Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Speeches Still Resonate Today (VIDEO)

Though he was assassinated more than four decades ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches are as prescient and important as ever.

With class inequality running rampant, global protests against the powerful, a war on terror that is more than a decade old and American social mobility slowing to a crawl, King's words take on contemporary meaning.

Below are some of King's most famous speeches in which he foresees great social progress, rails against the evils of war and warns that American freedoms guaranteed on paper are not granted to all.

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• How Long? Not Long!

  Martin Luther King in Montgomery, Alabama on March 25, 1965.

• "We Shall Overcome" - Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech. Created as part of a lesson plan for US History - Civil Rights - MLK Jr. Day

• Martin Luther King, "Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam"

  Speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. against the "triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism." Audio. This speech was released by Black Forum records, a subsidiary of Motown, and went on to win a Grammy in 1970 for the Best Spoken Word Recording. Excerpts of a Sermon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on April 30, 1967. Text of entire speech: husseini.org Real Audio file of entire speech: www.africanbynature.com

• Martin Luther King - I Have A Dream Speech - August 28, 1963

  I Have a Dream Speech Martin Luther King's Address at March on Washington August 28, 1963. Washington, DC When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

• MLK's Last Speech

  Conclusion of Famous Mountaintop Speech

• Video's "Biography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." info

  This feed contains the video's "Biography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." info API

Comments

[Felicia bear]

08:15 PM on 09/27/2012

Thank you Martin Luther king Jr your awesome!!

[UncleBunny]

10:03 PM on 04/04/2012

"The arch of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice"
While we wait for justice to be done in the killing of Trayvon Martin, these words of Dr. King's ring true.

[pleasantlyny]

11:20 AM on 04/04/2012

If Doctor King were alive today he would be in Sanford, Florida and the people would be saying the same things about him "outsider", "instigator" and he "needs to slow down".

[Barry Risper]

02:10 PM on 01/17/2012

The quote from Dr. King that sticks with me is when he's speaking about the dangers of racism, militarism and economic exploitation, and his disappointment with America, he said, "There can be no great disappointment without great love." How hard is it to love, go to jail and die for someone, when you know they won't reciprocate and won't love you back? This is the sentiment Michelle Obama spoke from when she said for the first time she was proud of her country when Obama was elected. The fact that his speeches still resonate today aren't proof of how much of a visionary he was...it's proof positive that we haven't come as far as we think we have. It tells us that we've only taken three steps on a thousand mile journey. It'll be long and painful for all races if we're to realistically work toward progress. Nevertheless, until us black people love ourselves enough to not just hold each other accountable, but be accoutable for ourselves, and SOME white people stop trying to hijack the moral authority on racial issues and not personalize the resentment SOME blacks harbor due to unresolved racial injustices, our bridge to reconciliation and equality remain a burnt and wretched heap. What makes love more powerful than hate is this: hate requires a reason and a motivation. Love is eternally gratuitous; you don't need a reason to love.

[LIZZIEJOE]

10:13 AM on 01/17/2012

Thank you again HuffPost for reminding me of the way I and my brother and sister felt that night in Memphis. I was called to action by President Kennedy's speech (Ask not what Country can do for you, but what you can do for your Country), only to see, hear and smell the stinch of racism. On that night my Parents allowed my brother and sister and I, the oppportunity to be there to hear this great man of GOD speak to our hearts. I have not been able to truly listen to that speech for after this PROPHET prophecied his death it stunned me for years. It did not deter my family from serving in the military and to continue serving the uneducated with LOVE not hate,for on that fateful night in Memphis Tennessee I will never forget. I cried again today, for hate continue's to raise it's ugly head at any opportunity it can. I have found that change has come it began in me.

[tinaf1405]

07:27 AM on 01/17/2012

This article is so much more pertinant to the occassion-Martin Luther King Holiday-than was the dribel published earlier 'he cursed, he was regular. Thank you.'

[19th Amendment]

04:20 AM on 01/17/2012

Well, of course Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches and thoughts still resonate today. The man was a visionary.

We need to take his messages straight to the voting booth to keep our current President and OUR First Family in the White House for a 2nd term. The alternative is unthinkable and, truth be told, quite terrifying for America and her people.

Obama/Biden November 2012

[bluefalcon06]

11:50 PM on 01/16/2012

Although I have not read the past couple pages, yet, it looks like the racism has finally died off, so far. I just wanted to say that we all could learn a lesson from Martin Luther King and live by his word, because it seems that many people forgot what he stood for when he was alive.

