The Martin Luther King, Jr. Companion: Quotations from the Speeches, Essays, and Books of Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King (Compiler), Dexter Scott King (Introduction)

Let freedom ring from every hill
and molehill of Mississippi. From
every mountaintop, let freedom
ring. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

From the dusty back roads of Montgomery, Alabama, to the legendary March on Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr., brought a stirring message of peace, equality, and justice to a divided people. He aspired only to be a Baptist minister, but by the time he was tragically assassinated in 1968 at the age of thirty-nine, he had led a movement that destroyed segregation in the South, and he had won the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Now, a quarter century after his death, his words are as significant and moving as they were in the 1960s. Watts burns today as it did then; issues of race, justice and human dignity are still the most critical problems facing our nation. This handsome quotation book represents the finest of the Reverend King's words; it is a classic volume compiled from his essays, lectures, and speeches by his wife, Coretta Scott King. Excerpts form his most famous speech-"I Have a Dream" and "I've Been to the Mountaintop"-are included, as well as equally powerful but lesser known quotations. King's vision of healing and forgiveness is a timeless message that American can ill afford to ignore.

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the pivotal leaders of the American civil rights movement. King was a Baptist minister, one of the few leadership roles available to black men at the time. He became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956) and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957), serving as its first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Here he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.

Reviews

[Endora harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

What King really said and thought about White Supremacy!