Newcastle University

Guests from both sides of the Atlantic filled King's Hall on 5 October to celebrate the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King Jr – 45 years after he collected an honorary degree from Newcastle University.

Dr King was made an Honorary Doctor of Civil Law in a ceremony in King's Hall in November 1967 – less than five months before he was assassinated. Newcastle was the only UK university to honour him during his lifetime.

The public lecture, held in association with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), featured speakers from the civil rights movement, academia, politics and the media.

Flying in from Atlanta, civil rights leader Dr Gerald Durley spoke of his friendship with King, whom he met as a student. Other speakers included Professor Brian Ward, an expert in the civil rights movement and former Newcastle lecturer who organised the University's first Martin Luther King memorial conference in 1997; Chi Onwurah, Newcastle's first black MP; radio personality Alex Pascall; president of the International Federation of Journalists, Jim Boumelha; and journalist Lionel Morrison.

A film of the event, which was produced by students and staff in the University's Media and Cultural Studies department, is available to view online.

The Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture is organised every year in October – Black History Month – by the National Union of Journalists and commemorates Claudia Jones, the journalist, trade unionist and campaigner for social justice who launched the Notting Hill Carnival and Britain’s first black newspaper, The West Indian Gazette.

You can see footage of King receiving his honorary degree at Newcastle, and giving a powerful speech, on the University's website. And you can read more about his trip to Newcastle in the spring 2007 edition of Arches magazine.