptance speech, an annotated copy of 'Letter From Birmingham Jail' and a program from the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on which Dr. King scribbled notes for a speech about John F. Kennedy's assassination." Estimates range from $15 to $30 million for the entire cache. Although I understand that the King family may need the money, it's tragic that these invaluable documents, which are central to understanding the life and work of one the most important African Americans, and thus of African-American and American history, could possibly be divided up and sold off. I wonder who'll purchase the materials, if they'll purchase the entire archive or allow it to be broken, and if they'll donate it to an established, funded archive that will allow scholars and non-scholars to view the materials. Since it's unlikely that the family will withdraw the archive from auction, the ideal situation would be for someone with the wherewithal to purchase the entire archive (Oprah Winfrey; E. Stanley O'Neal; George Soros; etc.), then donate it to an institution that wants to host it, perhaps the King Center, Howard University or the Atlanta University Center, with additional, extensive funding to support it properly, and with the proviso that it be open and portions of it be exhibited regularly, with sufficient safeguards, to the widest possible range of individuals.World Cupping, Day 2
I caught parts of all three FIFA World Cup games today, and the best by far was the second, between tiny Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden. While the Swedish team isn't considered to be a strong as some of its European competitors, it was still full of proven stars and the prohibitive favorite over the Trinidadians. Yet despite losing their starting goalie to an injury during the warm-ups and a player, Avery John, to a red card, they got spectacular play from the sub goalie, Shaka Hislop, and kept the yellow-and-blues from scoring a goal. Without Avery John, the Trini defense, buoyed by attacking forward Dwight Yorke, who'd moved back to a posterior position, Carlos Edwards and Brent Sancho, met the challenge of Sweden's Atlan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Larsson and Freddie Ljungberg.
TRI : SWE, 10 June 2006, Dortmund, Germany
Shaka Hislop (T&T) averting a potential goal by Marcus Allbäck (SWE) Copyright: AFP / afp.com
TRI : SWE, 10 June 2006, Dortmund, Germany
Stern John (T&T) chesting the ball, in front of Olof Mellberg (SWE) Copyright: AFP / afp.com
T&T's next game will be against its former colonial overlord, England, which somehow defeated Paraguay. England's players looked listless, appearing to tread water, so to speak, after a David Beckham shot ricocheted off the head of Paraguay's captain, Carlos Gamarra and into his own goal, creating the first 1-0 "own goal" win in World Cup history. Much of the buzz around England concerned forward Wayne Rooney, who was hobbled with an injured foot but was still on the sidelines. I haven't seen Rooney play, and perhaps he really is as electrifying as some accounts suggest, but England surely is going to need someone or something to spark them if they're going to exceed the hype and get further than the second round. (After too many ridiculous rhapsodies to Beckham, Rooney and so on, and too many stupid commercials, I turned off ABC and turned on Univision. ¡Muchas gracias a ustedes!) Paraguay, which got off only 7 shots, wasn't impressive either.
Paraguayan midfielder Carlos Paredes (L) tries a shot as English goalkeeper Paul Robinson (R) attempts to block during their first round Group B 2006 World Cup football match at Frankfurt's World Cup Stadium, 10 June 2006. England were leading 1-0 in the second half. AFP PHOTO / VALERY HACHE
England 's Ashley Cole jumps on the back of teammate David Beckham after Beckham's free kick help score against Paraguay during their 2006 World Cup soccer match at the FIFA World Cup Stadium Frankfurt, Saturday June 10, 2006. Others right are from right Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, and Joe Cole. England plays in Group B against Paraguay, Trinidad and Sweden. (AP Photo/Lionel Cirroneau)
The third game featured the best squads to take the pitch so far, Argentina, against the orange-clad "Elephants" from civil war-split Côte d'Ivoire/Ivory Coast. Argentina's Hernan Crespo and Javier Saviola scored first half goals, but the Ivorian captain and English Premier League team Chelsea star, Didier Drogba, scored a comeback goal in the 83rd minute and for a brief moment made me think that his team might scratch out a tie. It wasn't to be. The interesting thing was Ivory Coast controlled the ball more, got off more corner kicks and shots on goal, and had fewer offsides, yet weren't able to convert. Argentina, on the other hand, made the most of its chances, at least in the first half, and if it can improve its level of play and lessen the mistakes, it could go very far in the tournament. I can't wait to see both teams play their next matches.
