Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Give Us the Ballot" speech (May 17, 1957).
King called the right to vote the most critical achievement of the civil rights movement because it was the key right that made securing all the other rights possible.
Excerpts below:
King called the right to vote the most critical achievement of the civil rights movement because it was the key right that made securing all the other rights possible.
Excerpts below:
"3 years ago the Supreme Court of this nation rendered ... a decision which will long be stenciled on the mental sheets of succeeding generations. For all men of goodwill, this May 17 decision [Brown v. Board] came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of human captivity."
"Unfortunately, this noble & sublime decision has not gone without opposition. This opposition has often risen to ominous proportions. Many states have risen up in open defiance. The legislative halls of the South ring loud with such words as 'interposition' & 'nullification.'"
"But even more, all types of conniving methods are still being used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters ... And so our most urgent request to the president of the United States and every member of Congress is to give us the right to vote."
"Give us the ballot, & we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.
Give us the ballot, & we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an anti-lynching law; we will by the power of our vote write [it] on the statute books."
Give us the ballot, & we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an anti-lynching law; we will by the power of our vote write [it] on the statute books."
"Give us the ballot, and we will fill our legislative halls with men of goodwill and send to the sacred halls of Congress men who will not sign a “Southern Manifesto” because of their devotion to the manifesto of justice."
"Give us the ballot, and we will place judges on the benches of the South who will do justly and love mercy, and we will place at the head of the southern states governors who will, who have felt not only the tang of the human, but the glow of the Divine."
"Give us the ballot, and we will quietly and nonviolently, without rancor or bitterness, implement the Supreme Court’s decision of May 17th, 1954 [Brown v. Board of Education]."
"First, there is need for strong, aggressive leadership from the federal government. So far, only the judicial branch ... has evinced this quality of leadership ... This dearth of positive leadership from the federal government is not confined to one particular political party."
"A second area in which there is need for strong leadership is from the white northern liberals ... What we are witnessing today in so many northern communities ... is a liberalism so bent on seeing all sides, that it fails to become committed to either side."
"A 3rd source that we must look to for strong leadership is from the moderates of the white South ... These persons are silent today because of fear of ... reprisals. God grant that [they] will rise up courageously, without fear, & take up the leadership in this tense period ..."
"I conclude by saying that each of us must keep faith in the future. Let us not despair. Let us realize that as we struggle for justice and freedom, we have cosmic companionship."
"I realize that it will cause ... suffering & sacrifice. It might even cause physical death for some. But if physical death is the price that some must pay to free their children from a permanent life of psychological death, then nothing can be more Christian."
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