The Race Crisis Lecture Series took place in 1964 at the historical Tishman Auditorium at 66 West 12th street. These lectures brought together some of the most significant minds in the struggle for civil rights in America: Martin Luther King, Jr., Joseph Monserrat, Dan W. Dodson, Robert C. Weaver, Milton A. Galamison, John O. Killens, Melvin Tumin, Charles Abrams, Algernon D. Black, Louis E. Lomax, Whitney M. Young, Jr., Ossie Davis, Bayard Rustin, Roy Wilkins, and James Farmer. Their voices were recorded onto reel-to-reel tapes, and an iconic photograph of Martin Luther King, Jr. was taken speaking at Tishman Auditorium.

Keep in mind that this lecture series occurred three months after the assassination of President Kennedy, and only two weeks prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The historical context for these lectures couldn’t have been more poignant, and for a unique moment, The New School occupied a place where a complex conversation about race and class could occur during a sensitive time in American history.

Sadly, these tapes were forgotten, and the records of the event faded into memory. The negligence, in hindsight seems circumstantial, either due to lack of infrastructure on campus, or a disconnection about the significance that those talks held at time. In summer of 2012, the tapes were discovered in a closet, and through student advocacy, those tapes were digitized, transcribed, and now reside safely in the The New School’s office of Archives and Special Collections.

Fifty years hence, almost to the day, Eugene Lang College alums Miles Kohrman and Dominique House – with support from The New School’s Libraries and Archives, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture – collaborated to commemorate the history of this lecture series through a special exhibition at The New School entitled Voices of Crisis.

Having access to the original records provided a context for an important dialogue around the construct of race in American society fifty years later, where many of the issues discussed in 1964 still hold true in 2014. To commemorate that time, a series of lectures took place at The New School to provide an opportunity to reflect on the wisdom of those activists, and where American society stands today in relation to that time.

Among those invited to speak were: C.T. Vivian, one of the most respected members of the civil rights movement and recent recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom; Zaheer Ali, researcher for the late Dr. Manning Marable and former project manager of Columbia's Malcolm X Project; Abiodun Oyewole, founding member of The Last Poets; Harry Belafonte, actor and longtime activist; Phillip Agnew, director of the Dream Defenders; and Raquel Cepeda, journalist and filmmaker. All of these people engaged in conversation with Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at The New York Public Library, and the great-grandson of Elijah Muhammad. These lectures were recorded on video, and posted to The New School’s YouTube channel to make them available to the world.

Here are videos from that three part lecture series in February 2014:

Part 1: Voices of Crisis: Reliving The American Race Crisis – with C.T. Vivian, one of the most respected members of the civil rights movement and recent recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, joins Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at The New York Public Library, in an open-ended conversation about the struggle for racial equality over the last fifty years.

Part 2: Voices of Crisis: X(CLUDED) – Zaheer Ali, researcher for the late Dr. Manning Marable and former project manager of Columbia's Malcolm X Project, discusses the role of Muslim leaders in the struggle for equality, the impact of X's teachings, and the influence of the Muslim voice over the last fifty years.

Part 3: Voices of Crisis: The Crisis Continues – How have activists from the civil rights era passed the torch to those fighting for justice and equality today?Harry Belafonte, actor and longtime activist; Phillip Agnew, director of the Dream Defenders; and Raquel Cepeda, journalist and filmmaker join in conversation with Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad.

What is compelling to note, is that these conversations could not have occurred if the original recordings from 1964 had never been found.

The purpose of this online exhibit is to elucidate other potentials for research, dialogue, and teaching.

Being able to have that conversation on The New School campus illustrated some of the intrinsic values that this institution has stood for over the years: toleration, democracy, and intellectual inquiry. Yet it begs the question: why were they lost?

What other important records during the past fifty years were lost due to negligence, expedience due to resource issues or lack of foresight? Lastly, what are the consequences to this institution if this attitude continues to perpetuate itself?