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“The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.” -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Life and Legacy of Dr. King
The son, grandson, and great-grandson of Baptist ministers, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in 1929. After finishing his doctoral studies at Boston University’s School of Theology in 1955, Dr. King moved south to become an ordained minister in Montgomery, Alabama, moving later to Atlanta, Georgia. Beginning with Montgomery’s groundbreaking bus boycott campaign in 1956, Dr. King would spend the next decade leading a national movement to secure equal civil rights for all Americans, regardless of color or creed. Building on the philosophy of Gandhi and Christian social theology, he would become an internationally-renowned advocate of nonviolent social change, culminating in his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. His later career, tragically cut short by his assassination in 1968, was devoted to fighting poverty and militarism both in the US and around the world, work that remains unfinished today…Read the full biography!
Selected Speeches and Sermons
I Have a Dream, 1963—The most widely-known of his speeches, the "I Have a Dream" speech was delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 at the March for Jobs & Freedom, generally referred to as the March on Washington. In addition to focusing the nation's conscience on the continuing plague of racial and social injustice, the speech has gone on to become one of mankind's most oft-repeated clarion calls for freedom and equality. Click the speech to read or listen!
Give Us the Ballot, 1957—One of King's first speeches to reach a wide audience, these words were delivered at the "Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom" in Washington in 1957, a large rally aimed at pressuring Congress to follow through with the desegregation promised by Brown vs. Board of Education. Click the speech to read or listen!
Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963—At the height of the civil rights movement in the Deep South, Dr. King was repeatedly jailed for what the segregationist authorities deemed to be "disturbing the peace." During one such jail sentence, Dr. King penned this famous letter, giving an impassioned defense of the need for immediate change and justice, rather than continued delay.
Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, 1964—Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at the height of the American civil rights movement, a time when both Congress and the Supreme Court were acting to sweep away institutionalized segregation. In a timeless call for the need of grassroots activism, Dr. King devoted his speech not to the country's leaders or top voices, but to the average men and women fighting for change everyday in their communities. Click the speech to read its entirety and check out our commemorative video on YouTube!
Kingian Nonviolence Materials
The Six Principles of Kingian Nonviolence
The Six Steps of Kingian Nonviolent Action
Poverty, Community & Nonviolence Materials
Second Bill of Rights – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The Other America – Martin Luther King Jr.
On Civil Disobedience – Henry David Thoreau
My Faith in Nonviolence – Mahatma Gandhi
Morning Song & Evening Walk - poet Sonia Sanchez
Names to Know
Interested in learning more about the history of nonviolent social action, both in the US and around the world? Click here to read up on some of our time’s most notable names in nonviolence.
RTD Project Reports
Voices of Poverty, Voices of Hope: Report of Findings from the Looking, Listening & Learning Tour, 2006-2007
Achieving Dr. King's Vision for World Peace & Prosperity in the 21st Century: A Report from the 2008 Summit to Realize the Dream), December 2008
Realizing the Dream Roundtable Report: Redressing Poverty, Building Community & Fostering Peace through Nonviolence, February 2009
Kenya Project Report, March 2009
Bosnia Herzegovina Project Report, May 2009
