Martin Luther King JR Acceptance Speech, On The Occasion of The Award of The Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10, 1964

Martin Luther King Jr

Acceptance Speech, on the occasion of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10,
1964
Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when 22 million Negroes of the United States of
America are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. I accept this award on
behalf of a civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and
danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice. I am mindful that only yesterday in
Birmingham, Alabama, our children, crying out for brotherhood, were answered with fire hoses,
snarling dogs and even death. I am mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia, Mississippi, young
people seeking to secure the right to vote were brutalized and murdered. And only yesterday more than
40 houses of worship in the State of Mississippi alone were bombed or burned because they offered a
sanctuary to those who would not accept segregation. I am mindful that debilitating and grinding
poverty afflicts my people and chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.
Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to
unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the
essence of the Nobel Prize.
Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace ...
After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is a
profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our
time - the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and
oppression. Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts. Negroes of the United States, following
the people of India, have demonstrated that nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral
force which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to
discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a
creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a
method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Alabama to Oslo bears witness to this truth. This is
a road over which millions of Negroes are travelling to find a new sense of dignity. This same road has
opened for all Americans a new era of progress and hope. It has led to a new Civil Rights Bill, and it
will, I am convinced, be widened and lengthened into a super highway of justice as Negro and white
men in increasing numbers create alliances to overcome their common problems.
I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of
mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept
the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the
eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and
jetsom in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to

accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the
bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.
I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into
the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the
final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe
that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I
believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted
from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that
peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds,
and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down
men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God
and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the
rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his
own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." I still believe that We Shall overcome!
This faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new
strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom. When our days become dreary
with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that
we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.
Today I come to Oslo as a trustee, inspired and with renewed dedication to humanity. I accept this prize
on behalf of all men who love peace and brotherhood. I say I come as a trustee, for in the depths of my
heart I am aware that this prize is much more than an honor to me personally.
Every time I take a flight, I am always mindful of the many people who make a successful journey
possible - the known pilots and the unknown ground crew.
So you honor the dedicated pilots of our struggle who have sat at the controls as the freedom movement
soared into orbit. You honor, once again, Chief Lutuli of South Africa, whose struggles with and for his
people, are still met with the most brutal expression of man's inhumanity to man. You honor the ground
crew without whose labor and sacrifices the jet flights to freedom could never have left the earth. Most
of these people will never make the headline and their names will not appear in Who's Who. Yet when
years have rolled past and when the blazing light of truth is focused on this marvellous age in which we
live - men and women will know and children will be taught that we have a finer land, a better people,
a more noble civilization - because these humble children of God were willing to suffer for
righteousness' sake.
... peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.
I think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a
curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owners - all those to whom
beauty is truth and truth beauty - and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is
more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.

Martin Luther King JR Acceptance Speech, On The Occasion of The Award of The Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10, 1964

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Martin Luther King JR Acceptance Speech, On The Occasion of The Award of The Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10, 1964

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Martin Luther King JR Acceptance Speech, On The Occasion of The Award of The Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, December 10, 1964

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Martin Luther King Jr

You might also like