King Papers Never Sold At Sotheby's auction

Remember back in 2003 when Dexter King announced a 7,000-piece collection of the writings of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which had sat nearly four decades in his widow's basement, was going to be placed on the sellers block at a New York auction house? Well, the documents never sold.

The package was appraised at $30 million dollars, was scheduled for a private sale and the King family hoped to get at least $20 million for it. The idea behind doing this in a private sale was to allow the family more control over who would be allowed to purchase the property.

As it stands today, April 25, 2006--the documents are still available for sale. Managing the transaction is Sotheby's in New York. For more information, one only needs to contact the company's press office.

My hope is that the documents are purchased by a University or Library. If purchased by a private collector, I pray that collector leaves the collection in the hands of one of the above. I believe this is the right thing to do because the King Children broke their trust with Black America when they snubbed Harry Belafonte during their mothers funeral.