Martin Luther King Jr. ignited support across the globe, writes history scholar Stephen Tuck in an op-ed at the New York Times, and his legacy worldwide remains profound โ and contested.
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Indeed, it was Kingโs โI have a dreamโ speech that sealed his global fame. Weโve all seen photos of the hundreds of thousands marching in 1963 Washington. But thousands also marched that day in London, Tel Aviv and Accra, Ghana.
In my home country, Britain, support for the march was overwhelming. Many watched Kingโs speech live via the newly launched Telstar satellite. In London, demonstrators marched to the American Embassy carrying a banner that read, โYour fight is our fight.โ
This was more than just an expression of empathy: that summer, Paul Stephenson, a black community organizer in Bristol, led a boycott of the cityโs buses. A charismatic and gifted orator, Mr. Stephenson had been to the Deep South to learn tactics and spoke reverently of Kingโs Montgomery Bus Boycott.
King visited Britain the following year. He accepted invitations abroad, his speechwriter Clarence Jones told me recently, โto get his message out.โ It seemed to work. Kingโs sermon at St. Paulโs Cathedral was front-page news in the United States, while his meeting with activists led to the formation of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination, the pre-eminent anti-discrimination group in Britain, fashioned on Kingโs nonviolent, pro-integration model.
Meanwhile, British liberals looked to the American movement as a template for resolving Britainโs immigrant problems. Politicians seeking to introduce civil rights legislation met with King in Britain and traveled to the United States on fact-finding visits. (King wasnโt alone: in 1967 the archbishop of Canterbury even invited the Temptations, in London on tour, to drop into Lambeth Palace so he could get some advice on race relations.)
Read Stephen Tuck's entire op-ed at the New York Times.
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