Fifty years ago this spring, Martin Luther King Junior gave the commencement speech at Springfield College in Springield, MA — just after being released from prison for a protest in  St. Augustine, Florida. Springfield College Journalism professor Martin Dobrow is writing a book  on  the pivotal period of the civil rights movement that included King’s speech.  He spoke with New England Public Radio’s Karen Brown about the  controversial visit.

To hear Martin Luther King’s full commencement speech from June 1964 at Springfield College,  click here.

Martin Dobrow will be speaking Wednesday evening at Springfield College about Western Massachusetts connections to the Civil Rights Movement.