On this day in 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his exceptional leadership in the Civil Rights Movement and his relentless devotion to reaching racial equality through nonviolent means.
At just 35 years old, King became the youngest person, and only the second African American, to receive the world’s most prestigious peace honor. The Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway, acknowledged his “dynamic leadership” in propelling a movement that sought justice and freedom for Black Americans facing oppression.
When King formally accepted the award on December 10, 1964, he humbly dedicated it to the ongoing struggle for civil rights, vowing to donate the $54,000 prize money to the movement’s continued work.
Below is an excerpt from Dr. King’s acceptance speech:
“I am mindful that only yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama, our children, crying out for brotherhood, were answered with fire hoses, snarling dogs and even death. I am mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia, Mississippi, young people seeking to secure the right to vote were brutalized and murdered.
“Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize.”
… “After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is profound recognition that non violence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time—the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression.
“I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life which surrounds him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daylight of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.
“I believe that even amid today’s mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men.
“Today I come to Oslo as a trustee, inspired, and with renewed dedication to humanity. I think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owner—all those to whom beauty is truth and truth, beauty—and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.”
