Yet, strangely, the climactic conflicts always were fought and won on Alabama soil. Negroes took it and carried it across the South in epic battles that electrified the nation and the world. Out of this struggle, more than bus segregation was won a new idea, more powerful than guns or clubs was born. Montgomery was the first city in the South in which the entire Negro community united and squarely faced its age-old oppressors. Just ten years ago, in this very city, a new philosophy was born of the Negro struggle. Now it is not an accident that one of the great marches of American history should terminate in Montgomery, Alabama. And there were those who said that we would get here only over their dead bodies, but all the world today knows that we are here and we are standing before the forces of power in the state of Alabama saying, “We ain’t goin’ let nobody turn us around.” And when she answered, “No,” the person said, “Well, aren’t you tired?” And with her ungrammatical profundity, she said, “My feets is tired, but my soul is rested.” And in a real sense this afternoon, we can say that our feet are tired, but our souls are rested. Our bodies are tired and our feet are somewhat sore.īut today as I stand before you and think back over that great march, I can say, as Sister Pollard said-a seventy-year-old Negro woman who lived in this community during the bus boycott-and one day, she was asked while walking if she didn’t want to ride. Some of our faces are burned from the outpourings of the sweltering sun. We have walked on meandering highways and rested our bodies on rocky byways. We have walked through desolate valleys and across the trying hills. My dear and abiding friends, Ralph Abernathy, and to all of the distinguished Americans seated here on the rostrum, my friends and co-workers of the state of Alabama, and to all of the freedom-loving people who have assembled here this afternoon from all over our nation and from all over the world: Last Sunday, more than eight thousand of us started on a mighty walk from Selma, Alabama. Our God is Marching On (How Long? Not Long)Īfter completion of protest marches in Selma, Alabama, Martin Luther King made the following speech on the steps of the State Capitol. Famous Letters and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr Close

Mlk birmingham letter