Pamalicious
06-27-2006, 05:27 AM
Deal keeps MLK papers in Atlanta
Coalition secures $32 million loan to save collection from auction
By MARIA SAPORTA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/24/06
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and a host of civic, education and business leaders have struck a deal with the family of Martin Luther King Jr. to buy an extensive collection of the civil rights leader's writings for $32 million.
Dexter King, one of the four King children, confirmed the deal came together late Friday.
"I'm very happy about this most important and historic moment — the fact that the papers are coming home and are going to be in a place where people can cherish and honor them," King said.
The deal ensures that the celebrated collection will not be auctioned by Sotheby's as planned in New York City on June 30 but will return to King's birthplace, which is also where King and his widow, Coretta Scott King, are entombed.
While Dexter King would not discuss details of the deal, others familiar with it said SunTrust Banks will provide a $32 million loan for the transaction, which will be paid off with donations from a cross-section of influential Atlantans, businesses and local institutions.
This week, Franklin was busy securing donations and loan guarantees from more than a dozen individuals and companies. The donors and guarantors include Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Turner Broadcasting System Inc., entertainer Tyler Perry, former Gov. Roy Barnes, retired Georgia-Pacific Chief Executive Officer Pete Correll, developer John Williams and philanthropists Tom Cousins and Tom Glenn.
King's alma mater, Morehouse College, will own title to the collection. Morehouse President Walter Massey said the college will work with other local institutions to house, archive and display the collection. Those institutions could include Emory University, the Atlanta History Center, the University of Georgia or the Auburn Avenue Research Library.
Massey thanked the King family and Franklin for "seeing that these papers are returned to the most appropriate place in the world."
People close to the deal believe bringing the papers to Atlanta will also strengthen a growing effort to create a civil and human rights museum or a similar attraction with the King papers as the centerpiece. The museum effort has been pushed by Franklin, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and others.
Coretta Scott King for years kept the collection in the basement of her west Atlanta home after her husband's assassination in 1968. Sotheby's first tried to sell the papers in 2003 for the King estate — which at the time included Coretta Scott King, who died Jan. 30, and her four grown children: Dexter, Bernice, Martin III and Yolanda.
Historians consider the collection to be the most important American archive of the 20th century in private hands. They include 7,000 handwritten items, including drafts of King's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and his "I Have a Dream" speech, which he delivered in 1963 at the March on Washington.
Sotheby's, which has been displaying the collection in Manhattan in anticipation of the auction, expected it to fetch between $15 million and $30 million at auction.
But Atlanta had an inside track because leaders negotiated directly with the King family.
The guarantors for the SunTrust loan include some of the city's most prominent companies and charitable institutions. The Georgia Power Foundation and the Southern Company Charitable Foundation each has guaranteed $2.5 million.
"It's a stand-behind," said David Ratcliffe, CEO of the Southern Co. "Hopefully we won't have to cash the check," he said, referring to the hoped-for contributions that will help pay off the loan.
But Ratcliffe added that Georgia Power and Southern Co. likely would also make a cash contribution.
Jim Kennedy, chief executive officer of Cox Enterprises, said the media company, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, also would make a contribution.
"We have pledged $1 million," said Kennedy. He said that because Martin Luther King Jr. was an Atlantan and "the real father of the civil rights movement, it seems so appropriate to have his papers in Atlanta. I think Shirley [Franklin] and Andy Young deserve a lot of the credit for pulling this all together." Young was among the first to insist that the city make an effort to acquire the collection.
Another contributor is businessman Herman Russell, who said he was making a $1 million contribution and also offering a loan guarantee.
"I'm very proud of Atlanta," Russell said about the effort. He said earlier in the week he got a call from Aaron Rents founder Charlie Loudermilk, who said he wanted to contribute $1 million to the cause. "It brought tears to my eyes," Russell said.
Contributions, however, didn't just come from Atlantans or local companies. Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., is donating $1 million to the cause.
Mike Duke, vice chairman of Wal-Mart who serves on the board of Morehouse and is a Georgia Tech graduate, said he received a call from Franklin on Thursday morning. "We were honored the mayor would even call us," Duke said. "We felt the way the mayor was positioning this, it was the right thing to do.
Those familiar with the intense negotiations over the week said Franklin had worked frantically to bring the business community together for a deal.
Atlanta historians and city leaders were quick to point out the importance of bringing the papers to Atlanta. The city is King's birthplace. It is where Coretta King raised her four children after her husband's death, and it is where she founded the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change to carry on his teachings.
But Atlanta wasn't the only city interested in the papers. Institutions that have had an interest in King's papers in the past include the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History at the New York Historical Society, the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, and Boston University, where King earned his doctoral degree.
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who worked alongside King and Young during the civil rights movement, said it would have been a shame if the papers had been "lost to New York or another area."
"There's been a sense of urgency because the auction is slated in one week," Lewis said Friday before the deal was finalized. "I know people have been working very, very hard to make it happen."
Dexter King confirmed that there were other potential buyers interested in making a private deal for the collection. But, he said, it was always the family's desire to have the papers in Atlanta.
"We didn't know that Atlanta was that serious until Mayor Franklin reached out. It's a sweet homecoming for me," King said. "I feel both my father and mother are smiling down on us."
