King shakes hands at Howard after speech: 1957
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shakes hands with rally attendees after speaking to an overflow crowd in Rankin Chapel on the campus of Howard University November 10, 1957 where he urged that black Americans “stand up as an organized mass and refuse to cooperate” with racial discrimination.
Within the past year, King had led the Montgomery bus boycott to a successful conclusion and led the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom where upwards of 25,000 gathered in Washington to urge federal intervention in enforcing the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decisions outlawing Jim Crow schools.
The year had catapulted King into the undisputed leader of the civil rights movement, surpassing the NAACP and other traditional civil rights organizations and leaders.
Kenneth Dole reported in the November 11, 1957 Washington Post on his Howard speech, which was more like a sermon:
“The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. yesterday told an overflow Howard University congregation that ‘with the method of nonviolence we can turn civilization upside down.’
“Student jammed the sanctuary of Rankin Chapel to hear the Montgomery, Ala. bus strike leader, filled the basement hall, stood in the corridors and sat on the stairs of the library building where a loudspeaker had been set up.
“An advocate of civil disobedience when segregation is involved, Dr. King said ‘we must stand up as an organized mass and refuse to cooperate, yet somehow do this with love in our hearts for those opposed to us.’
“Declaring ‘violence only gains victory and never gains peace,’ he warned against violent methods. ‘Violence creates more social problems than it solves.’ He said. If violence is resorted to, ‘unborn generations will be the recipient of a long night of futility and wickedness.’
“Nor should Negroes resign themselves to discrimination. ‘We must come to see,’ he said, ‘that the minute we passively accept injustice, we cooperate with it.’
“The method of ‘nonviolent resistance rooted in Christian love’ is the best way for Negroes to combat segregation ‘and God grant that we use it.’ He said.
“Dr. King told why Negroes should obey Jesus and ‘love your enemies.’ Hate, he said, does ‘nothing but intensify the existence of hate and evil in the universe.’ But love, he said, is ‘creative.’
For more information and related images, see
Photo by Scurlock Studio. Courtesy of Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
King shakes hands at Howard after speech: 1957
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. shakes hands with rally attendees after speaking to an overflow crowd in Rankin Chapel on the campus of Howard University November 10, 1957 where he urged that black Americans “stand up as an organized mass and refuse to cooperate” with racial discrimination.
Within the past year, King had led the Montgomery bus boycott to a successful conclusion and led the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom where upwards of 25,000 gathered in Washington to urge federal intervention in enforcing the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decisions outlawing Jim Crow schools.
The year had catapulted King into the undisputed leader of the civil rights movement, surpassing the NAACP and other traditional civil rights organizations and leaders.
Kenneth Dole reported in the November 11, 1957 Washington Post on his Howard speech, which was more like a sermon:
“The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. yesterday told an overflow Howard University congregation that ‘with the method of nonviolence we can turn civilization upside down.’
“Student jammed the sanctuary of Rankin Chapel to hear the Montgomery, Ala. bus strike leader, filled the basement hall, stood in the corridors and sat on the stairs of the library building where a loudspeaker had been set up.
“An advocate of civil disobedience when segregation is involved, Dr. King said ‘we must stand up as an organized mass and refuse to cooperate, yet somehow do this with love in our hearts for those opposed to us.’
“Declaring ‘violence only gains victory and never gains peace,’ he warned against violent methods. ‘Violence creates more social problems than it solves.’ He said. If violence is resorted to, ‘unborn generations will be the recipient of a long night of futility and wickedness.’
“Nor should Negroes resign themselves to discrimination. ‘We must come to see,’ he said, ‘that the minute we passively accept injustice, we cooperate with it.’
“The method of ‘nonviolent resistance rooted in Christian love’ is the best way for Negroes to combat segregation ‘and God grant that we use it.’ He said.
“Dr. King told why Negroes should obey Jesus and ‘love your enemies.’ Hate, he said, does ‘nothing but intensify the existence of hate and evil in the universe.’ But love, he said, is ‘creative.’
For more information and related images, see
Photo by Scurlock Studio. Courtesy of Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.