A 34-year-old black Baptist minister led more than 250,000 people to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Aug. 28, 1963, and delivered a 16-minute speech that defined a movement, inspired the 1964 Civil Rights Act and shaped the historic path of Barack Obama.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech spoke of a day when “this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ ”
It was a speech filled with Scripture and refrains, from “with this faith” to “I have a dream.”
“Everyone knew he was going to shake the house down,” recalled the Rev. James Peters, pastor emeritus of New Hope Baptist Church in Denver.
The next year, King received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In Denver on Thursday, African-American leaders prayed early at City Park for the “protection of angels” for the first black nominee of a national political party. They prayed for Obama while marking the 45th anniversary of King’s history-making speech and King’s assassination in 1968.
Only a few dozen gathered at 7 a.m. at the foot of King’s memorial statue, where former state Rep. Wilma Webb said it was not happenstance that King is depicted with one outstretched arm pointing to the south and another hand resting on the Bible.
“Dr. King was always about righteousness, and that’s what always gets us through,” Webb said.
King changed an entire nation, even though he was not a U.S. senator, a congressman or a president, said Webb, who fought for 10 years to have King’s birthday declared a state holiday.
“In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds,” King said 45 years ago. “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.”
Out of King’s dream, Webb said, came the 1964 Civil Rights Act, many other great but not perfect achievements and, now, the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.
Obama “comes to us as living proof of Dr. King’s dream being realized,” Webb said. “Today is America’s day. Today is Barack Obama’s day.”
Obama, Webb said, stands on the shoulders of King, former President Kennedy, Rep. Shirley Chisholm, former President Clinton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and others, including Obama’s rival for the nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Webb’s husband, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, said it was important that an event be held in Denver away from the convention hoopla.
“After tonight, all of you who are soldiers are still here,” Wellington Webb said. “After all the buses are gone, you still have to be part of the struggle.”
Leaders offered emotional prayers for Obama’s safety.
“Dr. Martin Luther King was killed because some of us forgot to pray,” said Acen Phillips, former pastor of Mount Gilead Baptist Church and New Birth Church. “Barack Obama has been threatened in our city. We have to cover Barack Obama . . . with our prayers.”
Pastor Willie Simmons, president of the Western States Baptist Convention, said the community must work hard to elect Obama.
Later in the day, Georgia Rep. John Lewis made the same point.
He received numerous standing ovations during a tribute to King’s “Dream” speech at New Hope Baptist Church.
Lewis was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1963 and addressed the same crowd that King spoke to. King was the 10th speaker; Lewis was the sixth.
“I’m the only one who is still around. I am very blessed that God Almighty allowed me to stay here and witness this historical day,” Lewis said. “What we saw last night, and will see tonight, is a down payment on the dream of Martin Luther King. Let’s march in every city, every state, every village and every hamlet, march to the ballot box on Nov. 4 like we have never marched before.”
Staff writer Colleen O’Connor contributed to this report.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
Funds for MLK memorial hit $100 million milestone
ATLANTA — A campaign to build a national memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. reached a $100 million fundraising milestone Thursday.
Boeing Co. presented the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation with a $1 million donation during a Unity Prayer Breakfast at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, officials announced.
The gift helped the foundation reach its original $100 million goal but leaves organizers $20 million shy of what’s needed to complete the project on the National Mall in Washington. Fundraisers blame the increased price tag on soaring construction costs.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
