Virtual Martin Luther King Jr. Project

The Virtual Martin Luther King Jr. Project focuses on King’s speech, “A Creative Protest.” Despite being an influential speech that is still recognized to this day, no recordings of the speech exist. This project brings the speech to life, by creating an audio recording of the speech with Dr. King’s voice, and by generating videos of the speech in the chapel where it took place. Viewers are immersed in the speech, as if they were there in person.

The project was begun by three NC State professors: Victoria Gallagher, Keon Pettiway, and Derek Ham. The team as a whole consisted of professors from other universities, community members, highly educated researchers, and developers. The team aimed to provide tours and exhibitions of the “Fill Up the Jails Speech” to visitors to the NC State University Hunt Library, and to make the project accessible online so that libraries, museums, scholars, and all who want to learn can experience their creation. The project was completed in 2019.

This project demonstrates the importance of public speaking, persuasion, and immersion in the communications discipline. The creators highly value the art of speech delivery and the effects that the speakers style and tone have on the audience, which are aspects that can only be experienced first-hand.