Recently, I read a tweet from a relative of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In this tweet, she chastised us not to post a quote from Dr. King on his birthday and think our job is done. I’m paraphrasing her tweet because I only glimpsed at it before I was interrupted. The next time I checked my Twitter feed I couldn’t find it, but her message resonated with me.
Over the years I’ve written several articles about Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement.
You can find many of these articles by using the search engine for This Awful Awesome Life. I always find a new quote or a new fact about him I didn’t know. Each year on his birthday, I take a moment to try to imagine the indignities he suffered and fought to correct. I try to remember what’s so hard for me to comprehend happens in some degree to every person of color at some point in their lives simply because of the color of their skin.
We must not quote him on his birthday and retreat to ambivalence or apathy for the next 364 days. We must not quote Dr. King on his birthday and spew hate and bigotry every other day of the year.
I encourage you to read his speeches; read about Jim Crow Laws and the Civil Rights Movement. If you have a favorite quote from Dr. King, please read the speech/sermon or book it comes from. Get to know the man and his mission. Make it your mission.
Below are 10 quotes from Dr. King and the speech/sermon or book they were taken from to get you started.
"We must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.”
From his "Where Do We Go from Here?" address.
"Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education."
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote this in "The Purpose of Education," a 1947 article for Morehouse College's student newspaper.
"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."
From his 1957 book Stride Toward Freedom.
"Let no man pull you so low as to hate him."
From his 1956 "The Most Durable Power" sermon
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
From his 1963 book, Strength to Love.
"We will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope."
From his "I Have A Dream" speech.
"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."
From his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.
"Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
From his April 1963 "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
"We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right."
From his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
"Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love...violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers."
From his December 1964 Nobel lecture.
"We must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future.”
From his "Where Do We Go from Here?" address.
Source for quotes:
https://www.oprahmag.com/life/relationships-love/g25936251/martin-luther-king-jr-quotes/?slide=2
All photos used are believed to be in the public domain. Photos may not directly relate to the quote they have been placed under. No intent of copyright infringement.