Martin Luther King Jr.
, more commonly known as Martin Luther King, born January 15,
1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, and assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, was an Afro-
American pastor, Baptist, and nonviolent activist. - American for the American civil rights
movement, a strong activist for peace and against poverty. He organizes and leads actions such as
the Montgomery bus boycott to defend the right to vote, desegregation and employment of ethnic
minorities .He gave a famous speech on August 28, 1963 in front of the Lincoln Memorial in
Washington, D.C. during the march for jobs and freedom: it was titled "I have a dream".
This speech is supported by John Fitzgerald Kennedy in the fight against racial segregation
in the United States. President Lyndon B. Johnson, through tireless advocacy with members of
Congress, succeeded in passing various federal laws such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which legally ended to all forms of
racial segregation throughout the United States. Martin Luther King became the youngest
recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his nonviolent struggle against racial segregation
and for peace.
He then began a campaign against the Vietnam War and poverty, which ended in 1968
with his assassination officially attributed to James Earl Ray, whose guilt and participation in a
conspiracy are still debated. He was awarded posthumously the Presidential Medal of Freedom
by Jimmy Carter in 1977, the United Nations Human Rights Award in 1978, the Congressional
Gold Medal in 2004, and is considered one of America's greatest public speakers2.Since 1986,
Martin Luther King Day is a public holiday in the United States.
Two Martin Luther King Centers for Nonviolent Action exist, one in Switzerland in
Lausanne and the other in Atlanta. Many other monuments (museums, schools) are listed under
the name of Martin Luther King all over the world. S
OME THOUGHTS FROM MARTIN LUTHER KING
justified in the face of an unjust law, but also that "everyone has a moral responsibility to
disobey unjust laws". The letter includes the famous quote "An injustice anywhere is a threat to
justice everywhere" but also the words of Thurgood Marshall, whom he repeats: "Justice too long
delayed is justice denied". The riots do not solve anything” and considers this means ineffective
even beyond the opposing nature of the riots to his doctrine of non-violence, morals and faith:92
"If power is said to be the ability to change things or the ability to achieve one's goals, then
it is not power to engage in an act that does not accomplish this: and this regardless the noise you
make and the number of things you burn. “Science investigates; religion interprets. Science
gives man knowledge which is power; religion gives man wisdom which is control. Science is
primarily concerned with facts; religion is primarily concerned with values. The two are not
rivals. They are complementary. »
SOME CAUSES OF HIS STRUGGLE
Civil disobedience and non-violenceRacial equality, f
reedom and pride Spiritual life versus material comfortFaith, love and power Science and religion
Sources and inspiration
HIS WORKS
Written by Martin Luther King(en)
Stride toward freedom; the Montgomery story, 1958. The Measure of a Man, 1959.
Strength to Love, 1963. The Nonviolent Revolution ["Why We Can't Wait"]
Signet Classics, 1964 ) Where are we going ?
America's Democracy's Last Chance ["Where do we go from here: Chaos or community?" "], Payot,
1968.
(en) The Trumpet of Conscience, 1968.
La Seul Révolution, Casterman, 1968. (en) La Force d'aimer ["Strength to Love"], Casterman,
editions Empreinte temps present (reprint. 2013) (1st ed. 1968) I have a dream, Bayard, 1998,
2nd ed. by a monument in the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The statue faces 24 semi-
circular niches honoring individuals who gave their lives for the Civil Rights Movement and a
wall of inscriptions, which display excerpts of speeches that 123. Martin Luther King is
considered the author of the greatest historical speeches in the United States, alongside Abraham
Lincoln or John Fitzgerald Kennedy More than 730 cities in the United States have a Martin
Luther King street in 2006 (more than 900 in 20185) and more than a thousand public streets have
been named after him worldwide.
