Martin Luther King – a Video Selection 1954 – 1968
1954
Martin Luther King Jr. 'Rediscovering Lost Values' February 28, 1954
MLK delivers a sermon at Second Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan.
February 28, 1954
1955
Address to the first Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), Holt Street Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama,
December 5, 1955
1956
I heard the voice of Jesus!...
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, January 1956
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. personally encountered Jesus Christ in early January 1956. He does not make a public recorded mention of this until 27 January 1957, when preaching at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, in a sermon notated by the Montgomery Advertiser, a local newspaper.
At the age of 27, on 31 Jan. 1956, the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church parsonage was bombed, ripping a hole through the house & front steps & leaving a scar in the concrete which is still visible today. His immediate family was inside the parsonage at the time of the explosion. Dr. King did not take to a pulpit to speak succinctly about his personal experience with Jesus in Jan. 1956, as Montgomery Improvement Assoc. leaders & residents were counting on him to be calm in the face of great personal harm & adversity. He spoke from the pulpit before & afterwards on the words of Jesus from Matthew 5:43-45.
At the age of 29, Dr. King was nearly stabbed to death with a letter opener on 20 Sept. 1958. When stabbed, part of the letter opener went close to the aorta, & some of the opener remained sticking out of his chest. He was operated on & recovered over a period of several weeks.
Many are familiar with the public audio recording recalling his 1956 personal encounter with Jesus from late in his sermon at Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, IL on 27 August 1967. Near the start of that sermon, he refers to Luke 12:13-21. Because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, Jesus is the great physician who can heal us from all our sickness & wounds. Jesus & the Holy Spirit are the Balm in Gilead today.
““…Even though Martin Luther King Jr., came from a line of African American preachers in his family he was also influenced from what he learned while attending Crozer (Theological Seminary), a predominantly white seminary. While studying at Crozer, King would be exposed to various styles of sermon arrangements. Those styles included the Jewel Sermon, the Roman Candle Sermon, & the Classification Sermon. The Jewel Sermon involved looking at an idea from multiple angles. The Roman Candle Sermon contained a series of loosely related points. The Classification Sermon involved placing people or things into different classes or groups. A number of King’s sermons would fall into the Classification category which was common to the folk preaching that African Americans were used to. From time to time he would also show the ability to mix styles as some preachers did. Because Dr. King had a handle on an array of sermon arrangement styles he would be able to reach all audiences instead of being just able to preach to the black community…. he learned that in order to fully interpret what was written in the Bible he had to know the historical context in which the texts were written. This form of biblical interpretation enabled King to be able to relate biblical characters & stories to the to the current time setting.
Dr. King did not take sermon preparation lightly. Prior to The Civil Rights movement he spent 15 hours in preparation….”” From, “The Life & Writing of Martin Luther King Jr.,” by Terrell M. Harris, Wesley Theological Seminary, © 2010.
1957
'Give Us the Ballot' Speech, Washington, DC,
May 17, 1957
Martin Luther King addresses 20,000+ crowd at the 'Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom' rally in Washington, D.C. May 17, 1957
Hoping to prod the federal government to fulfill the promise of the three-year-old Brown v. Board of Education decision, national civil rights leaders called for a rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Speaking last, King delivers the address "Give Us the Ballot." Some twenty thousand people listen to three hours of speeches, music, and testimony from southern activists.
1958
The Bennet College Speech 1958, Greensboro, North Carolina,
February 11, 1958
1959
Martin Luther King Jr: The Lost 1959 Broadcast, St. Paul, Minnesota
In 1959, Martin Luther King Jr was known chiefly for his role in the successful Montgomery bus boycott. It was years before his "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington. Long thought lost, the interview was found and rebroadcast in 2009. In it, King sat down for his KTCA interview with L. Howard Bennett, a civil rights leader and the first African-American judge in Minnesota.
00:00 Introduction to "That Free Men May Live" series, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and L. Howard Bennett.
