......
And I want to thank God, once more,
for
allowing me to be here with you. (Yes sir)
You know, several years ago I
was in New York City
autographing the first book that I had written.
And
while sitting there autographing books,
a demented black woman came up.
The only question I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?"
And I was looking down writing and I said, "Yes."
The
next minute I felt something beating on my chest.
Before I knew it I had
been stabbed by this demented woman.
I was rushed to Harlem Hospital.
It
was a dark Saturday afternoon.
And that blade had gone through, and the
X rays revealed
that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the
main artery.
And once that's punctured you're drowned in your own blood;
that's the end of you. (Yes sir)
It came out in the New York Times the
next morning
that if I had merely sneezed, I would have died.
Well,
about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation,
after my chest
had been opened and the blade had been taken out,
to move around in the
wheelchair in the hospital.
They allowed me to read some of the mail that
came in,
and from all over the states and the world kind letters came in.
I read a few, but one of them I will never forget.
I had received one
from the president and the vice president;
I've forgotten what those telegrams
said.
I'd received a visit and a letter from the governor of New York,
but
I've forgotten what that letter said. (Yes)
But there was another letter
(All right) that came from a little girl,
a young girl who was a student
at the White Plains High School.
And I looked at that letter and I'll never
forget it. It said simply,
"Dear Dr. King:
I am a ninth-grade student
at the White Plains High School."
She said, "While it should not
matter,
I would like to mention that I'm a white girl.
I read in the
paper of your misfortune and of your suffering.
And I read that if you had
sneezed, you would have died.
And I'm simply writing you to say
that I'm
so happy that you didn't sneeze." (Yes) [applause]
And I want to
say tonight [applause],
I want to say tonight that I, too, am happy that
I didn't sneeze.
Because if I had sneezed, (All right)
I wouldn't have
been around here in 1960 (Well),
when students all over the South started
sitting-in at lunch counters.
And I knew that as they were sitting in,
they
were really standing up (Yes sir)
for the best in the American dream
and
taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy,
which were
dug deep by the founding fathers
in the Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution.
If I had sneezed (Yes),
I wouldn't have been around
here in 1961,
when we decided to take a ride for freedom
and ended segregation
in interstate travel. (All right)
If I had sneezed (Yes),
I wouldn't
have been around here in 1962,
when Negroes in Albany, Georgia, decided
to straighten their backs up.
And whenever men and women straighten their
backs up,
they are going somewhere,
because a man can't ride your back
unless it is bent.
If I had sneezed [applause],
if I had sneezed,
I wouldn't have been here in 1963 (All right),
when the black people
of Birmingham, Alabama,
aroused the conscience of this nation
and brought
into being the Civil Rights Bill.
If I had sneezed,
I wouldn't have
had a chance later that year, in August,
to try to tell America about a
dream that I had had. (Yes)
If I had sneezed [applause],
I wouldn't
have been down in Selma, Alabama,
to see the great movement there.
If
I had sneezed,
I wouldn't have been in Memphis to see a community rally
around those brothers and sisters who are suffering. (Yes)
I'm so happy
that I didn't sneeze.
And they were telling me. [applause]
Now
it doesn't matter now. (Go ahead)
It really doesn't matter what happens
now.
I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane
- there were six of us -
the pilot said over the public address system:
"We are sorry for the delay,
but we have Dr. Martin Luther King
on the plane.
And to be sure that all of the bags were checked,
and
to be sure that nothing would be wrong on the plane,
we had to check out
everything carefully.
And we've had the plane protected and guarded all
night."
And then I got into Memphis.
And some began to say
the threats,
or talk about the threats that were out (Yeah),
or what
would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers.
Well, I don't
know what will happen now;
We've got some difficult days ahead. (Amen)
But it really doesn't matter with me now,
because I've been to the mountaintop.
(Yeah) [applause]
And I don't mind. [applause continues]
Like anybody,
I would like to live a long life
- longevity has its place.
But
I'm not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God's will. (Yeah)
And
He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. (Go ahead)
And I've looked over
(Yes sir),
and I've seen the Promised Land. (Go ahead)
I may not
get there with you. (Go ahead)
But I want you to know tonight, (Yes)
that
we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. [applause]
(Go ahead. Go
ahead)
And so I'm happy tonight;
I'm not worried about anything;
I'm not fearing any man.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming
of the Lord. [applause]
New York Gov. Averell
Harriman talks with Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King in Harlem
Hospital where King was recovering from a stab wound. Sept. 23, 1958.
Officers escort the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from jail to county courthouse in Atlanta for a
hearing. Oct. 25, 1960
Speeching
"I have a dream" Aug. 28, 1963
Protesting
with people
A rare moment of
leisure for King: playing pool in February 1966.
Thinking
In the church
Hosea Williams (left),
Jesse Jackson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Ralph David Abernathy on the
balcony of the Lorraine Motel Memphis hotel, a day before King's assassination.
April 3,1968.