[Being Mindful]

10:59 PM on 01/16/2012

These videos are so powerful, and I think clearly show why Dr. King was assassinated - a prophet who tells the truth, strips the king of his clothes, puts his life on the line. It occurs to me watching his last speech (mostly just having heard it in the past), that he knew he was about to die, had intelligence that he was soon to be eliminated, especially after he started phase 2, the poor people's campaign, and drew the link to the Vietnam war, not mincing his words, but speaking passionately and descriptively of that tragedy. It's time to replace the "I Have a Dream" reprise on MLK Day and play these other clips of his social justice gospel!

[Olethea]

09:39 PM on 01/16/2012

Dr. King, Elizabeth Katy Stanton, Ghandi......all patriotic champions of peaceful protest and human dignity.

[19th Amendment]

04:27 AM on 01/17/2012

Elizabeth Cady Stanton! Wooo-hoo! (My moniker will tell you why I bow down to this woman. She and others in the Seneca convention started it all for us.)

I wrote many a papers in school about this American heroine. But rarely do I see someone mention her in a post.

You are SO faved, Olethea!

[psnyder325]

08:07 AM on 01/17/2012

Think of those Conservatives who wanted only men to vote and what we think of their misogyny today. Think of those who wanted Dr. King dead (and made it happen) and what we think of THEM today. We will think the same, in the not too far future, about those who deny LGBTQ people the right to marry. Our grandchildren will look back at America's greed and shake their heads at our current social system and the worship of money. Has a Conservative EVER...and I mean EVER...been on the correct side of history? They can only hold back the tide for so long....

[Olethea]

08:20 AM on 01/17/2012

Back atcha!

Though, I must apologize for mangling her name. I do know better....;)

[BooTay]

07:20 PM on 01/16/2012

Amazing. Even after all these years, the humane ideals for which Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought and died ring decidedly true. Timely and topical, as usual!

[Mamadea]

07:17 PM on 01/16/2012

They put this in the "black voices" section. smh

[19th Amendment]

04:33 AM on 01/17/2012

I was thinking the same thought. "They" need to start up an "America" thread, or a "People Who Vote Wisely and Thoughtfully" thread.

That's where MLK, Jr's speeches belong.

Obama/Biden November 2012

[psnyder325]

08:07 AM on 01/17/2012

At least for a while they had a link on the front page.

[profhdjr]

06:47 PM on 01/16/2012

Martin Luther King….. a genius who transcends the barriers of time. He has eternal life.

[tteknulpkram]

05:59 PM on 01/16/2012

Wow, I can't believe you said all that! First of all africans didn't come here to be against something. We brought them here so we could profit from their labor. Most whites in Africa didn't get killed! I'm from North Dakota and the state is full or Afrikaaners who came here rich and are getting richer.

Martin Luther King's dream is a dream for all of us. I get choked up when I hear it and if you don't think he had something to say for all of us you are, well you are just lost in a wasteland.

I agree some black men hate whites just for being white. But put this in your head for a minute, those black men wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for the whites trying to steal their work. I guarantee you and I both know plenty of whites who hate blacks just for being blacks. How does that make sense. We rip them off and then we hate them because we know we couldn't have made this country without them.

[Nuttinbutdatruf]

08:45 PM on 01/16/2012

This country belonged to the Native Americans until it was STOLEN...."White people just ran riot and robbed from the red....."
Please understand that!

[WARHUKKER]

01:27 AM on 01/17/2012

“Stolen from of Native American Indians ? First there is no such thing as a Native American,t­here were many tribes of Indians here before the first European.T­he indians were not all sitting around the camp fire smoking peace pipes.Indi­ans made war on each other constantly­,and enslaved each other.You cannot steal something form someone who has no ownership,­and the Natives had no concept of ownership.­The indians lived by tribal power,and ruled over the lands that they could control.So­rry but a bigger stronger tribe came along and took over,just as the Cherokee Nation pushed many tribes away from the east coast to the plains.”

[End All Empire]

05:16 PM on 01/16/2012

Amongst those who have heard most his speeches, MLK's Beyond Vietnam speech is consistently considered his best speech. There is good reason, the media and establishment trump this one with his "I have a dream" speech. It is an effort to sanitize this man for the public. He was strongly, anti-war, anti-US imperialism, and anti-capitalist. Please show the real MLK Jr. THIS is why the forces of conservatism and the establishment viewed him as a threat. http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/16/special_dr_martin_luther_king_jr

[psnyder325]

08:13 AM on 01/17/2012

Well, now the Conservatives want to claim that he would, today, be a right wing Republican. Amazing how the Conservatives LOVE to re-write history, isn't it? I call it "Fox News Syndrome."