U.S. Embassy celebrates life of Martin Luther King Jr. with exhibition and video presentation

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. (© AP Images)

January 12, 2007: The U.S. Embassy in Harare will commemorate the life of Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) with two video presentations and a book exhibit on Tuesday 16th January 2007 (Time: 2 pm) at the PAS Auditorium in East gate, Harare.

The video presentations will feature the 32-minute video “The March” produced in 1963 by award winning filmmaker James Blue. The video covers the August 31, 1963 march on Washington, involving hundreds of thousands of civil rights marchers who gathered on the Mall near the Lincoln Memorial. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech was the emotional high point of the day. The March affected national opinion and swayed Northern Congressmen to support the Civil Rights bill.

Another video presentation “Man of Peace” (30 minutes), a 1965 documentary, relives Dr. King Jr.’s thoughts on non-violent protests leading up to the day he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Members of the public interested in learning more about the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. can attend a book and poster exhibit featuring published material by, and about America’s most celebrated civil rights leader. The exhibition runs from Tuesday morning until Friday.

King Jr. was the one of the most eloquent voices in the U.S. civil rights movement during the 1950s and ‘60s. As a political organizer, supremely skilled orator and advocate of nonviolent protest, King was pivotal in persuading his fellow Americans to end the legal segregation that prevailed throughout the South and other regions, and in sparking support for the civil rights legislation that established the legal framework for racial equality in the United States.
 
In a proclamation issued on January 11, U.S. President George Bush described Martin Luther King, Jr as “a man who stirred the conscience of a Nation.” 
“On the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday we recommit ourselves to the dream to which Dr. King devoted his life-- an America where the dignity of every person is respected; where people are judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character; and where the hope of a better tomorrow is in every neighborhood” said President Bush ###