On Martin Luther King Day, We Reflect on 75 Years of Service to the Bay Area

On Martin Luther King Day, We Reflect on 75 Years of Service to the Bay Area

On Monday we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day — a day when Americans honor Dr. King’s legacy by engaging in service for the betterment of our communities. So it is befitting to reflect on this day 75 years ago when the San Francisco Foundation was founded as a vehicle for community philanthropy in the Bay Area.

The year that the foundation was born, 1948, a young Martin Luther King — then just 19 — graduated from Morehouse College and entered seminary school. As a fellow Morehouse Man, my worldview was deeply affected by Dr. King’s teachings. While at Morehouse in the late 1980s and early ‘90s, my classmates and I would assemble weekly in the chapel that was named after Dr. King. We would hear from Black leaders from around the country about the importance of leadership, service and civil rights.

Read the full opinion piece in the San Francisco Examiner.