Half a century ago today, the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead by a sniper as he stood on the balcony outside his hotel room in Memphis.
The assassination, the work of a disgruntled white racist, was a tragic and premature end to the life of America’s foremost civil rights activist and one of its most quoted orators.
King’s most famous words are those he spoke on 28 August 1963 to a crowd of 250,000 in front of the Lincoln Memorial at the March on Washington, a rally for economic and social justice for black Americans that was beamed into millions of homes across the world.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The address, which would go down in history as the “I Have A Dream” speech, captured the trial and tribulations of black Americans and voiced a stirring inspirational vision for a future where Americans of all races would be free.
The speech closed with the uplifting image of a day “when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! Free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!’”
Click on the gallery above to see some of the most inspiring and insightful quotes from King’s speeches, sermons and essays.
-
Goodbye June: Kate Winslet’s directorial debut feels like a ‘John Lewis Christmas TV ad’Talking Point Helen Mirren stars as the terminally ill English matriarch in this sentimental festive heartwarmer
-
A Christmas Carol (or two)The Week Recommends These are the most delightful retellings of the Dickens classic from around the country
-
Political cartoons for December 18Cartoons Thursday’s political cartoons include Susie Wiles under scrutiny, Venezuela's oil, and more
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
