December 10, 1964
Oslo, Norway
I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when twenty-two million Negroes of the United States of America are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. I accept this award in behalf of a civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice.
I am mindful that only yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama, our children, crying out for brotherhood, were answered with fire hoses, snarling dogs and even death. I am mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia, Mississippi, young people seeing to secure the right to vote were brutalized and murdered. And only yesterday more than 40 houses of worship in the State of Mississippi alone were bombed or burned because they offered a sunctuary to those who would not accept segregation.
I am mindful that debilitating and grinding poverty afflicts my people and chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.
Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize.
After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time -- the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression.
Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts. Negroes of the United States, following the people of India, have demonstrated that nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood.
If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Alabama, to Oslo bears witness to this truth. This is a road over which millions of Negroes are travelling to find a new sense of dignity.
This same road has opened for all Americans a new ear of progress and hope. It has led to a new Civil Rights bill, and it will, I am convinced, be widened and lengthened into a superhighway of justice as Negro and white men in increasing numbers create alliances to overcome their common problems.
I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him.
I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.
I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.
I believe that even amid today's motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men.
I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.
"And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid."
I still believe that we shall overcome.
This faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.
Today I come to Oslo as a trustee, inspired and with renewed dedication to humanity. I accept this prize on behalf of all men who love peace and brotherhood. I say I come as a trustee, for in the depths of my heart I am aware that this prize is much more than an honor to me personally.
Every time I take a flight I am always mindful of the man people who make a successful journey possible -- the known pilots and the unknown ground crew.
So you honor the dedicated pilots of our struggle who have sat at the controls as the freedom movement soared into orbit. You honor, once again, Chief (Albert) Luthuli of South Africa, whose struggles with and for his people, are still met with the most brutal expression of man's inhumanity to man.
You honor the ground crew without whose labor and sacrifices the jet flights to freedom could never have left the earth.
Most of these people will never make the headlines and their names will not appear in Who's Who. Yet when years have rolled past and when the blazing light of truth is focused on this marvelous age in which we live -- men and women will know and children will be taught that we have a finer land, a better people, a more noble civilization -- because these humble children of God were willing to suffer for righteousness' sake.
I think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owners -- all those to whom beauty is truth and truth beauty -- and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born at noon in his family home at 501 Auburn street, Atlanta, Georgia on 15 Januray 1929. He was shot dead by a white man on the 4 of April 1968. He lived a short life but very useful life. The day before he was killed he spoke to a crowd and said "I don't know what will happen to me now, but it really doesn't matter... I don't mind. Like anybody, I'd like to live a long life. But I just want to do God's will. And he has me to go up the mountain. and I've look over and I've seen the promised land."
Family
Martin Luther King Jnr was the middle child of three children and had an older sister named Willie Christine and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel. Alfred was also a civil rights activist and minister, whose home and church were bombed. He also died at age 39. He was found dround in his hotel swimming pool and allthough it was very suspicious no one was ever charged. Willie Christine married a man named Farrisand is now known as Professer Christine Farris. She teaches at Spelman College and has written several books on the King Family, multicultural education and teaching. There are many simlarities between Martin Luther King Jr and his siblings. Sadly, his mother was shot dead at age 70 by a white gunman (six years after her son) in atlanta church as she played the lord' prayer on the organ on 18 July 1974.
Martin Luther King Jr. was named Michael at birth after his father but at age 5 his father changed both their names to Martin Luther. Martin Luther King Jr. was knowen to his family as ML. His family was loving, Christian and well respected in Atlanta. His faith was a vital support to him through out his life. Both his father and his grandfather were pastors at his local church ,E benezer Baptist and from a young age ML regarded the church a second home.
