Martin Luther King Jr’s speech at Sacramento State, October 16, 1967
Main points/arguments made during the speech:
- Declared the concept of nonviolence in the Civil Rights Movement “is the most powerful weapon available to the black man of America to achieve justice”
- The United States has “failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last few years”
- Mentions that the country has failed to “hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, humanity and equality”
- King comments that “problems of racial inequality needed to be addressed by changing people’s hearts, not through legislation”
- Dr. King also says “To have a truly integrated society, ultimately men and women must do the right thing – not merely because the law says it, but because it’s natural and it’s right”
- Sacramento State was the only CSU that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr had made a public appearance and speech at
- The speech was given around 6 months prior to his assassination in 1968
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech was attended by around seven thousand students at the Sacramento State football stadium.
I loved learning about this Sac State history. I didn’t realize this, and truly it’s so damn cool to know MLK Jr. spoke at my school out in California. When you think of MLK Jr. you think of the south, and his famous speeches, esp. the “I have a dream speech” but you don’t think of his other influential speeches and presence around the rest of the country like the west coast and in the Midwest. This is an awesome piece of history!