Fostoria native hired to lead Stanford's MLK institute

Like anyone, former Fostoria resident Lerone Martin needed some time to assimilate into his new job. The 1998 Fostoria High School graduate's job, though, is more than a bit beyond the realm of most others.After an eight-year run at Washington University in St. Louis as director of American culture studies and associate professor of religion and politics, American culture studies and African and African American studies, Martin recently took on the position of faculty director of Stanford University's Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute.The King Institute at the prestigious university near Palo Alto, California was founded in 2005 by Professor Clayborne Carson, and he is succeeded by Martin, who also carries the title of Martin Luther King Jr. Centennial Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences.A nationwide search resulted in Martin being chosen as the person to succeed the now-retired Carson with the caretaking of the center, established in recognition of the foremost figure in the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s. King was assassinated at age 39 in 1968.It's a challenge that Martin acknowledged as being "daunting" at first, but it was also one he could not turn down.And, as a doctorate-earning scholar who has authored one book and has a second on the way, Martin is accustomed to conquering challenges."It was the opportunity to be involved in helping to further the memory and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., which was very attractive to me," Martin said in a recent telephone interview. "It was a tremendous opportunity that I felt was a once-in-a-lifetime situation. I was very excited and very flattered."There's quite a bit for Martin to do at "The Farm," which Stanford is often fondly referred to for its being founded on a stock farm in the 1880s."The first responsibility is we organize, archive and publish the papers of Martin Luther King Jr. These are things that Coretta Scott King, after his death, donated to Stanford University," Martin said, referring to MLK's widow. "That includes things like his elementary school report card, papers that he wrote for high school and college, personal letters that he sent to friends and colleagues and supporters and detractors. There are letters that he received, awards — all his personal papers. So, the first responsibility we have is to publish those."The second responsibility for us is, really, to further help America — the country and the public and the students — understand his works and his legacy. We do that through classes, through research, by having scholars come and do research within the papers and also through various events for the community and for the regents."One of the things I'm working on is to continue a college prep program I started at Washington University in St. Louis. That's one area of a social-impact program we're working on — working with local kids within the region who will be first-generation, the first one (in a family) to go to college who will come to the campus and take courses to prepare them for college. That's just one example of a social-impact event. "And we also want to start an award ceremony where we will recognize people in contemporary societies who are furthering the legacy of Martin Luther King or working in the same vein as Martin Luther King did."MLK was a vigilant and active leader in the civil rights movement who, Martin said, considered "the three great evils" to be racism, poverty and militarism, with the latter two being closely related to the first. His pursuits in those regards are largely what made him such a celebrated figure after his death.Two of those tenets also became fodder against him, which Martin said may be something today's Americans may not understand about King."Because of his stance on poverty and war, Martin Luther King became very unpopular in American society leading up to his death," Martin said. "I think the layman would assume that Martin King was always popular and that everyone praised him, but he made his stances against poverty and war and became extremely unpopular. When he dared to fight against racism, not just in public confrontations, not just in restaurants or grocery stores or buses, but in privacy, in places like housing, in places like hiring, that's when King became really unpopular. I think the layman may not remember — and children, those who weren't alive — by the time Martin Luther King passed way, he was extremely unpopular ... King wasn't celebrated then the way he is celebrated now."In terms of racial and cultural relations, Martin said he feels fortunate to have grown up in a diverse community like Fostoria."It's helped me to be a person who's open to different experiences," he said. "It's helped me to be a citizen of this country who really believes that everyone is created equal and that people should be treated, as Martin Luther King would say, as someone who's been created in the image of God. And when you see people that way — as being created in the image of God, as being equal citizens of this country, deserving of equal treatment — it really changes the way that you approach people, it changes the way you approach topics, it changes the way that you think about your political commitments, your religious commitments. It's completely shaped the way that I see the world and how I treat other human beings."For me, the way that my parents raised us, that was where you really practiced your religion and it was how you treated other people. That was the way you expressed your faith — by treating others with respect, with dignity, with class, as human beings, all said."That's essentially what MLK fought for, and to push that forward is part of what Martin sees as his job."I'm excited and thankful for the opportunity," he said. "I'm just thankful that I have the opportunity to be in this position and I'm going to do my best in all that I do to honor the legacy and the work and the optimism of Martin Luther King Jr."