Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute

Photograph by David Gonzales. Guests explore the King Institute's exhibit on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life during the open house event.

Photograph by David Gonzales. Guests explore the King Institute's exhibit on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life during the open house event.

Photograph by David Gonzales. Martin Luther King, III, and Arndrea Waters King sign books during the King Institute's open house event.

Photograph by David Gonzales. Guests and volunteers enjoy the reception during the King Institute's open house event.

After the panel discussion at Stanford University's Memorial Church, guests were invited back to the King Institute for tours and a reception in our new space as well as a book signing with the Kings. Thank you to all who celebrated with us! 🎉

📷: David Gonzales @gonzalesphoto

Photograph by David Gonzales. Stanford University President Jonathan Levin speaks with guests outside of Stanford's Memorial Church.

Photograph by David Gonzales. School of the Humanities and Sciences Dean Debra Satz speaks at Stanford's Memorial Church for the King Institute's grand opening celebration.

Photograph by David Gonzales. Evan Spiegel speaks during the panel discussion within Stanford's Memorial Church.

Photograph by David Gonzales. Martin Luther King, III, speaks during the panel discussion within Stanford's Memorial Church.

We were also honored to receive congratulations and words of encouragement from Stanford University President Jonathan Levin and School of the Humanities & Sciences Dean Debra Satz, who shared their aspirations for the King Institute's future.

📷: David Gonzales @gonzalesphoto

Photograph by David Gonzales. Panel guests Evan Spiegel; Arndrea Waters King; Marina Limón; Martin Luther King, III; and Dr. Lerone Martin speak at Stanford's Memorial Church during the King Institute's grand opening celebration.

Photograph by David Gonzales. Dr. Lerone Martin speaks at Stanford's Memorial Church.

Photograph by David Gonzales. Panel guests Evan Spiegel; Marina Limón; Arndrea Waters King; Martin Luther King, III; and Dr. Lerone Martin pose within Stanford's Memorial Church.

Photograph by David Gonzales. Panel guests Evan Spiegel; Arndrea Waters King; Marina Limón; Martin Luther King, III; and Dr. Lerone Martin speak at Stanford's Memorial Church during the King Institute's grand opening celebration.

The King Institute was delighted to launch our grand opening celebration with a distinguished panel discussion at Stanford's Memorial Church, featuring esteemed guests Evan Spiegel '12; Arndrea Waters King; Marina Limón '25; Martin Luther King, III; and Dr. Lerone Martin.

Martin Luther King III speaks to a Stanford University classroom. Photograph by David Gonzales, @GonzalesPhoto.

Happy birthday to Martin Luther King, III! As we celebrate your special day, may your tireless pursuit of love and equality embolden us all to strive for a brighter tomorrow! 🎉

Read more here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-martin-...

Visitors explore the King Institute's exhibit that chronicles major events in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life.

King Institute director Dr. Martin poses with one of the Institute's former student researchers.

Stanford alumni tour the King Institute's new office space on the Main Quad.

Stanford alumni tour the King Institute's new office space on the Main Quad.

This weekend, we were thrilled to host Stanford alumni—including former King Institute affiliates, employees, and student researchers—for #StanfordReunion! Thank you so much for visiting. We were proud to show you our new space!

We are honored to be entrusted with preserving and promoting the King legacy. Thank you to Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King for joining us on this historic occasion!

There’s something powerful about being in a sacred space — you can feel the weight of history, the celebrations held, the tears shed, the prayers that have been whispered, the peace that lingers in the air.

We are honored to be entrusted with preserving and promoting the King legacy! Thank you to Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King for joining us on this historic occasion.

Stanford celebrates grand opening of Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute The grand opening in Memorial Church included a panel highlighting King’s legacy as a scholar, activist and human being. The Institute will digitize the King Papers to expand global access, inspiring ...

Wonderful evening at Stanford celebrating the grand opening of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Honored to reflect on my father’s legacy of scholarship and activism and moved by the passion of young people continuing his work.

stanforddaily.com/2025/10/15/s...

King plays pool in Chicago in 1966. Photograph by Bob Fitch, courtesy of the Bob Fitch Photography Archive, Stanford University Libraries.

🎉 It's #Friday and we're more focused on our party prep than King is on sinking that tricky shot 🎱️!

Don't forget to RSVP for our Tuesday, October 14th Grand Opening. See the link below for details!

During a meeting between the attorney general and agent Courtney Evans on 10 October, the FBI weaponized King aide Stanley Levison's alleged Communist ties to justify expanding surveillance on King and the broader civil rights movement. Learn more here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/federal-bure...

The FBI had requested to wiretap King adviser Clarence Jones as well as King himself in July 1963, but Kennedy left the authorization for King's wiretap unsigned at that time. Despite his misgivings, Kennedy ultimately bowed to FBI pressure after they sent a new authorization form on 7 October.

Attorney general Robert F. Kennedy (left) meets with civil rights leaders including King, Dorothy Height, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, and A. Philip Randolph in the White House's Rose Garden on 22 June 1963. Photograph by Cecil Stoughton, courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, White House Photographs.

