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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

"Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off of the hooks because our lives be threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?" -Hamer, 22 August 1964.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Happy birthday to Fannie Lou Hamer! Today would be the courageous truthteller's 109th birthday. Learn more about her here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/hamer-fannie...

Photograph of Hamer speaking during 1964's Mississippi Freedom Summer is courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

On this International Day of Nonviolence, we remember King's profound journey that continues to inspire us today. Learn more:

kinginstitute.stanford.edu

Nonviolence

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. The beauty of nonviolence is that in its own way and in its own time it seeks to break the chain reaction of evil.” -King, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, pp. 62-63.

Photograph by Bob Fitch, courtesy of the Bob Fitch Photography Archive, © Stanford University Libraries.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

"Our needs are identical with labor's needs—decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children and respect in the community." -MLK, New York Amsterdam News, 28 September 1963

Photograph of King by Bob Fitch, courtesy of the Bob Fitch photography archive, © Stanford University Libraries.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Eig checks out our new location on the Stanford University Main Quad and speaks with a few students. Thank you, @jonathaneig.bsky.social!

Jonathan Eig and director Dr. Lerone Martin at the King Institute at Stanford University.

Jonathan Eig meets with Stanford students at the King Institute.

Jonathan Eig and Dr. Lerone Martin with their respective books, King: A Life and Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

"The liberation struggle in Africa has been the greatest single international influence on American Negro students. Frequently I hear them say that if their African brothers can break the bonds of colonialism, surely the American Negro can break Jim Crow." -MLK, September 1961.

The photograph depicts a monument to Martin Luther King Jr. in Uppsala, Sweden, during the light festival Allt ljus på Uppsala in November 2008. Image from Per Enström licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

"They died between the sacred walls of the church of God, and they were discussing the eternal meaning of love. This stands out as a beautiful, beautiful thing for all generations." -MLK, Expressions for Carol Denise McNair, Addie Mae Collins, and Cynthia Dionne Wesley, 18 September 1963.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

#OnThisDay in 1963, King delivered the eulogy for three of the four young girls killed in the 15 September bombing of Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Carole Rosamond Robertson, the fourth bombing victim, was eulogized in a separate 17 September service.

In the photograph, King walks with Eva Lemon and Aretha Willis in Greenwood, Miss., in 1966. Courtesy of the Bob Fitch photography archive, © Stanford University Libraries.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

"Unless some steps are taken by the federal government to restore a sense of confidence in the protection of life, limb and property my pleas shall fall on deaf ears and we shall see the worst racial holocaust this nation has ever seen after today's tragedy." -King to John F. Kennedy, 9/15/1963

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

#OnThisDay in 1963, Ku Klux Klan members bombed Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing four children: Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley.

Photograph of King by Yoichi Okamoto from the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

In a New York Times Magazine article published #OTD in 1961, King described the impact of young Black students on the African American freedom struggle: “In sitting down at the lunch counters, they are in reality standing up for the best in the American dream.”

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

King addressed the 10th biennial convention of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, District 65 on 8 September 1962. Learn more about King's relationship with the labor movement here:

kinginstitute.stanford.edu

American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

#OTD in 1962: "I know that the American Labor Movement has millions of people like you in it...When the means are found to organize it, the day of freedom will be brought closer because millions performing an act of solidarity, as individuals, are a powerful force."

Photograph of King courtesy of International Ladies Garment Workers Union Photographs (1885-1985), Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

#OnThisDay in 1963, King delivered his most famous address at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Learn more:

kinginstitute.stanford.edu

"I Have a Dream"

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

"We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now... Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice." - MLK, "I Have a Dream," 28 August 1963.

Photograph of King by Rowland Scherman. Records of the U.S. Information Agency, Miscellaneous Subjects, Staff and Stringer Photographs, National Archives and Records Administration.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

"I have never felt that demonstrations could actually solve the problem. They call attention to the problem.... I am still convinced that there is nothing more powerful to dramatize a social evil than the 'tramp, tramp' of marching feet." -King, Interview on "Meet the Press," 21 August 1966.

Andrew Young, King, and others march through the streets of Philadelphia, Mississippi, in 1966 as state highway patrol officials look on. Photograph by Bob Fitch, courtesy of the Bob Fitch Photography Archive, Stanford University Libraries.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

#OnThisDay in 1962, King agreed to leave Albany, Georgia, and announce a halt to demonstrations, effectively ending his involvement in the Albany Movement. Although local efforts continued in conjunction with SNCC, the ultimate goals of the Movement were not met by the time of King’s departure.

Photograph of King from Records of the U.S. Information Agency, National Archives and Records Administration.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

#OnThisDay in 1963, Malcolm X invited King and other civil rights leaders to a Harlem rally: "A United Front involving all Negro factions, elements, and their leaders is absolutely necessary. A racial explosion is more destructive than a nuclear explosion." -Malcolm X, Letter to King, 31 July 1963.

1964 photograph of King and Malcolm X by Marion S. Trikosko. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-USZ6-1847.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

#OnThisDay in 1962, King and Ralph Abernathy were arrested for a third time in Albany, Georgia, after leading a prayer vigil outside of city hall. Read more: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/...

