Martin Luther King, Jr. - Travels

Martin Luther King, Jr., made history, but he was also transformed by his deep family roots in the African-American Baptist church, his formative experiences in his hometown of Atlanta, his theological studies, his varied models of religious and political leadership, and his extensive network of contacts in the peace and social justice movements of his time. Although King was only 39 at the time of his death, his life was remarkable for the ways it reflected and inspired so many of the twentieth century’s major intellectual, cultural, and political developments.

At Jefferson County Armory, King speaks before a crowd of 9,000 at a mass rally in support of voter registration efforts in the South. 

During the Sabbath Eve service at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, King delivers “The Future of Integration.”

King finishes the day speaking to a crowd in front of the Hotel Theresa.

At a luncheon in the Sheraton Astor Hotel ballroom, King receives the 1957 Social Justice Award from the Religion and Labor Foundation. After accepting the award King delivers “This Is a Great Time to Be Alive.”

In the evening, King appears in a televised interview on WGBH before he delivers “Justice Without Violence” at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts. 

King flies to Atlanta, where a group of family friends convened by his father fails to dissuade him from returning to Montgomery. 

King has tea with India’s president Rajendra Prasad before visiting the Moghul Gardens at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and addressing a meeting of Sarvodaya workers at the Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya building at Rajghat.

That evening, King meets with former New York governor Averell Harriman at the Ashoka Hotel.

King has lunch at the New Delhi home of Indian independence leaders J. B. and Sucheta Kripalani before delivering “Achievement of Racial Justice in the World Today” to the Indian Council of World Affairs at Sapru House.