happy birthday

I firmly believe that the Gandhian philosophy of nonviolent resistance is the only logical and moral approach to the solution of the race problem in the United States.
-1957

There is power in unity, and there is power in numbers. As long as we keep moving like we are moving, the power structure of Birmingham will have to give in....And don't worry about your children, they are going to be all right. Don't hold them back if they want to go to jail. For they are doing a job for not only themselves, but for all of America, and all of mankind...Keep climbing. If you can't fly, run; if you can't run, walk; if you can't walk, crawl--but by all means keep on moving. (audio)
-1963

I still believe that we shall overcome.
-1964

Let us be dissatisfied until from every city hall, justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Let us be dissatisfied until that day when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid. Let us be dissatisfied...Let us realize that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.
-1967

Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read: Vietnam. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. So it is that those of us who are yet determined that America will be are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land.
-1967

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
-3 April 1968. The night before he was shot and killed.

Martin Luther King, Jr. 15 January 1929-4 April 1968.

(The King Papers Project at Stanford. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom speech in Arabic. "Beyond Vietnam" in Gujarati).

Update: A NYT op-ed by King's biographer on globalizing his legacy, Juan Cole on what MLK Jr. would have said about Iraq (via sepoy), and Moorishgirl commemorates the day with some good links.