Today is the 60th anniversary of the pivotal I Have a Dream speech, delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
Dr. King was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929, the son of a Baptist minister. King earned a doctorate degree in theology and in 1955 helped organize the first major protest of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States: the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott. Influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, he advocated civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance to segregation in the South. The peaceful protests he led throughout the American South were often met with violence, but King and his followers persevered, and the movement gained momentum.
A powerful orator, King appealed to Christian and American ideals and won growing support from the federal government and Northern whites. On August 28, 1963, Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph led the massive March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. At the end of the event, King, only 34 years old, delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
In 1964, the civil rights movement achieved two of its greatest successes: the ratification of the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished the poll tax that required voters to pay for the right to vote; and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, that prohibited racial discrimination in employment and education and outlawed racial segregation in public facilities. Later that year, King became the youngest person to date to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the late 1960s, King openly criticized U.S. involvement in Vietnam and turned his efforts to winning economic rights for poor Americans. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.
Follow the link below to hear Dr. King deliver his I Have a Dream speech: Feel free to skip the ads.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!
Dr. Terry Rees
Superior General/Executive Director
Order of St. John Paul II
916-896-1327 (office)
916-687-1266 (mobile)
tfrees@sjp2.org
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