Sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.
 |
This article is part of a series about Martin Luther King, Jr. |
|---|---|
Campaigns
Death and memorial
|
|
The sermons and speeches of Dr. 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.
Dr. 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]
Speechwriter and orator
The famous "I Have a Dream" address was delivered in August 1963 from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Less well-remembered are the early sermons of that young, 25-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)
- 1966 – "Guidelines for a Constructive Church", Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 5 June 1966.
- 1967 – "The Three Dimensions Of A Complete Life", Delivered at New Covenant Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois, on April 9, 1967.
- 1967 – "Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool," also known as "A Knock at Midnight," Delivered at Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois, on August 27, 1967. (Chicago, Illinois) -- see Video on YouTube
- 1968 – "The Drum Major Instinct", February 4, 1968. (Atlanta, Georgia)
- 1968 – "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution", March 31, 1968. Delivered at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
- 1968 – I've Been to the Mountaintop," April 3, 1968. (Memphis, Tennessee)
- 1968 – "Why America May Go to Hell",[6] planned to be delivered on April 7, 1968 but never delivered due to his assassination.[7]
Speeches
-
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
| Year | Date | Title | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | December 5 | Montgomery Improvement Association mass meeting speech |
|
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles> |
| 1957 | April 10 | "A Realistic Look at the Question of Progress in the Area of Race Relations," |
|
|
| May 17 | "Give Us the Ballot" |
|
||
| 1962 | February 12 | "If the Negro Wins, Labor Wins" |
|
King suggests that black emancipation is also the key to workers' rights. (Some confusion about whether the speech was December 1961 or February 1962.) |
| 1963 | June 23 | The 'Great March on Detroit' speech |
|
Dr. King's first "I Have A Dream" Speech – Titled, in LP released by Detroit's Gordy records, "The Great March to Freedom" (excerpt) |
| August 28 | "I Have a Dream" |
|
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles> | |
| September 18 | Eulogy for the young victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing |
|
||
| 1964 | December 10 | Nobel Prize – acceptance speech |
|
|
| December 11 | "The Quest for Peace and Justice" |
|
Nobel laureate lecture | |
| November 29 | Untitled speech[8] |
|
||
| 1966 | May 5 | "Family Planning – A Special and Urgent Concern"; accepting Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Margaret Sanger Award for "his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity." |
|
Due to what he described as "last minute urgent developments in the civil rights movement," Dr. King's wife, Coretta Scott King, delivered his speech on his behalf. Before reading Dr. King's speech, Mrs. King declared, "I am proud tonight to say a word in behalf of your mentor, and the person who symbolizes the ideas of this organization, Margaret Sanger. Because of her dedication, her deep convictions, and for her suffering for what she believed in, I would like to say that I am proud to be a woman tonight."[9] |
| May 18 | "Don't Sleep Through the Revolution" |
|
Given as the prestigious Ware Lecture at the General Assembly of the Unitarian Association of Congregations, now the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations | |
| June 17 | "We Shall Overcome" | |||
| 1967 | April 4 | "Beyond Vietnam" |
|
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles> |
| April 30 | "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam" | |||
| August 16 | "Where Do We Go from Here?" |
|
Speech to the 10th annual session of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference | |
| 1968 | March 14 | "The Other America" |
|
[10] |
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.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "CBS to broadcast story on long-lost MLK speech at UD"
- ↑ In a follow-up letter, Dr. King remarked:
Words are inadequate for me to say how honored I was to be the recipient of the Margaret Sanger Award. This award will remain among my most cherished possessions. While I cannot claim to be worthy of such a signal honor, I can assure you that I accept it with deep humility and sincere gratitude. Such a wonderful expression of support is of inestimable value for the continuance of my humble efforts... I am happy to be the recipient of the Margaret Sanger Award and I can assure you that this distinct honor will cause me to work even harder for a reign of justice and a rule of love all over our nation. "Family Planning – A Special and Urgent Concern"
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Speech given at McFarlin Auditorium, Southern Methodist University March 17, 1966, drawn from same sources as April 10, 1957 St. Louis, Mo. speech.
References
- Fuller, Linda K. (2004). National Days/National Ways: Historical, Political, And Religious Celebrations Around The World. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. 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. ISBN 978-0-19-511132-3
External links
- "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam" 1967 -- see Video on YouTube
- "A Knock at Midnight," 1967 -- see Video on YouTube
- '"Beyond Vietnam," 1967
- A longer list of speeches & sermons
- Martin Luther King: His Triumphs - a slideshow by Life magazine
- Tavis Smiley on Rev. Martin Luther King and His Opposition to the Vietnam War - video by Democracy Now!
- "Episode 2 -- MLK: A Call to Conscience: -- Tavis Smiley Reports. The second episode of Tavis Smiley Reports examines Martin Luther King, Jr.'s stand against the Vietnam War and the influence of his legacy today. Tavis speaks with scholars and friends of King, including Cornel West, Vincent Harding and Susannah Heschel." [1] March 31, 2010
