Martin Luther King Jr. is a well-known figure in American history. As one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, King delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.
Throughout his fight for equality, King delivered a number of speeches that drew large audiences but got lost in the shadow of "I Have a Dream." As a master orator, the reverend was able to inspire an entire nation, so many of his speeches are worth a revisit.
Here are some of King's inspirational words that you may have missed in history class.
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When Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, she sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and gave King one of his first opportunities to make a public speech. It was in this speech that he introduced some of his now-famous ideas, including nonviolent protests.
"Now let us go out to stick together and stay with this thing until the end," King said in the speech. "Now it means sacrificing, yes, it means sacrificing at points. But there are some things that we've got to learn to sacrifice for. And we've got to come to the point that we are determined not to accept a lot of things that we have been accepting in the past."
The speech catapulted the reverend into the national spotlight and made him one of the front-runners in the Civil Rights Movement.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech at Dartmouth College in 1962 is sometimes forgotten, but it's a great example of the reverend's powerful rhetoric. In the talk, he first explains the sociological term "maladjusted" as someone who cannot accept social norms and society. But King turns the entire term on its head, saying he is happy to be maladjusted if it means adapting to racism and a society built against him and his people.
"But I say to you, my friends, as I move to my conclusion, there are certain things in our nation and in the world which I am proud to be maladjusted and which I hope all men of good-will will be maladjusted until the good societies realize," he said in the speech. "I say very honestly that I never intend to become adjusted to segregation and discrimination."
In 1964, King was 35 years old and the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize. At the time of his honor, it had been a year since his famous "I Have a Dream" speech and the country just passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Along with the honor, he was given $54,600, which he donated to the movement.
Here's a snippet of his acceptance speech:
"I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle, and to a movement which has not yet won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize," King said. "After contemplation, I conclude that this award, which I receive on behalf of that movement, is a profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression."
At the end of his speech, he called peace "more precious than diamonds or silver or gold."
