Dr Martin Luther King Jr's Penn State speech - University Park, Pennsylvania
N 40° 47.786 W 077° 52.152
18T E 257940 N 4520121
Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at Penn State in Rec Hall in 1965.
Waymark Code: WM13MYC
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 01/11/2021
Views: 5
On January 21, 1965, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to a crowd of 8,000 in Rec Hall as part of his efforts to draw national attention to the need for voting rights reforms that would prevent discrimination against African Americans. Dr. King's powerful non-violent message helped to spur passage of the 1965 voting rights act, widely considered the most successful piece of U.S. civil rights legislation. - Penn State Alumni Association.
In 1964, at the age of 35, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent campaign against racial inequality.
A few weeks later, on Jan. 21, 1965 — 50 years ago — King visited Penn State's University Park campus and addressed a crowd of more than 8,000 people at Recreation Hall on the future of integration.
He spoke to those assembled about the civil rights movement, the United States' legacy of slavery and segregation, and the principles he believed would change the world: "We have come a long, long way in the struggle for racial justice, but we have a long, long way to go before the problem is solved."
King's intent was to rally public support for ending all forms of segregation, urging that "the challenge ahead is to work passionately and unrelentingly to remove racial injustice from every area of our nation's life." He emphasized that all Americans must remain alert to segregation's existence, for "if democracy is to live, segregation must die."
A Penn State Historical Marker stands near Rec Hall to commemorate this significant moment in history. Even then, the impact of King's work was evident to those who gathered to listen to his message.
(from Penn State news)
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