Martin Luther King, Jr.  

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. -1963

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. -1964

The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.-1963

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. -1963

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.-1964

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon…. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. -1964

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.-1964

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. -1964

Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail.-1963

Judicial decrees may not change the heart; but they can restrain the heartless.-1962

When this happens, when we let it ring, we will speed the 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’re free at last.”-1963

If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live. -1963

The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.-1963

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. -1963

Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.-1964

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon…. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. -1964

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.-1964

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. -1964

Before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jefferson etched across the pages of history the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, we were here. If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition we now face will surely fail.-1963

Judicial decrees may not change the heart; but they can restrain the heartless.-1962

When this happens, when we let it ring, we will speed the 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’re free at last.”-1963

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard. -1967

Guide created by LouAnn Blocker, Tom Smith, Maud Mundava, & Donna Braquet as a project of the UT Libraries' Diversity Committee

http://libguides.utk.edu/blackhist

Chronology of King's life

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Standford University
Contains a bibliography, an interactive timeline, audio and video clips.

Nobel Peace Prize, 1964
Contains King's Nobel Lecture, acceptance speech, and biography.

Build The Dream - website that details the planning of a National Memorial for King.

About the MLK Holiday & Holiday Chronology

The King Center
Established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King, The King Center is the official, living memorial dedicated to the advancement of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Resources available at Hodges Library:
The last crusade : Martin Luther King, Jr., the FBI, and the Poor People's Campaign
Hodges Library E185.97.K5 M38 1998

The Martin Luther King, Jr., FBI file: pt. II : the King-Levision file
Hodges Library /Microfilm E185.97.K5M267 1987a

To the mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.'s sacred mission to save America, 1955-1968
Hodges Library / Stacks: E185.97.K5 B798 2004

additional resources:
Martin Luther King

Full-Text and Audio Clips of King's major speeches.

Resources available at Hodges Library:
A call to conscience : the landmark speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hodges Library/ Stacks: E185.97.K5 A5 2001

Ring out freedom! : the voice of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the making of the civil rights movement
Hodges Library/ Stacks E185.97 .K5 S866 2004

The dream : Martin Luther King, Jr., and the speech that inspired a nation
Hodges Library/ Stacks E185.97 .K5 H273 2003

Voice of deliverance : the language of Martin Luther King, Jr., and its sources
Hodges Library/ Stacks E185.97.K5 M49 1998

The preacher King : Martin Luther King, Jr. and the word that moved America
Hodges Library/ Stacks BV4208.U6 L57 1995

Voice of deliverance : the language of Martin Luther King, Jr., and its sources
Hodges Library/ Stacks E185.97.K5 M49 1992