01:55 Problems Black people faced in Southern States to achieving first-class citizenship (in 1959)
04:20 1954 Supreme Court decision impacted change here and internationally
06:15 Neighborhood and school segregation issue in Northern Communities
08:18 Racial covenants unenforceable in the courts, but doesn't change fixed attitudes
09:05 Migration of Southern Black people and Puerto Ricans impact on communities, its leaders and role of government
14:51 Slavery and segregation caused bitterness
18:20 Hate hurts the hater and the hated
18:50 Love effective agent for dealing with social problems
21:27 Press toward freedom reaction, critics
23:30 White community responsibility on removing segregation, discrimination
25:50 Seek to improve standards
1961
Martin Luther King's 1961 Chapman University speech, Orange, California,
December 10, 1961
Two years before his famous 1963 "I have a dream" speech in Washington D.C. Martin Luther King addressed students and staff at Chapman University. Some of his common themes can be heard in this never before released recording of the 55 minute speech.
1961 was the year of the Freedom Rides, in which a group of 13 African-American and white civil rights activists launched a series of bus trips through the American South to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals. The group encountered tremendous violence, but also drew international attention to their cause.
On December 10, 1961, Dr. King spoke as part of the Artists Lecture Series in Memorial Hall. His speech focused on racial justice and nonviolent resistance.
Just days after speaking at Chapman College, Dr. King was arrested in Georgia along with hundreds of protesters striving to end racial segregation as part of the Albany Movement. (Martin Luther King Jr. at Chapman)
1961
Martin Luther King, Jr., American Dream (1961 Version)
Lincoln University, Oxford, Pennsylvania,
June 6, 1961
1962
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1962 Speech in New York City,
Park Sheraton Hotel, to honor the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on the eve of its centennial anniversary,
September 12, 1962
On September 12, 1962, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech at the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City to honor the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on the eve of its centennial anniversary. At a dinner organized by New York's Civil War Centennial Commission, Dr. King spoke on the importance of the Emancipation Proclamation in American history, arguing that the document proved that government could be a powerful force for social justice. He urged Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller and President John F. Kennedy to hasten integration and progress towards full civil rights. (New York State Museum)
1963
Martin Luther King - I Have A Dream Speech, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,
August 28, 1963
I Have a Dream Speech
Martin Luther King's Address at March on Washington
August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
1964
Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Oslo, Norway,
December 10, 1964
Read the acceptance speech at nobelprize.org:
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/acceptance-speech/
Martin Luther King Jr. held his acceptance speech in the auditorium of the University of Oslo on 10 December 1964.
Copyright © Norsk Rikskringkasting AS 2012
1967
Beyond Vietnam - A Time to Break Silence, Riverside Church, New York City,
April 4, 1967
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 speech in New York. In this speech, he opposes violence and militarism, particularly the war in Vietnam.
1967
The Other America, Speech at Stanford University, Stanford, California,
April 14, 1967
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1967 speech at Stanford. Here, he expounds on his nonviolent philosophy and methodology.
1967
The Three Evils of Society, Speech at the National Conference for New Politics, Chicago, Illinois,
August 31, 1967
An almost lost Dr. King speech, from the Pacifica Archives; this speech was given at the first and only National Conference for New Politics. It is an amazing speech which looks at American's three deadliest sins, War, Racism and Poverty!
1968
The Last Sunday Sermon of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Canterbury Pulpit at The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC,
March 31, 1968
This is the last Sunday sermon of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. He delivered his final Sunday sermon on March 31, 1968, from the Canterbury Pulpit at The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, 3101 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America. In his sermon, he refers to the following passages from The Word of God: Psalm 133; The Gospel of Saint Matthew 25:31-46; The Gospel of Saint Luke 16:19-31; and the Book of Revelation 21:5.
Where Holy Scripture is missing where you may demand it from this sermon, it is supported by six pivotal pieces of Holy Scripture. These six pieces are followed by 42 other pieces. The first six are as follows:
Isaiah 1:17: “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.”
Proverbs 21:13: “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.”
Galatians 6:2: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Proverbs 3:27: “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”
Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
1968
"I’ve Been to the Mountaintop", Memphis, Tennessee,
April 3, 1967
Martin Luther King Speaks! "I’ve Been to the Mountaintop" (Full)
April 3, 1968 Memphis, Tennessee. Would would become King's final speech, he talks in support of striking Memphis sanitation workers.