Martin Luther King Honorary Degree Ceremony at Newcastle University

A remarkable event the great American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King makes a powerful speech on a unique visit to Newcastle University.

On 13th November 1967, an audience are gripped by an impromptu speech against racism, poverty and war by the great American civil rights leader, radical Baptist preacher, and holder of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, Martin Luther King, as he accepts an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law from the Duke of Northumberland at Newcastle University.

Martin Luther King is most famously remembered for his inspirational I Have a Dream speech at the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, delivered to a crowd of more than 250,000 people. It is now considered one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century, and certainly influential in the passage of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964. Tragically, it was a mere five months after his Newcastle University acceptance speech that Dr Martin Luther King was assassinated in a Memphis motel in Tennessee.