History
The Drum Major Foundation (later Institute) was founded in 1961 during Civil Rights Movement by Harry Wachtel, a New York City lawyer who was an adviser to Martin Luther King Jr.. The organization became more or less defunct for several years after King's death but was relaunched in 1999 by Martin Luther King III, Harry Wachtel's son William B. Wachtel and Andrew Young. Its primary focus is on the economic issues of the middle class and the idea that government can be a force for good.
Dr. King often used the phrase "drum major instinct" meaning the instinct to be a leader. In his sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 4, 1968 he said: "If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice, say that I was a drum major for peace, say that I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter... I just want to leave a committed life behind." A paraphrased version of this phrase is inscribed on the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The director of the institute from 2002 through 2004 was Fernando Ferrer, the former Borough president of the Bronx, who resigned from the Institute at the end of 2004 to run for mayor of New York City. From 2004 through 2010, Andrea Batista Schlesinger was the Institute's executive director. PJ Kim has been Executive Director since 2010.
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