Celebrating Martin Luther King Day
A civil rights icon is recognized today.
By: GenZ Staff | January 18, 2021 | 356 Words
Reverend Martin Luther King Jn., (via Getty Images – Bettmann collection)
When thinking about the American Civil Rights Movement, no name stands out more than Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Christian minister and equal-rights activist was a powerful speaker and leader of the effort to de-segregate blacks and whites in the United States. His day of birth, January 15, 1929, is still celebrated with a federal holiday each year – on the third Monday of January. Most widely recognized for his “I Have a Dream” speech, given during the 1963 March on Washington, King also helped organize famous protests, including the March from Selma to Montgomery, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. King was assassinated in 1968, but American life changed forever as a result of his vision of a society in which each person could be judged based on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.
LNGenZ presents a selection of quotes taken directly from the man himself:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks at a rally held at the Robert Taylor Houses in Chicago, Illinois (Photo by Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images)
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking before crowd of 25,000 Selma To Montgomery, on March 25, 1965 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Photo by Stephen F. Somerstein/Getty Images)
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
American Religious and Civil Rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr as he outlines boycott strategies to his advisors (Photo by Don Cravens/Getty Images)
“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King (via Getty Images)
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
