Della Hardman’s mantra was “savor the moment” and each year, on the last Saturday of July, her legacy is honored by the town of Oak Bluffs.
Ms. Hardman was an educator, artist, writer and mentor with an infectious optimism. The town voted to create the first Della Hardman day in 2006 and it has continued every summer since then.
This year’s celebration takes place on July 27 in Ocean Park, beginning at 4 p.m. Dr. Clarence B. Jones, a former colleague of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, who helped craft the iconic I Have a Dream Speech, will be the featured speaker. Mr. Jones will be in conversation with Boston University law school dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig.
In a phone conversation with the Gazette, Mr. Jones said Dr. King’s impact continues to prevail.
“He emerges larger than life as the distance grows between the time when we were together,” Mr. Jones said. “It’s not that I didn’t appreciate and respect him, but as the years have gone past, I now think what an extraordinary person he was in the history of the United States.”
At the age of 93, Mr. Jones said he still remembers in vivid detail helping Dr. King write the I Have A Dream speech, delivered on August 28, 1963 during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
The night before the speech, Dr. King gathered his closest advisors at the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. After some discussion, Dr. King instructed Mr. Jones to go upstairs and construct a possible outline.
When it was time for Dr. King to give the speech the next day, Mr. Jones was curious as to how his friend would begin, knowing speech openings were often difficult for Dr. King.
“When he actually speaks and I hear him, I say to myself, oh my god, he must have really been tired,” Mr. Jones recalled with a laugh. “He must have really been tired because after opening remarks he took exactly verbatim that which I’d written on yellow sheets of paper.”
As Mr. Jones was listening to Dr. King recite what would be one of the most historic speeches in American history, he compared it to playing a piece of music many times and arriving at one moment where everything comes together in a new and spectacular way.
“I said to this other human being standing next to me, these people out there, they don’t know it, but they’re about ready to go to church, because I could see by his gestures, the way he held his body, the way he moved his feet, that he was getting ready to preach,” Mr. Jones said
Mr. Jones was also instrumental in the distribution of Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail by smuggling his handwritten responses from the jail.
Della Hardman Day kicks off Boston University’s annual Alumni Week. Ms. Hardman, Mr. Jones, Dr. King and Andrea Taylor, daughter of the late Ms. Hardman and currently the senior diversity officer at the university, are all alums.
Ms. Taylor said she is excited for Mr. Jones to offer his perspective on the past, present and future.
“I think we’re going to have a provocative conversation talking about the world from the perspective of someone who is almost a centenarian and looking back at what his lifetime of work in the legal arena has meant, and his engagement with the Civil Rights Movement 1950s and 60s,” Ms. Taylor said.
Mr. Jones has visited the Vineyard a few times and is looking forward to being a part of the celebration.
“Wherever there is an opportunity and where anyone is interested, if they ask, if they invite me, and they want me to share with them my memories of being with one of the greatest human beings in the 20th century, Martin Luther King Jr, I’ll be pleased to do so,” he said.
Della Hardman Day celebrations start at Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs this Saturday at 4 p.m.
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