Martin Luther King
Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance
"I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when 22 million Negroes
of the United States are engaged in a creative battle to end
the long night of racial injustice."
"I accept this award on behalf of a
civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic
scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of
justice."
"I must ask why this prize
is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to
unrelenting struggle, and to a movement which has not won the very peace
and brotherhood which is the essence of the
Nobel Prize."
"After contemplation, I
conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is a
profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial
political and moral questions of our time -- the need for man to overcome
oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression."
