Martin Luther King, born Michael King:
(Atlanta, 15 January 1929 – Memphis, 4 April 1968).
American Baptist minister, political leader and one of the most prominent members of the African-American civil rights movement.
King became famous in the 1950s and 1960s for his non-violent opposition to racial segregation in the United States, including marching on Washington on 28 August 1963 and boycotting city buses that favoured whites. His verbal and rhetorical skills and charismatic charisma earned him much fame, but King also had enemies. During the 1963 demonstration, he delivered his well-known ‘I Have a Dream’ speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, in which he expressed his hope that one day people would be judged by their behaviour and not their skin colour. A year later, on 10 December 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
There is nothing in all the world greater than freedom. It is worth paying for; it is worth losing a job for; it is worth going to jail for. I would rather be a free pauper than a rich slave. I would rather die in abject poverty with my convictions than live in inordinate riches with the lack of self respect.
One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.
There comes a time when silence is betrayal.
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
The silence of the good people is more dangerous than the brutality of bad people.
