HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH EVERYONE!

Can you name the speech this excerpt is from?

“…that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal… I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood…. And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So, let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!”

Many of you may be unfamiliar with this speech because the first three words are missing.

Provided above are quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. On August 28, 1963, MLK delivered his famous speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, to a massive group of civil rights marchers.

The march brought together civil rights leaders and marchers who were fighting for jobs and freedom in the United States.

Martin Luther King, Jr. influenced the federal government to take more direct actions to more fully realize racial equality.

MLK was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was middle child of the three children his parents shared.

He attended church all his life. He ended up becoming a Minister. Along with his involvement in the church, he was a major civil rights leader and he also won a Nobel Peace Prize.

He is well known for his influence but there are fun facts about MLK that people have never heard or may find interesting.

King’s birth name was Michael, not Martin. The change was inspired by the Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther.

King entered college at the age of 15. He was a gifted student, skipping both the ninth and 12th grades before enrolling in 1944 at Morehouse College.

That “I Have a Dream” speech was not his first speech at the Lincoln Memorial. The audience was between 15,000 and 30,000 people on the topic of voting rights.

MLK was wrongfully imprisoned almost 30 times.

His arrest record includes civil disobedience. His chargers were trumped up on numerous occasions.

Many are unaware of the first assassination attempt on Martin’s life. Izola Ware Curry plunged a seven-inch letter opener into his chest. The tip of the blade came to rest alongside his aorta, and King underwent hours of delicate emergency surgery.

Another unfortunate coincidence is that King’s mother was also killed by a bullet. The deranged gunman claimed that Christians were his enemy and that although he had received divine instructions to kill King’s father, who was in the congregation, he killed King’s mother instead because she was closer.

On April 3, 1968, he gave his final prophetic speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tenn.

Some believe Martin Luther King knew death was near.

The following day he was gunned down at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, now the home of the National Civil Rights Museum.

This day would send shock waves through America. His assassin, James Earl Ray, first plead guilty but immediately switched his story.

He claimed someone set him up to be the fall man for the murder of Dr. King. He tried to withdraw his guilty plea.

Ray’s motion was denied, as were his dozens of other requests for a trial.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life was taken way too soon.

Luckily, he lived an eventful life and left a remarkable impact on the world!