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Le révérend Martin Luther King militait pour les droits civiques des noirs aux Etats-Unis. Il a organisé et dirigé des marches pour le droit de vote, la déségrégation, l’emploi des minorités et d’autres droits civiques élémentaires pour les noirs américains. La plupart de ces droits ont été promus par la loi américaine sous la présidence de Lyndon Johnson.
Martin Luther King devint le plus jeune lauréat du prix Nobel de la paix en 1964 pour sa lutte non-violente contre la ségrégation raciale alors très forte aux Etats-Unis et pour la paix. Il se vit décerner à titre posthume la médaille présidentielle de la liberté par Jimmy Carter en 1977 et la médaille d’or du Congrès en 2004.
Il prononça « I have a dream », son plus célèbre discours, le 28 août 1963, devant le Lincoln Memorial à Washington durant la Marche pour l’emploi et la liberté. Ce discours illustre clairement de voir dans le futur les noirs et les blancs coexister harmonieusement.et vivre égaux. Ce message d’espoir est célèbre dans le monde entier bien au-delà des frontières des Etats-Unis.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the
true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down
together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state
sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression,
will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content
of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists,
with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition
and nullification - one day right there in Alabama little black boys and
black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as
sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every
hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain
and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a
stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling
discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this
faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle
together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing
that we will be free one day.
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