Argentinian defender Juan Pablo Sorin (L) vies with Ivorian defender Emmanuel Eboue during the 2006 World Cup group C football game Argentina vs. Ivory Coast, 10 June 2006 at Hamburg stadium. AFP PHOTO GABRIEL BOUYS Copyright: AFP / afp.com
Ivorian forward Didier Drogba celebrates after scoring during the 2006 World Cup group C football game Argentina vs. Ivory Coast, 10 June 2006 at Hamburg stadium. AFP PHOTO DANIEL Copyright: AFP / afp.com
One final match pitted about 200 Neo-Nazis against many more anti-Nazi and anti-fascist protesters, including some prominent German political figures, in Gelsenkirchen, the site of Group According to the EuroNews report and others I've seen, the anti-Nazi protesters threw fruit and chanted "Nazis out," but there were no injuries and no arrests.
I hadn't heard the news about the King papers. Over the years, as I understand it, the problem has always been the $30 million asking price. No one could afford it (or if so, was willing to pay it). I find the argument regarding the Joyce papers specious; earlier this year, in conjunction with the 90th Anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, documents and memorabilia (including the first draft of what became the Irish national anthem; death masks of early leaders; papers of the first signatory of the Proclamation, Thomas Clarke; Michael Collin's typewriter) related to the Irish struggle for independence were auctioned off with the hope that some Irish philanthropist or entity would purchase them so they wouldn't leave the country. Can you imagine? The Irish government was criticized for not showing interest, and the Director of the National Museum of Ireland denounced the sale of Irish history and its pricing, there was also an onsite protest. Despite public anger over the auction, it went on as planned. The auction (not single lot) reportedly raised $3.5 million. Of course the person or entity that acquires the single lot King papers has the option to then resell or disperse them in any way they see fit. I hope for the best, and concurr with your idea that the papers should be housed with the highest archival standards and widest public access possible.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I was wondering, do you think the neo-Nazi protests and threats have impacted the play at the World Cup?
Audiologo, great points. After you pointed out the faulty comparison with and specious argument concerning the Joyce papers, I thought a better comparison would have been the papers of Eamon de Valera, the Irish freedom fighter and first Taoseaich, say, who was an outsider (by birth and heritage), yet whose central role in Irish history is undeniable. Or any figure--though it's hard to find people exactly commensurate--who had an impact similar to that of Martin Luther King Jr. Even still, $30 million isn't too much to ask of those could afford the entire archive, especially now that new papers have come to light, and there are more multimillionaires and billionaires than ever in US history, and many institutions (though none of the HBCUs, I believe), have billion-dollar endowments. I do hope that someone who has the best interests of the papers at heart can purchase them as a whole, then donate them, with endowed funds, to ensure their future availability and viability. Ensuring that they were near the King Center in Atlanta, and Ebenezer Baptist Church would be a particularly wonderful gesture.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Neo-Nazi protests have impacted World Cup play at all. I also have heard that there have been any racial taunts of players, which has been a problem across Europe. The German organizers made sure that very few games were to be played in the East (only the matches in Berlin and Leipzig are taking place in what was the old East Germany); yet just hearing the name "Nuremberg" gives me a slight, uh, chill. And then there's Munich....
John, I agree the $30 million asking price is not completely unreasonable, and there are people and entities which are capable of meeting that fee. It's unfortunate that the $20 million agreement between the King Family and the Library of Congress (DC locale) fell apart. Apparently pricing and copyright issues came up, I'm not sure if the latter was due to the family's desire to retain copyright, but that's fairly common. Ironically the LOC could have saved themselves $10 million, but the Sotheby deal is three years old and it's the prestigious auction house which determined the collection's current worth. The Atlanta Journal Constitution has provided a more detailed piece than the NYT on the June 30th auction.
ReplyDeleteRe: World Cup, glad you haven't any negative impact from Neo-nazi behavior. Re: hearing names--Isn't amazing how the sound of a particular aggregation of consonants and vowels can hold and trigger so much of our body's historical memory, even if the memory is not immediately our own but secondary knowledge of a horrific historical legacy? Sometimes you gotta take a moment...