I have a dream': America's most influential black leader was born 94 years ago

94 years ago on January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr was born, one of the most important political activists in the black civil rights movement in the USA in the 50s and 60s . American black population lived isolated in ghettos and attended segregated public schools. There were parks, markets, and even bathrooms for "colored" people.

A great orator, King had the ability to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people - as happened in the boycott of public transportation in Montgomery, Alabama, between 1955 and 1956, and in the March. on Washington, in. 1963.

At the demonstration in the country's capital, more than 200,000 people, including blacks and whites, followed the reverend's historic speech.

I have a dream. that my four young children. will one day live in a nation. where they will be judged. not by the color of their skin. but by the content. of their character.

(Martin Luther King Jr. , during speech in Washington, 1963)

peace Nobel

The. following. year in. 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent campaigns against racism in the US.

King, a declared integrationist, believed that blacks and whites could coexist, as long as the latter began to recognize their own privileges, allowing the construction of egalitarian public policies of inclusion. The reverend believed in a kind of non-violent direct action that sought to foment, even if by force, public debate about racist policies in the US.

We know that freedom is never voluntarily granted by the oppressor; must be demanded by the oppressed. 

(martin luther king jr)

Influence of King Jr. in Brazil

Ecoa spoke with Alê Santos, author of "Rastros de Resistência: Histórias de Luta e Liberdade do Povo Negro", about the influence of King Jr. in the discussion on racism in Brazil.

King referred to open and constant discussion of racism so that people who were unwilling to discuss it would be provoked and/or forced to do so.

, (Ale Santos)

For Santos, it is possible to draw parallels with the actions of black Brazilian activists. Like King, decades before, the systematic performance of movements in Brazil, especially in recent years, forced the government and civil society to debate racism in the country. Even if not directly, "the policy of quotas is a struggle inspired, to a certain extent, by Reverend King's actions", says Santos.

It is difficult to talk about legacy, not least because the Brazilian black struggle is not recent: it dates, perhaps, from the post-abolition period, in the 19th century. But both movements, both in Brazil and in the USA, share a common denominator: racial segregation , legacy of colonization."

(Ale Santos)

The day before his assassination, on April 4, 1968, King spoke to an audience of 11,000 people in a church hall in Memphis, USA: "If you want to say that I was the master of a band, say that I was for justice. If I can help someone with my ticket, then my life will not have been in vain."