Newspaper Page Text
Vol. 81, Number 10
Morehouse College
November, 1981
The Purpose of the College Chapel
by Dr. Lawrence
Edward Carter
The Martin Luther King Jr.
Memorial Chapel is the
descendant and long shadow
of the Springfield Baptist
Church of Augusta, the
Friendship Baptist Church of
Atlanta, and Sale Hall Chapel
on the Morehouse College
campus. In the history of the
Morehouse College Chapel
hour we have seen and
experienced a Force that
equips men for authentic
living, clarifies vocational
callings, changes lives, unites
families, and causes students
to respond seriously to Cod’s
activity in the world. This has
been the case at Morehouse
since 1867. This Force was
recognized in a special way in
1910 when Sale Hall Chapel
was built which today is listed
on the Registry of Historic
Sites of National Interest. In
this Chapel excessive
departmentalism was
overcome and knowledge
was understood as having a
unitary nature with integrity,
honor, compassion, and
service as its end. Here,
students were reminded that
they had a -moral
responsibility to be
intelligent.
The trustees of the College
designated the new chapel a
memorial to an
internationally recognized
leader, Martin Luther King,
Jr., the college’s most
distinguished alumnus, the
second black American and
the youngest person in
history to be named a Nobel
Laureate for Peace. A
memorial ministry to Martin
Luther King, Jr. is of necessity
a symbol of human unity
grounded in mutual concern
and rooted in the Judaeo-
Christian-Hindu-Buddhist-
Islamic ethic of the “strength
to love.” Martin’s memorial
at Morehouse was dedicated
on February 18, 1978.
The College Chapel is a
peculiar and unique
institution within Morehouse
College and the Atlanta
University Center. The
Chapel was created by the
College; but, as a Christian
community, it owes its
ultimate accountability and
loyalty to God. This fact
constitutes its genius and
uniqueness. One mission of
the Chapel is to help the
College become a more
responsible agency. It fulfills
its mission primarily by
demonstrating the Christian
understanding of reality and
by calling attention to the
needs of the people. As the
spokesman for the Trustees
of Morehouse College, Dr.
Thomas Kilgore, Jr.,
Chairman of the Board of
Truestts, set the Chapel’s
mission in a holistic context
when he said:
In dedicating this building, I
wish to emphasize that it was
conceived and developed
chiefly as a chapel or as a
place for religious services
and that it will be used as a
facility for the religious,
cultural, educational, and
social development of our
Sir Arthur Lewis
at Morehouse
by Wendell Williams
On Wednesday night,
October 28, 1981, Sir Arthur
Lewis, the first black Nobel
Prize laureate in Economics,
spoke before a gathering of
about 600 AUC students and
faculty members in the
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Memorial Chapel. Admission
was free and the public was
cordially invited to attend.
Sir Arthur Lewis was this
year’s opening speaker for
the Sloan Foundation Lecture
Series sponsored by the
Department of Economics
and Business Administration
at Morehouse.
In light of the Cancun
summit, which involved
twenty-two nations in a
summitry on international
economic problems back on
October 22-23, Sir Arthur
decided to change his lecture
from The Economic Status of
Black Americans: Problems
and Prescriptions to The
Economics of Rich and Poor:
the Haves and the Have Nots.
Professor Lewis traced the
history of economic disparity
between rich and poor
nations of the world and
offered some solutions to
solving the problem of
economic inequality: (1)
“The poor nations of the
world must begin to produce
more themselves. . .” and (2)
“The nations of the Third
World must trade more with
each other. . .” Sir Arthur
recommended a program of
self-help and
interdependency because he
felt that negotiations
between rich and poor
nations aimed at closing the
disparity gap were not likely
to be very productive in the
face of our current world
recession.
Immediately following the
question and answer
segment of the program, a
reception was held in the
MLK Hall of Fame in which
refreshments were served
and informal conversation
took place between Sir
Arthur and members of the
audience.
The author of twelve books
and about 80 articles, official
papers and momographs, Sir
Arthur received his B.A. in
1937 and his Ph.D. in 1940
from the University of
London, and is currently the
James Madison Professor of
Political Economy at
Princeton University.
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Chapel, Morehouse
College. (photo by Brevard]
young people. To this end, I
am asking all of the members
of the Faculty, Staff, and
Student Body to devote their
sincerest efforts.
To accomplish this
memorial ministry to Martin
Luther King, Jr., the Chapel
does not simply echo the
prevailing views of society or
the College. The Chapel
speaks to the College; it does
not speak for the College.
Loyal critic, indeed, standing
fundamentally as a free
agency which the College
dares to maintain for that
(Continued on page 2)
Young Becomes
2nd Black Mayor
by Karl Robinson
With 100 percent city
precincts reporting, Andrew
Young — former Atlanta
congressman and American
United Nations Ambassador
beat state Rep. Sidney
Marcus for mayor in the city
“too busy to hate.”
Young, 49, received 65,798
votes or 55 percent to
Marcus’ 53,549 or 44 percent.
At approximately 11:30,
Mayor-elect Young and a
handful of his admirers and
family members slipped
through the side door of his
Spring St. headquarters
amidst heavy security to claim
victory to a crowded room of
well-wishers and
representatives from the
media. In his victory speech,
Young thanked Rep. Marcus
saying that he had more
“respect for him after the
campaign than I did before.”
Voter turnout was
considered to be light earlier
in the day with as much as 5
percentage points ahead in
some predominantly white
community precincts.
However as the day passed,
voters from predominantly
Black precincts began to vote
in heavier numbers after
hearing from the Young
Campaign that the turnout
was light.
The closing weeks of the
mayoral campaign were
stressful mainly due to Mayor
Maynard Jackson's statement
about some of Marcus’
supporters as “shuffling and
grinning Negroes.” Referring
to the racial tension which
arose, Young noted in his
speech that, “We have
determined to live together
in peace and harmony in all
the city of Atlanta. The
campaign put a strain on us
but there have been no
broken relationships, and
there will be none in the
future.”