Martin Luther King is an icon of peaceful protest, revered for his vision of justice, his dignity, determination, powers of oratory, success in swaying opinion and death for the cause.
Inspired by Gandhian resistance in India, Africa’s liberation struggles and core Christian beliefs, he led black empowerment drives that are the stuff of legend: the 1955-56 bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama; the 1963 March on Washington where he gave his “I have a dream” speech; the 1963 non-violence campaign in Birmingham, Alabama; championing the 1964 Civil Rights Act; the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery.
Although his tactics differed from those of African pro-independence activists, in March 1957 he was among the American guests Kwame Nkrumah invited to witness the birth of Ghana, together with his wife, Coretta Scott King, Ralph Bunche, United Nations under-secretary general, the prominent trade unionist A Philip Randolph and Representative Adam Clayton Powell.
Being in Accra led to King’s first encounter with White House leadership in the person of the then US vice-president, Richard Nixon, also a guest at the independence celebrations. Direct contact had not been possible in racially segregated America.
“I want you to come visit us down in Alabama where we are seeking the same kind of freedom the Gold Coast is celebrating,” King told Nixon at the reception where they met, beginning an unlikely but cordial relationship.
King told radio listeners: “This event, the birth of this new nation, will give impetus to oppressed peoples all over the world. I think it will have worldwide implications and repercussions – not only for Asia and Africa, but also for America.”
He went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 – at the time, the youngest person ever to do so.
He was assassinated on 4 April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1986 Americans began to honour him with a federal holiday: the third Monday in January each year is Martin Luther King Day.
https://thekingcenter.org
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