Photograph of Fred Shuttlesworth, King, and Abernathy by Marion S. Trikosko. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, LC-DIG-ppmsca-72947.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

#OnThisDay in 1962, King calls for a continuation of demonstrations in Albany, Ga., insisting that there is no shame in going to jail. Surveying the crowd, King asks: “Who will go? Who will be a part of greater ongoing movement who made God’s kingdom a reality?”

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Reposted by Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute

Martin Luther King III @officialmlk3.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Six years ago today, we lost two giants on the same day: Rep. John Lewis & Rev. C.T. Vivian. Both spent their lives fighting for voting rights, marching alongside my Dad & understanding that democracy is not given, it is fought for. Today, the Voting Rights Act they helped secure is under assault.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

As King rose to prominence he frequently had to defend himself against allegations of being a Communist, though his view that “Communism and Christianity are fundamentally incompatible” never changed. Learn more:

kinginstitute.stanford.edu

Communism

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

"The present integration struggle is based on Democratic principles and abiding love for America rather than the faults and misguided principles of Communism." -MLK, Statement on photograph taken at Highlander Folk School, 13 July 1963.

The photograph depicts a 1966 Mississippi billboard that features an image of King surrounded by other individuals at Highlander Folk School in Tennessee. Text on the billboard proclaims, "Martin Luther King at Communist Training School." Photograph by Bob Fitch, courtesy of the Bob Fitch Photography Archive, Stanford University Libraries.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Today we remember King's mother, Alberta Williams King, on the anniversary of her murder. Alberta was 71 years old when she was shot while playing the organ during Ebenezer Baptist Church's Sunday service. Learn more: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-alberta...

Photograph of Martin Luther King Sr. speaking at Alberta Williams King's funeral by Boyd Lewis. Boyd Lewis photographs, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

"Now, this is what I try to teach in this struggle in the South—that we are not engaged in a struggle that means we sit down and do nothing, that there’s a great deal of difference between nonresistance to evil and nonviolent resistance." -MLK, Interview by Kenneth Bancroft Clark, 24 June 1963.

Photograph of King courtesy of the State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.

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Reposted by Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute

Martin Luther King III @officialmlk3.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

#OTD In 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that should have come two and a half years earlier: all enslaved people were free. #Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom and a reminder that freedom delayed is justice denied.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

🎉💕Happy anniversary to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King! The couple was married #OnThisDay in 1953. Learn about the couple's courtship and early marriage in the introduction to Vol. II of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/introduction...

Photograph of King and Coretta Scott King by Herman Hiller, New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. LC-USZ62-116775.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Listen below to King Institute director Dr. Lerone Martin's keynote address at Stanford's 2026 Baccalaureate ceremony!

youtube.com

Lerone A. Martin at Baccalaureate 2026

YouTube video by Stanford

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Today we remember NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers, who was assassinated sixty-three years ago. Learn more:

kinginstitute.stanford.edu

Evers, Medgar Wiley

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

"The brutal murder of Medgar Evers came as shocking and tragic news to all people of good will... this reveals that we still have a long, long way to go in this nation before we achieve the ideals of decency and the ideals of brotherhood." -MLK on the Murder of Medgar Wiley Evers, 12 June 1963.

Photograph of Evers, top left, by Robert Knudsen. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

"I expect splendid achievements from you and shall always regard you with high appreciation and pride." - L. Harold DeWolf, Letter to King, 4 June 1955. Learn more:

kinginstitute.stanford.edu

Boston University

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

#OnThisDay in 1955, King earned his doctorate in systematic theology from Boston University. Under theologians Edgar S. Brightman and L. Harold DeWolf, King developed his understanding of the social gospel, which formed the foundation of his civil rights advocacy.

In the photograph, King receives an honorary doctorate from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Courtesy of the National Archives of the Netherlands, Anefo Photo Collection, ID 2.24.01.05.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

In a telephone interview from his home in Atlanta, King told a reporter that he was disturbed by recent episodes of violence creeping into the movement's demonstrations. King pledged that the number of schools teaching nonviolent resistance would be doubled. Learn more:

kinginstitute.stanford.edu

Nonviolence

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

"We are going to have to do more to get across our message that there is strength in non-violence, not weakness... This does not mean we don't resist. We resist with all our might, but non-violently." -MLK in "New Attack on Violence By Dr. King," San Francisco Examiner, 2 June 1963.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

The King Institute mourns the loss of our great friend, the legend Dr. Clarence B. Jones. Rest in power.

Photograph of Clarence Jones receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joseph Biden from the Executive Office of the President of the United States.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

"We must not allow state wrongs to exist under the banner of State Rights. To deny individuals the right to vote through threats, intimidations and other insidious methods is not a State Right, But a State Wrong." -MLK, Address at Freedom Riders Rally, 21 May 1961.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

"I left India more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and human dignity. In fact, there is no other lasting way." -MLK, Letter to G. Ramachandran, 19 May 1959.

Photograph of King at the Quaker Center in Delhi, February 1959, courtesy of the U.S. Embassy New Delhi.

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Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute @mlkinstitute.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Hear Dr. Lerone Martin discuss his new book, Young King, in conversation with King Institute staff member Dr. Jorden Sharick at Kepler's Books!

youtube.com

Dr. Lerone Martin discusses his new book, Young King.

YouTube video by MLK Jr. Research and Education Institute

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