Among the things we remember when we think of Martin Luther King, Jr., is the “I Have a Dream Speech,” as David Weigel of Slate notes. The story behind the speech, in the Washington Post, by Clarence B. Jones, MLK’s lawyer and speechwriter. Thanks to a hat tip from Swampland at Time.com, I also link to the Stanford collection of MLK materials.
Thought that it was interesting that the NYC Bar posted this on their website: a reflection of Martin Luther King’s speech at the City Bar in 1965. Institutions with long histories have really fascinating histories. The City Bar notes:
In his 1965 speech, Dr. King called on the moral and practical obligations of the legal profession to justice and the rule of law in America:
“Standing before you in the House of this Association, whose very cornerstone is an abiding respect for the law, I am impelled to wonder who is better qualified to demand an end to this debilitating lawlessness, to better understand the mortal danger to the very fabric of our democracy when human rights are flaunted.”
He reaffirmed that, despite violence and legal segregation, his faith in the law and lawyers as instruments of justice had not been shaken, continuing:
“Your profession should be proud of its contributions. You should be aware, as indeed I am, that the road to freedom is now a highway because lawyers throughout the land, yesterday and today, have helped clear the obstructions, have helped eliminate roadblocks, by their selfless, courageous espousal of difficult and unpopular causes.”
Finally, Dr. King expressed hope that America, even in the face of fierce opposition, would ultimately fulfill its promise as a country of legal equality, proclaiming that “I do not despair of the future. We as Negroes will win our freedom all over our country because the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is America’s destiny.”
NY Times’ City Room blog, with a post by Sam Roberts, notes MLK’s relationship with NYC.
PBS NewsHour’s Rundown blog has a nice list of MLK-related things.
Slate posts a fascinating slide show of MLK-related images.
Things to think about on this day. It’s the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, when this country’s lack of civility and the revolution took another step to end slavery and make a better union. Progress isn’t inevitable; but that doesn’t mean we give it up. We need to figure that out.