MLK’s Last Days and Final Speech

Mar­tin Luther King Jr. deliv­ered his last speech, known col­lo­qui­al­ly as his “I’ve Been to the Moun­tain­top” speech, in Mem­phis, Ten­nessee on April 3, 1968. The next day, he would be assas­si­nat­ed. The full address (Part 1 & Part 2) ranges wide­ly. It sweeps through Euro­pean and Amer­i­can his­to­ry, even­tu­al­ly bring­ing us into 1960s Amer­i­ca, a moment fraught with ten­sion, when African-Amer­i­cans were fight­ing for equal rights at home, and a divi­sive Viet­nam War dragged on abroad. Trac­ing the impor­tant moments of the civ­il rights move­ment, the speech ends (high­light­ed above) with Mr. King prophet­i­cal­ly fore­see­ing his own death (see the Life gallery of his last day), but know­ing that his per­son­al sac­ri­fice had cre­at­ed some­thing bul­lets could nev­er stop. A great Amer­i­can and world cit­i­zen.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

I Have a Dream

What Would MLK Say About the USA Today?