Martin Luther King Jr was a brilliant student and began his education at Yonge Street Elementary school in Atlanta, Georgia and also attended the Atlanta University Laboratory School and Booker T. Washington High School. Martin Luther King Jr was advanced to morehouse college without formal graduation from Booker T. Washington because of his high score on the college entrance examinations in his Jonior year of high school. Then skipped both ninth and twelfth grades and entered Morehouse college at age 15. At age 19 he graduated from more house college with B.A. degree in sociology. Martin Luther King Jr then enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester Pennsylvania and also studied at the University of pennsylvania. He was elected president of the senior class and delivered the valedicorty adress; won the Pearl Plafker Award for the most astanding student; received the J. Lewis Crozer fellowship for graduate study at auniversity of his choic; and was awarded a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer in 1951. In September of 1951, Martin Luther King Jr began doctoral studies in systematic Theology at Boston University. King also studied at Harvard University. His long essay," A comparison of of God in the thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Wieman," was completed in 1955, and the Ph.D. degree from Boston, a Doctorate of philosophy in Systematic Teology, was awarded on June 5, 1955.
During his time at Boston University he met his future wife, Coretta Scott and they were married in 1953 when he was 24. Dr and Mrs King had four children. They were Yolanda Denise (born November 17, 1955 Montgomery, Alabama); Martin Luther III (born October 1957 Montgomery, Alabama); Dexter Scott (born January 30, 1961 Atlanta, Georgia); and Bernice Albertine (born march 28, 1963 Atlanta, georgia). Coretta Scott King died in 2006 at the age of 78. She is remembered for many brave and selfless acts, including her steady opposition to capital punishment. Coretta Scott King was a wonderful wife who was always beside Martin Luther King Jnr's side - she bailed him out of gaol, helped him to organise and implment the protests and rallies which characterised the "King" stage of the Civil rights Movement. She spoke for him when he was unable, and picked up the torch for him after he died, fulfilling the same role in the civil rights movement that he had. To the very last years of her life, Coretta Scott King remained an advocate of civil rights and equality for all people.
Achievements
Martin Luther King Jnr was a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement in the US. he was elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organisation which was responsible for the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1955 to 1956 (381 days) when blacks refused to travel on public transport in protest at segregation. He didn't just help the segregated blacks in the south he also lived and worked in the poor, overcrowded black neighbourhoods of several northern cities (e.g. Chicago) and ran protests and campaigns to get those people better conditions. He was arrested thrity times for his participation in civil rights activities. Dr King received several hundred awards fro his ledership in the Civil Rights Movement including Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963 and The Nobel Peace prize in 1964 (age 35). One of his biggest achievements was the 1965 Voting Rights Act which ensured that black peopl were able to register to vote in elections.
In 1983 Congress declared the third Monday in January a holiday in honour of Martin Luther King Jnr.
Historical Context
* Many of the problems of poverty and disadvantage were caused by segregation. Racial segregation forced blacks to use separate and poor quality toilets, drinking fountains, waiting rooms, parks, hospitals, and schools. In contrast white people were provided with much better quality and higher standard facilities. this constantly reminded the black people of their low staus in society. However, segregation by race was lawful in the Souterhn states of the US so martin Luther King jnr had to get those laws changed and black people had to be given the opportunity to volte in elections;
* The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) were a very dangerous secret society of very powerful white men who didn't want things to change and they terrorized and tried to kill anyone who challenged segregation. Civil Rights work was dangerous.
For example,
* In 1956 his house was bombed after he delivered his first major national speech during a prayer pilgrimage in Washington;
* In 1958 he was stabbed at a book signing in Harlem, New York;
* In 1969 he was arrested and sentenced to four months in prison for participating in a sit-in at the segregation lunch counter in Atlanta's biggest department store. The other black people arrested with him were all released the same night;
* In 1961 he and the freedom riders were attacked and he was arrested;
* In 1962 he was arrested in Albany, Georgia;
* In 1965 he was arrested and sent to Birmingham gaol where he wrote the famous "Letter from Birmingham";
* In 1966 he was attacked in Chicago;
* In 1967 after riots started in Jackson, Mississippi he was convicted of contempt of court for his 1963 Birmingham demonstration;
* In 1968 Martin Luther King Jnr was murdered by a white sniper gunman who was a gaol escapee. few believe that the sniper acted alone. But the violence against the Kings didn't stop there.
* His younger brother Alfred (who was also a civil rights activist and had also suffered arrest and had his home
bombed) was found drowned in a pool one year after Martin Luther King Jnr was shot dead. They were both 39 years old. The cause of death was recorded as suicide by drowning but the circumstances were suspicious; and
*His mother was shot dead at age 70 by a white gunman (six years after her son) in an Atlanta church as she played The Lord's Prayer on the organ on 18 July 1974.
