Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential figures in the American civil rights movement and a gifted orator. His moving speeches touched on everything from social and racial justice to non-violence, poverty, the Vietnam War and the dismantling of white supremacy. And while many were inspired by his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, King touched on a wide range of themes and causes and inspired others to demand change.
Here are some examples of King’s talks, sermons, and lectures, along with their messages.
1. “Paul’s Letter to American Christians”
On November 4, 1956, King delivered a sermon to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church congregation in Montgomery, Alabama, in the form of a fictional letter from the Apostle Paul to American Christians in the 1950s. Church, King used this unconventional format to draw attention to the growing divide between the country’s moral and spiritual progress and its scientific and technological development. He also faced the potential dangers of capitalism and the destructive evil of segregation. King delivered this sermon again at a meeting of the Commission on Mission and Ecumenical Relations in Pittsburgh on June 3, 1958.
“I’m afraid many of you are more concerned with making a living than making a living. You are inclined to judge the success of your profession by the index of your salary and the size of the wheelbase of your automobile, rather than by the quality of your service to humanity. The abuse of capitalism can also lead to tragic exploitation.
2. “I have a dream”
King gave his most famous speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963 before a crowd of over 250,000 people. He had referred directly to the American Dream in speeches since 1960, and, originally, it was not going to be part of his speech that day in the nation’s capital.
“I started to read the speech, and I read it to a point… the audience response was wonderful that day… and all of a sudden this thing got me. came that … I had used several times before … “I have a dream,” King told Donald H. Smith in an interview on Nov. 29, 1963. “And I just felt like I wanted to use it here… I used it, and at that point I completely turned away from the manuscript. I did not return to it.
The main message he conveyed both through his dream list and the original speech was a call for racial justice by ending segregation and discrimination.
“We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their identities and stripped of their dignity by signs that say ‘For white people only.’ We can’t be satisfied until a nigger from Mississippi can vote and a nigger from New York thinks he has nothing to vote for. No, no, we are not satisfied and we will not be until righteousness flows like waters and righteousness like a mighty torrent.
3. “The quest for peace and justice”
On December 11, 1964, King gave a lecture in the auditorium of the University of Oslo after officially receiving the Nobel Peace Prize the day before. Addressing an audience of Norwegian monarchs and politicians, as well as the Nobel Prize Committee, King’s lecture was more academic than his usual speeches, while addressing the same themes of racial justice, non-violent resistance. and moral and spiritual development. He also explained why economic inequalities must be addressed and included in any path to peace, referring to poverty as “one of the most urgent items on the agenda of modern life”.
“I am all too aware of the human weaknesses and failures that exist, of the doubts about the effectiveness of non-violence and of the open advocacy of violence by some. But I am still convinced that non-violence is both the most practical and the most morally excellent. to tackle the age-old problem of racial injustice. “
4. “Beyond Vietnam: a time to break the silence”
Although King has spoken publicly of his opposition to the Vietnam War since 1965, his “Beyond Vietnam” speech – delivered on April 4, 1967 – is considered his first major public statement centered on defending US involvement. in the conflict.
Addressing a crowd of around 3,000 at Riverside Church in New York City, King explained seven reasons why he thought it was time as a civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate , he had to take a stand on the Vietnam War. These included the economic burden of sending US troops to fight in Vietnam (which he said amounted to “cruel manipulation of the poor”), and the continued violence against Vietnamese civilians caught in the crossfire. It ended up being one of King’s most controversial speeches.
“Perhaps a more tragic realization of reality occurred when it became clear to me that the war was doing so much more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. She sent their sons, brothers and husbands to fight and die in extraordinarily high proportions compared to the rest of the population. We would take the young black men who had been crippled by our society and send them eight thousand miles to secure freedoms in Southeast Asia that they had not found in southwest Georgia and the east. from Harlem.
5. “The other America”
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at Stanford University, April 14, 1967.
Jerry Telfer / Chronicle of San Francisco via Getty Images
Just 10 days after arguing against the Vietnam War, King took the stage at Stanford University on April 14, 1967 and delivered another of his most iconic speeches to an audience of faculty and college students. In an effort to draw attention to the growing poverty gap and systemic social and economic inequalities in the United States, he described “two Americas”: one of prosperity and the other of poverty. King also pointed out that “racism is still alive in American society”, North and South, and how every time the country seems to take a step towards racial justice, it is followed by multiple steps back.
“Our nation’s riot summers are caused by our nation’s late winters. And as long as America defers justice, we’ll be in the position to have these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.
6. “The three evils of society”
On August 31, 1967, King gave the opening address of the National New Politics Conference in Chicago to an audience of about 3,000 people. In his speech, he argued that racism, excessive materialism and militarism are all forms of violence that exist in a vicious cycle, calling them “three evils” of American society. Lasting nearly 45 minutes, King’s speech discusses the existence of racism since the country’s birth and calls on the government to end the war in Vietnam and adopt policies to reduce poverty.
“For the sake of America, it is necessary to refute the idea that the dominant ideology in our country, even today, is freedom and equality while racism is only an occasional deviation. of the norm from a few fanatic extremists. Racism may well be that corrosive evil which will bring down the curtain on Western civilization. “
7. “I went to the top of the mountain”
King gave his last speech on April 3, 1968 at the Mason Temple in Memphis, less than 24 hours before his assassination. Striking sanitation workers have filled the church beyond its capacity to see King on his third trip to Memphis to support their cause in less than a month. In his speech, he explains that if he had had the choice to live in any period of human history, he would have chosen the second half of the 20th century because fighting against racial, social and economic injustices was a question of survival. From there, he called on those present to stand united in their fight against injustice without recourse to violence.
“We have to fight this fight to the end. Nothing would be more tragic than stopping here in Memphis. We have to see it through to the end. And when we have our walk, you’ve got to be there. Be worried about your brother. You might not be on strike, but either we go up together or we go down together.
