Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Peace, Harmony and Goodwill
Who will be
the peace heroes
of the 21st Century?
Rosa Parks
(1913 - 2005)
"The only thing that bothered me was that we waited so long to
make
this protest." [on Montgomery bus boycott]
NAACP activist, a tireless worker in voter registration drives
& participant in nonviolent civil rights protests in Southern US
Biography
| Photos
"Back in Montgomery during my growing up there, it was completely legally enforced racial segregation, and of course, I struggled against it for a long time. I felt that it was not right to be deprived of freedom when we were living in the Home of the Brave and Land of the Free. Of course, when I refused to stand up, on the orders of the bus driver, for a white passenger to take the seat, and I was not sitting in the front of the bus, as many people have said, and neither was my feet hurting, as many people have said. But I made up my mind that I would not give in any longer to legally-imposed racial segregation and of course my arrest brought about the protests for more than a year. And in doing so, Dr. Martin Luther King became prominent because he was the leader of our protests along with many other people. And I'm very glad that this experience I had then brought about a movement that triggered across the United States and in other places."
[Full
interview, video & photos]
Other, relevant links
Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change
Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech "The Quest for Peace and Justice" by Rev. King Dec. 11, 1954. Here is an excerpt: "Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meaning can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart. Such is the moment I am presently experiencing. I experience this high and joyous moment not for myself alone but for those devotees of nonviolence who have moved so courageously against the ramparts of racial injustice and who in the process have acquired a new estimate of their own human worth. Many of them are young and cultured. Others are middle aged and middle class. The majority are poor and untutored. But they are all united in the quiet conviction that it is better to suffer in dignity than to accept segregation in humiliation..."
A sound recording of Rev. King for you to listen to this charismatic and inspirational leader.
Quotes from Rev. King on war and peace