*********************************************
Think about the similarities and differences between Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jnr.
These two black ment have a lot in common. They both came from good families and had good educations. Both fought for the freedom and equality of black people through the end of racial segregation - Mandela did this in South Africa and King fought in the deep south of the US. Both were Christians, - King was a Baptist, and Mandela is a Methodist; they were both beaten, harassed and gaoled for their work; and both received the Nobel Peace Prize for their achievements in the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jnr was only 11 years younger than Nelson Mandela and much of their protest occured in the 1950s. King was killed by a white sniper at age 39 and Mandela was gaoled by a white government for 27 years at age 44.
The way in which they differ is that Mandela moved away from believing change could be achieved through non-violent protest after he experienced the violence of the white government against him and his supporters. However, King remained committed to bringing about social change through non-violent protest but he didn't spend 27 years in solitary confinement in one of Africa's worst gaols.......
Family
Martin Luther King Jnr was the middle child of three children and had an older sister named Willie Christine and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel. Alfred was also a civil rights activist and minister, whose home and church were bombed. He also died at age 39. He was found dround in his hotel swimming pool and allthough it was very suspicious no one was ever charged. Willie Christine married a man named Farrisand is now known as Professer Christine Farris. She teaches at Spelman College and has written several books on the King Family, multicultural education and teaching. There are many simlarities between Martin Luther King Jr and his siblings. Sadly, his mother was shot dead at age 70 by a white gunman (six years after her son) in atlanta church as she played the lord' prayer on the organ on 18 July 1974.
Martin Luther King Jr. was named Michael at birth after his father but at age 5 his father changed both their names to Martin Luther. Martin Luther King Jr. was knowen to his family as ML. His family was loving, Christian and well respected in Atlanta. His faith was a vital support to him through out his life. Both his father and his grandfather were pastors at his local church ,E benezer Baptist and from a young age ML regarded the church a second home.
Martin Luther King Jr was a brilliant student and began his education at Yonge Street Elementary school in Atlanta, Georgia and also attended the Atlanta University Laboratory School and Booker T. Washington High School. Martin Luther King Jr was advanced to morehouse college without formal graduation from Booker T. Washington because of his high score on the college entrance examinations in his Jonior year of high school. Then skipped both ninth and twelfth grades and entered Morehouse college at age 15. At age 19 he graduated from more house college with B.A. degree in sociology. Martin Luther King Jr then enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester Pennsylvania and also studied at the University of pennsylvania. He was elected president of the senior class and delivered the valedicorty adress; won the Pearl Plafker Award for the most astanding student; received the J. Lewis Crozer fellowship for graduate study at auniversity of his choic; and was awarded a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer in 1951. In September of 1951, Martin Luther King Jr began doctoral studies in systematic Theology at Boston University. King also studied at Harvard University. His long essay," A comparison of of God in the thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Wieman," was completed in 1955, and the Ph.D. degree from Boston, a Doctorate of philosophy in Systematic Teology, was awarded on June 5, 1955.
During his time at Boston University he met his future wife, Coretta Scott and they were married in 1953 when he was 24. Dr and Mrs King had four children. They were Yolanda Denise (born November 17, 1955 Montgomery, Alabama); Martin Luther III (born October 1957 Montgomery, Alabama); Dexter Scott (born January 30, 1961 Atlanta, Georgia); and Bernice Albertine (born march 28, 1963 Atlanta, georgia). Coretta Scott King died in 2006 at the age of 78. She is remembered for many brave and selfless acts, including her steady opposition to capital punishment. Coretta Scott King was a wonderful wife who was always beside Martin Luther King Jnr's side - she bailed him out of gaol, helped him to organise and implment the protests and rallies which characterised the "King" stage of the Civil rights Movement. She spoke for him when he was unable, and picked up the torch for him after he died, fulfilling the same role in the civil rights movement that he had. To the very last years of her life, Coretta Scott King remained an advocate of civil rights and equality for all people.
