Louis, when I heard about Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. A friend and I read of a forthcoming public service at Morehouse College, and a chartered bus would be available. We skipped our classes, took the bus to Atlanta and joined the crowd of thousands processing to Dr. King’s public service. The impact of this moment changed me profoundly, and I wanted to give expression to that spiritual experience by writing a piece of music in Dr. King’s honor. That piece of music was Immortal Diamond (1970). - Mary Ann Joyce-Walter