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Americans are honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday. 

King's Last March from American RadioWorks

Inspirational speeches for Martin Luther King Day

King made several visits to Minnesota in his lifetime to discuss civil rights and the Vietnam War. 

In 1959 — before he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech and before he won the Nobel Peace Prize — King sat down for a KTCA (now TPT) interview on race and segregation with L. Howard Bennett, a civil rights leader and Minnesota's first African-American judge.


At the time, King was mostly known for his role in the successful Montgomery bus boycott, where he had been inspired by Mahatma Gandhi to use nonviolent direct action. 


King believed that love could effectively fight discrimination.

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His last visit to Minnesota was in 1967, a year before he was assassinated, when he appeared at an anti-war rally at the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus. 

King was adamantly against American involvement in the Vietnam War, and 

delivered a controversial speech, "Beyond Vietnam,"

 on April 4, 1967, in New York. In it, he called for an end to the war, touching on racism, increasing militarism and poverty.  


Civil rights leaders condemned him for his remarks and newspapers denounced him.

"So many civil rights leaders were opposed to him giving it because LBJ had been the best president to black people on civil rights," PBS talk show host 

Tavis Smiley said on NPR's Talk of the Nation in 2010.

 "He passed the Voting Rights Act. He passed the Civil Rights Act. And so the question was, Martin, why would you antagonize the president who has been our friend?"


It did not deter him from continuing to speak out. A few weeks later on April 27, 1967, King traveled to Minnesota and delivered his last speech in the state at an anti-war rally at the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus.

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Nancy Yang

Author

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. made several visits to Minnesota during his lifetime. His last came in 1967, a year before he was assassinated.

'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere': Martin Luther King Jr. in Minnesota

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