In the 1960s, students, faculty and staff at Saint Augustine’s College (as it was then called) were passionate and active supporters of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. so it was perhaps inevitable that the great civil rights leader would have some sort of connection to Saint Augustine’s.

While no historical record can be found showing that Dr. King ever visited campus, there is ample record that he had a connection with at least one of our own – Millie Dunn Veasey, class of 1953.

Archives from The Pen, the former student newspaper of Saint Augustine’s, show that students were vocal in their support of Dr. King, and other local newspapers showed that local college students – likely including from Saint Augustine’s – were among the attendees at civil rights protests in the 1960s. And, of course, the university’s student center was named after Dr. King when it was built in 1973.

But historical records – as well as interviews with Ms. Veasey’s relatives – show a more personal connection to Saint Augustine’s. Mrs. Veasey worked with Dr. King and was so helpful that she got a front-row seat at the pivotal March on Washington in 1963. They were close enough that he was a dinner guest at her sister’s house.

Ms. Veasey, who died in 2018 at the age of 100, is best known recently for having a post office in Raleigh named after her. In January 2025, through the support of Congresswoman Deborah Ross and President Joe Biden, the post office at 2777 Brentwood Road was named the “Millie Dunn Veasey Post Office.” The renaming honored Ms. Veasey’s service in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only all-Black, all-female unit to operate overseas, during World War II.

That battalion was responsible for ensuring that soldiers received mail from home, thus helping to maintain the troops’ morale. Their role in the war is the subject of “Six Triple Eight,” a movie released by Tyler Perry in December of 2024. While Ms. Veasey’s role was not specifically highlighted in the film, she was very much part of the battalion’s heroic efforts.

Millie Dunn Veasey was born in in Raleigh in 1918, and it was to there that she returned after sailing back to the United States in 1945, according to a profile of Mrs. Veasey on the National Park Service website. Mrs. Veasey eventually earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both in business administration, from Saint Augustine’s and North Carolina Central University, respectively.

Mrs. Veasey went to work for Saint Augustine’s, holding several administrative positions over a 30-year period, but she was known to the wider community in a different capacity. The National Park Service website supplies details:

Millie Dunn Veasey was also active in the civil rights movement. She participated in sit-ins throughout Raleigh to integrate lunch counters. In 1963, she helped organize a bus trip to Washington, D.C., where she participated in the August 28th March on Washington. As an organizer, she had a front-row seat near the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

On Feb. 21, 1965, Mrs. Veasey was installed as the first woman president of the Raleigh branch of the NAACP. It was in that capacity that she became personally known to Dr. King. Mrs. Veasey hosted a dinner for Dr. King when he came to Raleigh in 1966. Although some details are lost to history, the dinner most likely occurred as part of a visit Dr. King made to Raleigh to take part in a rally on July 10, 1966, to protest the shooting of civil rights activist James Meredith.

Mrs. Veasey’s niece, Eugenia Moore Pleasant, a resident of Wake Forest, N.C., remembers the dinner; she was there. Now retired, she was a freshman at North Carolina A&T at the time but had come home.

“The dinner was in my mother’s home in Raleigh,” Mrs. Pleasant recalled. “Rev. Charles Ward, pastor of the First Baptist Church, was there. Ralph Campbell [who had preceded Ms. Veasey as president of the Raleigh NAACP] was there. My mother [Mary Moore] was there – she was the cook. My aunt [Ms. Veasey] was there.”

The dinner had come about, Mrs. Pleasant said, because Mrs. Veasey had invited Dr. King to dinner while he was in Raleigh. “He said he wanted a home-cooked meal,” Mrs. Pleasant recalled. “We had fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens and cornbread. I forget the dessert – probably peach cobbler.”

Mrs. Veasey got to know Dr. King well enough that he personally inspired her. In a documentary that aired in 2017 on the Public Broadcasting Service, she spoke about her impression of the iconic figure: “I found him to be a most remarkable young man, always with dignity,” she said in the documentary. “He was always interested in what you were doing, what the individual was doing, and persuaded them to do more.”

Martin Luther King’s birthday is celebrated Monday, Jan. 20, a national holiday. As the Falcon community celebrates the day and honors Dr. King’s towering legacy, we can take pride in knowing that a Saint Augustine’s University alumna was among those who played an important role in advancing the great leader’s campaign for justice and righteousness.

The 6888th Battalion in England in 1945.