This week in 1963, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy authorized the FBI to wiretap the phones at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Atlanta headquarters as well as at King's home. He later claimed there would have been “no living with the Bureau” if he had not signed the authorization.

MLK & today: Fostoria native, Stanford professor delivers Kaleidoscope address Dr. Lerone Martin spoke about Martin Luther King Jr.'s work and how it pertains to today at a Kaleidoscope Community event in Mansfield.

"All you have to have is a heart to serve. All you have to do is figure out how you can use your time, your talent, or your treasure, to help bring about the end of the triple evils.”

- Dr. Lerone Martin, Kaleidoscope Community Conversations, 10/2/2025

King Institute embraces new home on Main Quad The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute has moved to Building 370 and will officially open its doors with an Oct. 14 event featuring a pane

Dream big with us as we unveil our brand new space, featured in today's Stanford Report! 🌟 Learn more about how King's life influenced the design of the space by clicking below, and join us for our Open House on Tuesday, October 14th to experience the King Institute's new home in person.

Learn more:

The event invitation reads: "Richland County Foundation presents Kaleidoscope Community Conversations, featuring Dr. Lerone Martin, nationally respected educator and scholar. Dr. Lerone A. Martin is the Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University and a leading national voice on religion, race, and American public life. An award-winning scholar and educator, his work has been featured by NPR, PBS, and The New York Times. Thursday, October 2 at 5:30 p.m., hosted on the Renaissance Stage."

Get ready, Ohio! 💫 Dr. Lerone Martin is bringing MLK's powerful message of community and compassion to the Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield on Thursday, October 2. 🕊

The invitation to the King Institute's October 14th grand opening on the Stanford campus lists featured speakers for the event, including Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, Evan Spiegel, Dr. Lerone Martin, and Marina Limón. The event will also feature remarks from School of Humanities and Sciences Dean Debra Satz and Stanford President Jonathan Levin.

Join us as we make history at the King Institute's grand opening on October 14th!

Register here: conta.cc/4mxQxYrs

In his 18 September 1963 eulogy for Wesley, Collins, and McNair, King encouraged mourners to “be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers.”

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church had been used as a headquarters for demonstrations during the Birmingham campaign earlier that year. At the time of the 15 September 1963 bombing, local and state officials were also attempting to circumvent federal court orders to desegregate schools.

The 25 February 2010 photograph shows the interior of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Photograph by Carol M. Highsmith, courtesy of The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

62 years ago, white supremacists bombed Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing four young girls: Cynthia Dionne Wesley, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Rosamond Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair. In the aftermath, Virgil Ware and Johnny Robinson, both teenage boys, were also murdered.

"We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action . . . Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world." --Martin Luther King, Jr., "Beyond Vietnam," 4 April 1967

Director Dr. Lerone Martin shows the King family exhibits on Dr. King's life within the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute's new office on Stanford's campus.

Dr. Lerone Martin shows the King family an exhibit on Dr. King's life within the new office space for the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute.

Members of the King family examine a document within the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute's new exhibit on Dr. King's life.

Martin Luther King III sits and laughs at a conference table with Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute Director Dr. Lerone Martin.

The Kings recently explored the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute's new exhibits with Director Dr. Lerone Martin. Come check them out for yourself at our Grand Opening on October 14th!

King Institute director Dr. Lerone Martin shows the King family the Institute's new exhibit on Dr. King's life while current staff and students converse at the conference table.

The King family speaks with current King Institute students within the Institute's new conference room and exhibit.

The King family poses with King Institute staff and students as well as other members of the Stanford community within the King Institute's new conference room and exhibit.

The King family poses with King Institute staff and students within the King Institute's new conference room and exhibit.

This Labor Day weekend, we were honored to welcome @officialmlk3.bsky.social and his family to the new home of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute! Thank you Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, and Yolanda Renee King for your continued support of our work.

Learn about how the 28 August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom placed pressure on Congress to pass comprehensive civil rights legislation:

He later remembered of the March, "And all of a sudden this thing came to me that … I'd used many times before … 'I have a dream.' And I just felt that I wanted to use it here … I used it, and at that point I just turned aside from the manuscript altogether. I didn’t come back to it." Read more:

King had previously given iterations of his “I Have a Dream” speech at least six times in 1962 and 1963—in Albany, Georgia; Rochester, New York; Rocky Mount, North Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama; Detroit, Michigan; and Chicago, Illinois.

The photograph depicts a procession of March on Washington demonstrators, many of whom are holding signs demanding equal rights, integrated schools, decent housing, and an end to bias. The two women in the foreground are sisters Delores Coleman (left) and Elsie Eatman (right). Photograph by Warren K. Leffler, courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

#OnThisDay in 1963, 200,000 demonstrators gathered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In the final address of the day, following musical performances and speeches from other leaders, King departed from his prepared remarks to speak extemporaneously about his dream for the nation.

Three things to know about the recently released MLK records So far, scholars haven’t found anything surprising in the newly unsealed federal documents related to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., says Leron

King Institute director Dr. Lerone Martin discusses insights from the recent release of King assassination files: “The real story here is not about the purported failings of a human being; it is about what happens when you have a government that is not accountable to the people that it governs."