I do not know what length of quote would be most suitable for your
needs, so I have listed three quotations from Dr. Martin Luther King
on the subject of art and culture: one is very short, one is of medium
length, and one is rather long.
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In an eloquent brief quote, Dr. King urges artists and musicians to
memorialize the men and women who fought for civil rights:
King recognized the importance of art in preserving the civil rights
legacy. In 1963, he said the courageous acts of civil rights heroes
"cry out for songs to be sung about them and pictures to be painted of
them."
Public Broadcasting System
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week620/feature.html
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In a 1957 speech given by Dr. King in acceptance of the NAACP Spingarn
Medal, he says that if he were able to choose an era in which to live,
he would not choose the glory of ancient Greek culture, nor the heyday
of artistic creativity in the Renaissance, but would choose to live in
the second half of the 20th century, where a movement of freedom and
justice is underway:
I would like to open my message this evening by using my imagination a
bit. If I were standing at the beginning of time, and the Almighty
gave me a panoramic view of the whole of history, and then proceeded
to ask me which age I would prefer to live in, strangely enough I
would bypass the great glory of Greek culture with its days around the
Parthenon, with its Plato and Aristotle, its Sophocles and Euripides;
I would bypass the days of the Hebrew Exodus with all of its moving
and fascinating quality; I would bypass the days when the Roman Empire
stood at the zenith of its power with all of its intricate and
astounding military machinery; I would bypass the days of the
Renaissance with all of the artistic and intellectual contributions
that they gave to the culture of the world; I would even bypass the
French and American Revolutions; and finally I would turn to the
Almighty and say, "If you will allow me to live just a few years in
the second half of the 20th Century, I will be happy." Now I would
make this request because something is happening in the world today
that has never happened before. In the past periods of history
revolutions have been isolated, confined to a particular nation. But
today we have the privilege of witnessing a world revolution. The
drama of freedom and justice is unfolding today in a way unprecedented
before. This is truly a great time to be alive.
Stanford University
http://www.stanford.edu/group/king/publications/papers/vol4/570628-001-Spingarn_Speech.htm
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In Dr King's sermon "The Birth of a New Nation," he contrasts the
architectural beauty of England's landmarks with the cruelties of
England's exploitation of India and Africa:
I never will forget the day we went into London... And I thought about
all of the queens and kings that had passed through here. Look at the
beauty of the changing of the guards and all of the guards with their
beautiful horses. It's a beautiful sight. Move on from there and go
over to Parliament. Move into the House of Lords and the House of
Commons. There with all of its beauty standing up before the world is
one of the most beautiful sights in the world.
Then I remember, we went on over to Westminster Abbey. And I thought
about several things when we went in this great church, this great
cathedral, the center of the Church of England. We walked around and
went to the tombs of the kings and queens buried there. Most of the
kings and queens of England are buried right there in the Westminster
Abbey. And I walked around. On the one hand I enjoyed and appreciated
the great gothic architecture of that massive cathedral. I stood there
in awe thinking about the greatness of God and man's feeble attempt to
reach up for God. And I thought something else - I thought about the
Church of England... I thought of many things. I thought of the fact
that the British Empire exploited India. Think about it! A nation with
four hundred million people and the British exploited them so much
that out of a population of four hundred million, three hundred and
fifty million made an annual income of less than fifty dollars a year.
Twenty-five of that had to be used for taxes and the other things of
life. I thought about dark Africa, and how the people there, if they
can make a hundred dollars a year they are living very well, they
think. Two shillings a day—one shilling is fourteen cents, two
shillings, twenty-eight cents—that's a good wage. That's because of
the domination of the British Empire.
All of these things came to my mind, and when I stood there in
Westminster Abbey with all of its beauty, and I thought about all of
the beautiful hymns and anthems that the people would go in there to
sing. And yet the Church of England never took a stand against this
system. The Church of England sanctioned it The Church of England gave
it moral stature. All of the exploitation perpetuated by the British
Empire was sanctioned by the Church of England.
But something else came to my mind: God comes in the picture even when
the Church won't take a stand. God has injected a principle in this
universe. God has said that all men must respect the dignity and worth
of all human personality, "And if you don't do that, I will take
charge." It seems this morning that I can hear God speaking. I can
hear him speaking throughout the universe, saying, "Be still and know
that I am God. And if you don't stop, if you don't straighten up, if
you don't stop exploiting people, I'm going to rise up and break the
backbone of your power. And your power will be no more!"
Stanford University
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/speeches/pub/The_birth_of_a_new_nation.html
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My Google search strategy:
Google Web Search: "speeches" + "martin luther king"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=speeches+%22martin+luther+king
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I hope I have provided exactly what you needed. If you have any
questions, or if a link does not function, please request
clarification before rating my answer, and I'll be glad to offer
further assistance.
Best wishes,
pinkfreud |
