The sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. comprise an extensive catalog of American writing and oratory — some of which are internationally well-known, while others remain unheralded, and some await re-discovery.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a prominent African American clergyman, a civil rights leader, and a Nobel laureate.[1]
King himself observed, "In the quiet recesses of my heart, I am fundamentally a clergyman, a Baptist preacher."[2]
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Speechwriter and orator
The famous "I Have a Dream" address was delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Less well-remembered are the early sermons of that young, twenty-five year-old pastor who first began preaching at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in 1954.[3] As a political leader in the Civil Rights Movement and as a modest preacher in a Baptist church, King evolved and matured across the span of a life cut short. The range of his rhetoric was anticipated and encompassed within "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life," which he preached as his trial sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in 1954 and every year thereafter for the rest of his life.[4]
Sermons
- 1953 -- "The Three Dimensions of A Complete Life."[5]
- 1954 -- "Rediscovering Lost Values," February 28, 1954.
- 1956 -- "Paul's Letter to American Christians," November 4, 1956.
- 1957 -- "The Birth of a New Nation," April 7, 1957.
- 1957 -- "Loving Your Enemies," November 17, 1957.
- 1963 -- "Eulogy for the Martyred Children," September 18, 1963. (Birmingham, Alabama)
- 1965 -- "How Long, Not Long.", also known as "Our God Is Marching On," March 25, 1965 . (Montgomery, Alabama)
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- How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
- They told us we wouldn't get here, used by then US-presidential candidate Barack Obama in his victory-speech (first prelimonary) in Ohio 2008.
- 1967 -- "Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool," also known as "A Knock at Midnight," August 27, 1967. (Chicago, Illinois) -- see Video at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
- 1968 -- I've Been to the Mountaintop," April 3, 1968. (Memphis, Tennessee)
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- His final speech, and his final words in public: I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Speeches
- 1955 "Montgomery Improvement Association mass meeting speech," December 5, 1955. (Montgomery, Alabama)
- 1957 -- "A Realistic Look at the Question of Progress in the Area of Race Relations," April 10, 1957. (St. Louis, Missouri)
- 1957 -- "Give Us the Ballot," May 17, 1957. (Washington, D.C.)
- 1963 -- "Great March on Detroit speech," June 23, 1963. (Detroit, Michigan)
- 1963 -- "I Have a Dream," August 28, 1963 (Washington D.C)
- 1964 -- "Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech," December 10, 1964 (Stockholm).[6]
- 1964 -- "The Quest for Peace and Justice," December 11, 1964 (Stockholm).[7]
- 1964 -- "(Un-named Speech)." November 29, 1964. (Dayton, Ohio) [8]
- 1967 --"Beyond Vietnam," April 4, 1967. (New York, New York)
- 1967 -- "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam." April 30, 1967.
Notes
- ^ Nobel Prize: Martin Luther King bio
- ^ Lischer, Richard. (2001). The Preacher King, p. 3.
- ^ Fuller, Linda K. (2004). National Days/National Ways: Historical, Political, And Religious Celebrations around the World, p. 314.
- ^ Lischer, p. 66.
- ^ Lischer, p. 81.
- ^ Nobel Prize: Nobel Peace Prize, acceptance speech
- ^ Nobel Prize: Nobel Peace Prize, laureate lecture
- ^ Dayton, Ohio:Un-named Speech
Speech given at McFarlin Auditorium, Southern Methodist University March 17, 1966, drawn from same sources as April 10, 1957 St. Louis, Mo. speech. Speech can be heard at: <http://www.smu.edu/audio/mlk-at-smu-17march1966.wma>
References
- Fuller, Linda K. (2004). National Days/National Ways: Historical, Political, And Religious Celebrations Around The World. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. 10-ISBN 0-275-97270-4; 13-ISBN 978-0-275-97270-7
- Lischer, Richard. (1997). The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word That Moved America. New York: Oxford University Press. 10-ISBN 0-195-11132-X: 13-ISBN 978-0-195-11132-3
External links
- "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam" 1967 -- see Video at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
- "A Knock at Midnight," 1967 -- see Video at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
- '"Beyond Vietnam," 1967
- A longer list of speeches & sermons
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