When I met Martin Luther King, Jr. at Crozer Theological Seminary in September 1950, I had just turned 23, and I had no idea that this congenial African American who was two years younger than me was destined to become the icon of the civil rights movement all over the world. For the many who were lucky as I was to be his friend and classmate, he is the most unforgettable man in my life.

   I knew Dr. King in 1950 and 1951 as a classmate in Crozer Seminary, Chester, Pennsylvania. During that year, he was president of a student body largely comprised of southern whites. We had adjacent rooms in the dormitory, and this gave me a good opportunity to exchange visits and discuss various topics of common interest with him. As a leader of the student body, he had the magnetic power to draw an audience to his words from the moment he rose to deliver a speech. As a student, he was fond of intellectual debate, and whether at the dining room or in coffee sessions, he was the fulcrum for stimulating questions or smashing rebuttal. Yet along with his scholarly lure, he was even more drawn by a person in need and the plight of the man furthest down.

    Following that year in Crozer, I returned to Cairo, where I was scheduled to teach at AUC. I corresponded with Dr. King a few times. His letters, as time went, receded the feeling that he was burdened with compassion for the poor and the oppressed in American society. This was the motive behind his fight for freedom in Montgomery, Alabama. He was now committed to the cause of poor, unemployed African Americans.

    The following year, Dr. King was a world figure, and I expected to hear about him through news media rather than through personal correspondence. Yet, to my surprise, I received a letter from him in April 1958 indicating that he intended to visit me in Cairo on his way from India. Dr. King could have chosen to receive the highest welcome from the Egyptian government had he wanted. Instead, he preferred to arrive incognito and to enjoy the calm solitude of sunset near the Pyramids. He arrived with his charming wife Coretta, spending two days at the Continental Hotel, overlooking the old Cairo Opera. I took him out sightseeing, including a visit to the AUC campus, and a visit to Dar Al-Hilal with the late Emile Samaan ’47, who was editor in chief of the Caravan. I introduced him to Professor Alan Horton, dean of the graduate school, who invited him to address the students in the Wednesday assembly.

    In 1965, Wadei Philistin, professor of journalism at AUC and a distinguished Egyptian writer in his own right, translated Dr. King’s book, Stride Toward Freedom, with the Arabic title Ala Darb El-Horeya, or On the Road to Freedom. It is the only book by Dr. King that Arab readers are familiar with today.

   Martin Luther King, Jr. was considered an idealist by some and a rabble-rouser by the media, but he succeeded in changing that image of his mission in life. He was twice on the cover of Time magazine, and he was able to lead a civil rights movement that changed the course of history. Without him, I believe it would not have been possible for Barack Obama to become the 44th president of the United States. I was fortunate to have known Martin Luther King, Jr., and his fine example as a leader has enriched and ennobled my life.

Jimmy A. Beshai ’47 is a staff psychologist at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.