King and his father were previously named Michael King, but his father, also a minister, adopted the name Martin Luther King after he learned about the monk during a visit to Germany when Dr. King was referring to his namesake Martin Luther, a medieval German monk whose theses condemned the Roman Catholic Church’s practice of offering forgiveness of sins for donations. I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating President by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. And I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked his ninety-five theses on the door at the church of Wittenberg. I would even go by the way that the man for whom I am named had his habitat. I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance, and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and aesthetic life of man. And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders. I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire. And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon. I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus. King outlined demands for more affordable housing, jobs and other anti-poverty measures. Through the Poor People’s Campaign, waged by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Dr. ![]() King’s focus had shifted to economic disparities. The tragic deaths spurred them into protesting low wages, discrimination within the sanitation department and the life-threatening working conditions. For several years, the workers had considered banding together and striking, but had been unsuccessful in organizing. 1, 1968, two black sanitation workers were crushed by garbage compactors, prompting hundreds of their fellow workers to take action. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn’t stop there. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, “Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?” I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God’s children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. ![]() Something is happening in Memphis something is happening in our world. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow. ![]() I’m delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world. It’s always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about.
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