A man could be a Moses and lead his people to new life.

A man could be a Lincoln, and lead his nation out of strife.

A Tubman could conduct a railroad, although risky and extreme.

Or a man could be a King and lead ALL God’s people to a dream.

This little rhyme helps us remember Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King, who each played their part in helping not just African Americans, but all Americans, to realize the hard won dream of human and civil rights.  It is a dream which must be reborn daily, as human rights and the rights of all oppressed minorities, are forever in conflict with the powers that be who would assert that all are born equal, but some are more equal than others.  Martin Luther King was a Southern Baptist minister who employed the methods of Mohandas Gandhi, another civil rights martyr in another nation, toward finding nonviolent means of protest that illuminated the injustices of segregation and discrimination.

In the early fifties in the deep south, Jim Crow laws of extreme racism were the norm.  Lynching and the brutal terrorism of the KKK, were still quite common and very few people would dare “step out of line” to prove the injustice of it all.  Martin Luther King saw a way after studying the Ahimsa revolution of non-violent fight for Independence led by Gandhi in India.  He was also influenced, of course, by the words of Jesus, who taught that Love is more powerful than hate, and love is a better motivation toward action than fear. The kind of love he preached about was the love of humanity, and the simple truth that justice and kindness are what we should teach all our children, no matter what race, color, or creed. He realized, that many people, black and white and every shade in between, had to love themselves, to let that love overflow to others, and to show that dignity is not an aristocratic, or racial trait, but a human one.

He led a bus strike which went on for over a full year, prompted by the courageous actions of Rosa Parks.  She had failed to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus to a white passenger.  As his message caught fire in the south, people rose up and gathered together to stand up for simple human dignity. Freedom riders from the north, and students, housewives and others staged “sit ins” where they took turns sitting at lunch counters, or showed up to enroll in previously segregated schools.   Shortly after, he also became involved in voting rights movements, allowing African Americans the right to register without restrictive rules, so they could have a voice in the many issues of the day.  He also helped organize and influence a garbage workers strike.

In August of 1963 Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a Dream” speech before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.  It was not a very long speech, but it was so powerful, and so moving, that it remains today to be the most revered and remembered speech since Abraham Lincoln himself honored those at Gettysburg who died to preserve the Union and to end slavery one hundred years prior.

While in Memphis, Tennessee Martin Luther King delivered another famous speech wherein he declared “I have been to the mountaintop” and using the analogy of Moses leading his people to freedom, he declared that he may not get to the promised land, but he could see it before him, and he knew that the long suffering would get there one day.

On April 4, 1968, his often voiced concern that he would likely fall to an assassins bullet as Lincoln, Gandhi, and John F. Kennedy before him, came true.  While staying at the Loraine Motel in Memphis, a shot rang out and Martin Luther King was killed. 

Although many were tempted to rise up in violence against this murderous act, King’s words, and his sensibility won the day.  Although grieving still, his followers worked tirelessly to see that his Dream would forever be revered, remembered and honored.  He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and has stood as a major inspiration to many people, of all colors, around the world.

We celebrate the man and his dream on his date of birth January 15, and like all dreams of value, we re-commit to the nonviolent and solid foundation of his work, to see that one day all will be recognized not for the color of our skin, but for the content of our character.