by Claudine Zap
Martin Luther King Jr., the slain civil rights leader, is honored with a federal holiday on Monday, January 16. Along with working to integrate the country's buses, schools, and lunch counters through nonviolent protest, the reverend inspired with his words.
Searches on his most well-known speech, "I Have a Dream," have surged in the last week.
The speech certainly deserves the recognition it receives: The talk was delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington, and was considered a turning point in the civil rights movement.
The mesmerizing, repetitive "I Have a Dream" phrasing is recited in schools, echoed in churches, and quoted by politicians. It goes, in part, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
Watch the "I Have a Dream" speech.
But King left behind a body of work -- and possibly his second most popular speech: the legendary "I've Been to the Mountaintop" has gained interest on the Web. "Mountaintop" was delivered at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3, 1968, the day before King was shot.
In a nod to the seminal work, Samuel L. Jackson recently took on the role of King in a Broadway play called "The Mountaintop," which imagines King's night before he died, after he has given the speech.
Many consider the words prophetic: "I've been to the mountaintop ... I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."
Watch a clip of the speech here.
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