After 50 years Martin Luther King
Jr. Pool Table Recovered from Pastor’s Basement.
After
graduating from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, Martin Luther King Jr.
attended
Crozer Theological Seminary located in Upton, Pennsylvania from 1948 through
1951.
In
fact, this month would mark the 70th anniversary that MLK Jr.
graduated from Crozer.
According to his contemporaries, throughout his three-year
matriculation at Crozer, M.L.K. Jr. could regularly be found smoking cigarettes
and playing billiards on a pool table located in the basement of the residence
hall at Crozer Seminary.
Sadly, since Crozer closed its doors in the early 1970s the
whereabouts of that pool table has not been known to the public for more than
half a century. At this point, it would be reasonable to conclude that,
perhaps, it had been relegated to some smoky billiards hall. Or, worse yet,
deteriorated to the point that it was thrown away decades ago.
Thankfully, neither is true. Last year the family of a
former Crozer professor (noted theologian Dr. Reverend Theodore J. Weeden)
stepped forward to say that the former professor had been keeping the priceless
artifact in the basement of his own home for more than five decades.
The Weeden family has generously donated the King/Crozer
pool table to the Center for the Study of Civil and Human Rights Laws (CFSCHRL)
in Rochester, New York. In an effort that could have only been lifted off the
pages of a History Channel segment, CFSCHRL staff painstaking developed the
evidence which clearly establishes that this is, in fact, the pool table that
MLK Jr. played billiards on when he was a student at Crozer Theological
Seminary.
Fortunately, one of the persons who helped CFSCHRL establish
the authenticity of the King/Crozer Pool Table, Dr. James Beshai, will join the
CFSCHRL in the unveiling of this, now, fully restored historic and priceless
artifact. Dr. Beshai (who was Dr. King’s classmate at Crozer and became his
lifelong friend after they both graduated from Crozer) will discuss letters
(which will also be on display) written from King and Mr. King to Dr. Beshai.
The unveiling will take place on May 28, 2021 at 1:00 pm at
the CFSCHRL which is located at 18 Grove Place, Rochester, New York 14605. Dr.
Beshai will be available for interviews as will CFSCHRL Director and civil
rights lawyer Van Henri White. Media can contact Van White at (585) 305-2858 or
by email at van.white@thelegalbrief.com
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