martin luther king jr nobel acceptance speech central idea

This was not only an advocacy of peace, but also a demand for reallocation of resources from warfare to measures for economic justice.

In an attention-getting speech, King took a stand against the United States’ war in Vietnam. In South Africa a severe form of segregation prevailed, known as “apartheid,” which King took a stand against. Martin Luther King’s fight for the equal worth of all people extended beyond the United States. The Nobel Prize helped reinforce Martin Luther King’s international reputation and involvement. After the Nobel Prize award ceremony in Oslo, King visited Stockholm and returned two years later for a philanthropic concert benefiting the civil rights movement. Contributions to human rights had been recognized a few years earlier when Albert Lutuli of South Africa was awarded the Peace Prize, and a few years later it was awarded to René Cassin for his work on the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In October 1964 Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violence-based fight for the rights of African-Americans. Respect for human rights is a prerequisite for peace. In the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, the civil rights of all Americans were strengthened. Two years later marches in Selma, Alabama protested against limitations on the voting rights of African-Americans. This is where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Later the same year the large March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place. King was arrested and wrote a letter in jail in which he developed his ideas about the principle of non-violence. In Birmingham, Alabama, sharp clashes occurred in 1963 between activists and police. Martin Luther King, who at the time was a pastor in Montgomery, emerged as the leader of the campaign.Īt the beginning of the 1960s, Martin Luther King continued the fight against segregation and discrimination in several places. This was the start of a long boycott of city buses. In 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, activist Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. Another area where the fight against segregation moved forward was public transportation. Nevertheless, several conflicts arose when African-American students began entering schools only white students had previously attended. Supreme Court ruled that schools could not establish separate public schools for white and black students.

Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle based on non-violence, which King became familiar with as a student, also played an important role in his thinking.ĭuring the 1950s the fight against segregation intensified. His father was a Baptist minister, a religious heritage that strongly influenced his ideas. In Atlanta, Georgia, where Martin Luther King grew up, discrimination was widespread, but some African-Americans still managed to build competitive businesses.

African-Americans were subjected to oppression and violence. Segregation of blacks and whites had a major impact on society and life in the American South. One of the ways this was expressed was in his most famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” delivered in 1963. Martin Luther King’s struggle was about making the idea of equal rights for all a reality. However, until 1865 slavery was an integral part of society in the American South, and discrimination against African-Americans sanctioned in law persisted until the middle of the 20th century. Two important documents in which this idea is expressed are the 1776 American Declaration of Independence and the 1948 United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The idea that we are all born free, with equal worth, has its roots far back in history.

Each part also illuminates various human rights. The exhibition is divided into eight parts that deal with different aspects of his life and deeds.

Martin luther king jr nobel acceptance speech central idea