In His Own Words: Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Few figures in American history stand as tall as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Baptist minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate best known as one of the most prominent leaders of the civil rights movement.

King’s charisma and oratory skills were crucial elements in the success of the civil rights movement. Influenced by his background in theology and Black church tradition, King often drew on biblical references and made historical allusions to frame the civil rights movement in a moral context and appeal to the conscience of the country. His impassioned speeches, filled with emotional resonance, became rallying cries for justice and equality.

Born January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, King came of age during a time defined by racial segregation and discrimination. King excelled academically — he enrolled as a student at Morehouse College at age 15, and had decided to pursue ministry at age 19, studying divinity and systematic theology at Crozer Theological Seminary and Boston University.

In 1955, as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, King orchestrated a 381-day boycott of the city’s public transit service following the arrest of Rosa Parks, which ended after the United States Supreme Court ruled Alabama’s laws that segregated buses were unconstitutional. The action thrust King, and his philosophy of nonviolent resistance, onto the national stage. In 1957, he was named the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization that coordinated and supported nonviolent direct action against race-based discrimination. In 1963, the SCLC helped to stage the March on Washington where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

King’s rhetoric helped shape the trajectory of civil rights in the United States, but his legacy goes beyond his role as a figurehead and speaker. His commitment to and strategic use of nonviolent resistance are intertwined with the passage and enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — two pieces of landmark legislation that ended legal segregation and safeguarded the right to vote for Black Americans.

In observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Discogs explores King’s own discography and shares records that highlight his inspirations and honor his legacy.