Achievements
Martin Luther King Jnr was a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement in the US. he was elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organisation which was responsible for the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1955 to 1956 (381 days) when blacks refused to travel on public transport in protest at segregation. He didn't just help the segregated blacks in the south he also lived and worked in the poor, overcrowded black neighbourhoods of several northern cities (e.g. Chicago) and ran protests and campaigns to get those people better conditions. He was arrested thrity times for his participation in civil rights activities. Dr King received several hundred awards fro his ledership in the Civil Rights Movement including Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963 and The Nobel Peace prize in 1964 (age 35). One of his biggest achievements was the 1965 Voting Rights Act which ensured that black peopl were able to register to vote in elections.
In 1983 Congress declared the third Monday in January a holiday in honour of Martin Luther King Jnr.
Historical Context
Over 300 hundred years before Martin Luther King Jnr was born the first slaves were brought to America from Africa to work on sugar, tobacco and cotton plantations. They provided free labour and white farmers bought and sold them like pieces of furniture. Slavery never spread to the Northern states of America becasue they didn't have the right climate to grow plantation crops. The American Civil War stoped slavery but it didn't end discrimination against blacks because the Southern states passed new laws which segregated black and white people in schools, houses, buses, trains, gaols, hospitals. martin luther King jnr grew up in the deep south of the US where he saw how segregation by race laws caused suffering and hardship for the black population. Black children weren't allowed to play in public parks and on buses the white people sat at the front of the bus and the black people at the back of the bus. The laws were made by white people to make black people feel inferior and kept most of them uneducated and poor. Black people couldn't vote so they couldn't get the laws changed. A secret society called the Ku Klux Klan also frightened and killed blacks who didn't obey the laws. Blacks had been treated badly for so long that many believed they were inferior to white people.
By the time of his death he had already helped to change American society. many cities had been forced to abondon laws which discriminated against people and to pass laws which made segregation illegal, and black Americans could now vote. he had shown that non-violence was a powerful weapon. His coffin was carried to the cemetery on a farm cart pulled by two mules and 50,000 people walked behind it. He was buried besdie his grandparents.
If Martin Luther King Jnr was alive today he could still find much work to do fighting for justice and equality in poor communities both black and white.
Mentors
Martin Luter King Jnr's parents were very special and had a huge impact on the man he became. They knew what it was to be poor but they worked hard to get a better life. His father started out as a worker on a plantation in Georgia and his mother was a cleaner for a white family. At age 18 Martin Luther King Snr left the plantation and went to Atlanta where he worked throughout the day and went to night classes and got his high school Diploma. He married the daughter of a pastor of the Ebenezer baptist Church and when his father-in-law died he became the pastor. Martin Luther King Jnr's parents did not accept the system of segregation by race and understood the suffering and hardship it caused the black population. They made sure that their children understood how segregation was used to keep Negros disadvantaged. His parents constantly told him "You are as good as anybody".
His Aunt Ida Worthem spent many hours reading to Martin Luther King Jnr and his siblings throughout their childhood. This encouraged him to read widely throughout his life which was very important for his education and personal development.
His mentors taught him right from wrong, gave him a strong work ethic, introduced him to new ideas and taught him that black people were equal to white people. Martin Luther King Jnr was also a mentor to both his wife and younger brother who continued to fight for civil rights after his assassination. Martin Luther King Jnr was strongly influenced by the actions and teaching of three non-violent ment who fought for social change:
* Jesus through whom he believed we got to know God and his love;
* Henry David Thoreau through his essay "On Civil Disobedience" which said that individuals should act according to their own sense of right and wrong; andunjust laws should be challenged by passive, non-violent resistance; and
* Mahatma Ghandi who had used non-violent protests to oppose British rule in India. Martin Luther King Jnr and his wife travelled to india to get a better understanding of Ghandi's philosophy. He was shocked by the poverty of the people which he blamed on the previous British rulers.
