"our struggle for freedom and human dignity"

King Jr., Martin Luther, American clergyman, prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, and Nobel laureate (1929-1968). Vintage photograph, inscribed and signed.

€ 20,000.00

Signed vintage photograph, showing Martin Luther King standing outdoors in a profile half length pose addressing a predominantly African-American crowd who are gathered before him: "To Ray - God bless you in our struggle for freedom and human dignity. Martin Luther King Jr.".

A pencil annotation to the reverse by an unidentified hand (although evidently that of the original recipient of the photograph) states that the photograph was captured in Los Angeles in October 1964 and further indicates that the signature was obtained in-person at the Riverside Church in New York City on 4 April 1967. Martin Luther King Jr. made a whistle stop tour of Los Angeles on 27 October 1964 when he delivered a series of speeches (or "pleas" as he described them himself) encouraging people to vote in the upcoming Presidential election, and the present photograph was captured at one such speech. King made it clear that he would not be voting for Barry Goldwater, but did not endorse any particular candidate, instead urging his audiences to go to the polls and vote for their convictions. On 4 April 1967, when the present photograph was signed, King made what has been documented as "the most controversial speech" of his career, and also the one he "laboured over most", and is known as the Riverside Church speech, or "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence". Coincidentally the speech was delivered exactly a year before King would be assassinated by James Earl Ray.