Sipa, USA On December 10, 1964, 50 years ago, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Prize for Peace during an awards ceremony in Oslo, Norway. Since 1964 all of the documents related to this award, such as the notes, nominations, and reports have been classified as secret and kept under lock and key in the Norwegian Nobel Committee's extensive archive. This prestigious award propelled the modern American Civil Rights Movement into global and renowned recognition. Although the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Martin Luther King, Jr. for his exceptional leadership skills in the principles of peace, nonviolence and direct action, Dr. King stated "that this Nobel Prize was won by a movement of great people, whose discipline, wise restraint, and majestic courage has led them down a nonviolent course in seeking to establish a reign of justice and a rule of love across this nation of ours: Herbert Lee, Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, and the thousands of children in Birmingham, Albany, St. Augustine, and Savannah who had accepted physical blows and jail and had discovered that the power of the soul is greater than the might of violence. These unknown thousands had given this movement the international acclaim, which we received from the Norwegian Parliament." |
Last updated: December 10, 2018