Coalition secures $32 million loan to save collection from auction
By MARIA SAPORTA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/24/06
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and a host of civic, education and business leaders have struck a deal with the family of Martin Luther King Jr. to buy an extensive collection of the civil rights leader's writings for $32 million.
Dexter King, one of the four King children, confirmed the deal came together late Friday.
"I'm very happy about this most important and historic moment — the fact that the papers are coming home and are going to be in a place where people can cherish and honor them," King said.
The deal ensures that the celebrated collection will not be auctioned by Sotheby's as planned in New York City on June 30 but will return to King's birthplace, which is also where King and his widow, Coretta Scott King, are entombed.
While Dexter King would not discuss details of the deal, others familiar with it said SunTrust Banks will provide a $32 million loan for the transaction, which will be paid off with donations from a cross-section of influential Atlantans, businesses and local institutions.
This week, Franklin was busy securing donations and loan guarantees from more than a dozen individuals and companies. The donors and guarantors include Coca-Cola, Home Depot, Turner Broadcasting System Inc., entertainer Tyler Perry, former Gov. Roy Barnes, retired Georgia-Pacific Chief Executive Officer Pete Correll, developer John Williams and philanthropists Tom Cousins and Tom Glenn.
King's alma mater, Morehouse College, will own title to the collection. Morehouse President Walter Massey said the college will work with other local institutions to house, archive and display the collection. Those institutions could include Emory University, the Atlanta History Center, the University of Georgia or the Auburn Avenue Research Library.
Massey thanked the King family and Franklin for "seeing that these papers are returned to the most appropriate place in the world."
People close to the deal believe bringing the papers to Atlanta will also strengthen a growing effort to create a civil and human rights museum or a similar attraction with the King papers as the centerpiece. The museum effort has been pushed by Franklin, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and others.
Coretta Scott King for years kept the collection in the basement of her west Atlanta home after her husband's assassination in 1968. Sotheby's first tried to sell the papers in 2003 for the King estate — which at the time included Coretta Scott King, who died Jan. 30, and her four grown children: Dexter, Bernice, Martin III and Yolanda.
Historians consider the collection to be the most important American archive of the 20th century in private hands. They include 7,000 handwritten items, including drafts of King's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and his "I Have a Dream" speech, which he delivered in 1963 at the March on Washington.
Sotheby's, which has been displaying the collection in Manhattan in anticipation of the auction, expected it to fetch between $15 million and $30 million at auction.
But Atlanta had an inside track because leaders negotiated directly with the King family.
The guarantors for the SunTrust loan include some of the city's most prominent companies and charitable institutions. The Georgia Power Foundation and the Southern Company Charitable Foundation each has guaranteed $2.5 million.
"It's a stand-behind," said David Ratcliffe, CEO of the Southern Co. "Hopefully we won't have to cash the check," he said, referring to the hoped-for contributions that will help pay off the loan.
But Ratcliffe added that Georgia Power and Southern Co. likely would also make a cash contribution.
Jim Kennedy, chief executive officer of Cox Enterprises, said the media company, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, also would make a contribution.
"We have pledged $1 million," said Kennedy. He said that because Martin Luther King Jr. was an Atlantan and "the real father of the civil rights movement, it seems so appropriate to have his papers in Atlanta. I think Shirley [Franklin] and Andy Young deserve a lot of the credit for pulling this all together." Young was among the first to insist that the city make an effort to acquire the collection.
Another contributor is businessman Herman Russell, who said he was making a $1 million contribution and also offering a loan guarantee.
"I'm very proud of Atlanta," Russell said about the effort. He said earlier in the week he got a call from Aaron Rents founder Charlie Loudermilk, who said he wanted to contribute $1 million to the cause. "It brought tears to my eyes," Russell said.
Contributions, however, didn't just come from Atlantans or local companies. Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Ark., is donating $1 million to the cause.
Mike Duke, vice chairman of Wal-Mart who serves on the board of Morehouse and is a Georgia Tech graduate, said he received a call from Franklin on Thursday morning. "We were honored the mayor would even call us," Duke said. "We felt the way the mayor was positioning this, it was the right thing to do.
Those familiar with the intense negotiations over the week said Franklin had worked frantically to bring the business community together for a deal.
Atlanta historians and city leaders were quick to point out the importance of bringing the papers to Atlanta. The city is King's birthplace. It is where Coretta King raised her four children after her husband's death, and it is where she founded the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change to carry on his teachings.
But Atlanta wasn't the only city interested in the papers. Institutions that have had an interest in King's papers in the past include the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History at the New York Historical Society, the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, and Boston University, where King earned his doctoral degree.
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who worked alongside King and Young during the civil rights movement, said it would have been a shame if the papers had been "lost to New York or another area."
"There's been a sense of urgency because the auction is slated in one week," Lewis said Friday before the deal was finalized. "I know people have been working very, very hard to make it happen."
Dexter King confirmed that there were other potential buyers interested in making a private deal for the collection. But, he said, it was always the family's desire to have the papers in Atlanta.
"We didn't know that Atlanta was that serious until Mayor Franklin reached out. It's a sweet homecoming for me," King said. "I feel both my father and mother are smiling down on us."