His family, church and life experiences also influenced him. For example:
* His educated self-made, Christian parents who provided a strong family life;
* His parents refused to accept the segregation by race laws (which were known as the Jim Crow Laws) and declined to buy his son some shoes when a white sales assistant tried to make them sit at the back of the shop. This was a strong non-violent demonstration;
* The love and support of his wife Coretta;
* His local Baptist church which he regarded as a second home, and the Black Church movement and his faith;
*When he started school he was no longer allowed to play with his white friends and his parents explained for the first time the system of rce segregation;
* When he was a boy he saw the Ku Klux Klan beat a Negro during an initiation ceremony and he later said "...these things did something to my growing personality".
* At age 14 after winning a public speaking contest with his speech on "The Negro and the Constitution" he and his teacher were made to give up their seats to white passengers on the trip home;
* At age 15 he went to study at Morehouse College in Atlanta and was shocked to find that race discrimination disappeared once they passed Washington and he wrote to his father that "The white people here are very nice."
* Morehouse College was set up to produce leaders and Martin Luterh King Jnr said that Morehouse "sent men out into life with a sense of mission, believing they could accomplish whatever they set out to do."
The following speech which is very famous suggest that his experience of being separated from his white friends as a child had a big influence on him
"I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama...will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with the little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers..when we let freedon ring...we will be able to speed up the day when all of God's children, black men and white men, jews and gentiles, protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almight, we are free at last!"
Obstacles
The obstacles he faced were huge. America was a violent, racist society and he was often gaoled, beaten, and abused but he never lost faith. he was eventually killed because of his achievements and what he stood for. Examples of the obstacles include:* Many of the problems of poverty and disadvantage were caused by segregation. Racial segregation forced blacks to use separate and poor quality toilets, drinking fountains, waiting rooms, parks, hospitals, and schools. In contrast white people were provided with much better quality and higher standard facilities. this constantly reminded the black people of their low staus in society. However, segregation by race was lawful in the Souterhn states of the US so martin Luther King jnr had to get those laws changed and black people had to be given the opportunity to volte in elections;
* The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) were a very dangerous secret society of very powerful white men who didn't want things to change and they terrorized and tried to kill anyone who challenged segregation. Civil Rights work was dangerous.
For example,
* In 1956 his house was bombed after he delivered his first major national speech during a prayer pilgrimage in Washington;
* In 1958 he was stabbed at a book signing in Harlem, New York;
* In 1969 he was arrested and sentenced to four months in prison for participating in a sit-in at the segregation lunch counter in Atlanta's biggest department store. The other black people arrested with him were all released the same night;
* In 1961 he and the freedom riders were attacked and he was arrested;
* In 1962 he was arrested in Albany, Georgia;
* In 1965 he was arrested and sent to Birmingham gaol where he wrote the famous "Letter from Birmingham";
* In 1966 he was attacked in Chicago;
* In 1967 after riots started in Jackson, Mississippi he was convicted of contempt of court for his 1963 Birmingham demonstration;
* In 1968 Martin Luther King Jnr was murdered by a white sniper gunman who was a gaol escapee. few believe that the sniper acted alone. But the violence against the Kings didn't stop there.
* His younger brother Alfred (who was also a civil rights activist and had also suffered arrest and had his home
bombed) was found drowned in a pool one year after Martin Luther King Jnr was shot dead. They were both 39 years old. The cause of death was recorded as suicide by drowning but the circumstances were suspicious; and
*His mother was shot dead at age 70 by a white gunman (six years after her son) in an Atlanta church as she played The Lord's Prayer on the organ on 18 July 1974.
*********************************************
Think about the similarities and differences between Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jnr.
These two black ment have a lot in common. They both came from good families and had good educations. Both fought for the freedom and equality of black people through the end of racial segregation - Mandela did this in South Africa and King fought in the deep south of the US. Both were Christians, - King was a Baptist, and Mandela is a Methodist; they were both beaten, harassed and gaoled for their work; and both received the Nobel Peace Prize for their achievements in the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jnr was only 11 years younger than Nelson Mandela and much of their protest occured in the 1950s. King was killed by a white sniper at age 39 and Mandela was gaoled by a white government for 27 years at age 44.
The way in which they differ is that Mandela moved away from believing change could be achieved through non-violent protest after he experienced the violence of the white government against him and his supporters. However, King remained committed to bringing about social change through non-violent protest but he didn't spend 27 years in solitary confinement in one of Africa's worst gaols.......
