I've Been to the Mountaintop

"I've Been to the Mountaintop" is the popular name of the final speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr.

King spoke on April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee.

The speech primarily concerns the Memphis sanitation strike. King calls for unity, economic actions, boycotts, and nonviolent protest, while challenging the United States to live up to its ideals. At the end of the speech, he discusses the possibility of an untimely death. A storm that night in Memphis can clearly be heard on the audio.

Regarding the strike, King stated that

He warned the protesters not to engage in violence lest the issue of injustice be ignored because of the focus on the violence. King argued that peaceful demonstrations were the best course of action, the only way to guarantee that their demands would be heard and answered.

Regarding the Civil Rights Movement, King demanded that the United States defend all its citizens as promised in the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and stated that he would never give up until these natural rights were protected, saying

Regarding economic boycotts, King advocated boycotting white goods as a means of nonviolent protest. He said that the individual Negro is poor but together they are an economic powerhouse, and they should use this power to stop support for racist groups and instead empower black businesses. Although the industries might not listen to protests, they would be forced to listen to boycotts lest they be driven out of business. King named several businesses as targets for the boycott:

In another message advocating unity and shared burdens, King invoked the biblical story of the Parable of the Good Samaritan, in which a wounded Jewish traveler is rescued by a Samaritan, despite the tension between their respective ethnoreligious groups. This story had been of interest to King and his work in the Civil Rights Movement for at least half a decade before this point due to its directive to look past the demographic characteristics of someone in need, or the impact helping another may have on one's own life, and prioritize the moral ideal of Love Thy Neighbor.

Toward the end of the speech, King referred to threats against his life and used language that prophetically foreshadowed his impending death, but reaffirmed his audience that he was not afraid to die for what he believed in:

The 'prophetic' language used by King referred to events described in the Biblical book of Deuteronomy. In it, Moses, the leader of the people of Israel, leads them to life in the Promised Land. Before they reach it, however, Moses is informed by God that, because of an incident in which he did not believe God (e.g., Num 20:11), he will not reach the land himself, but will only see it from a distance.

Shortly after, Moses dies, and his successor Joshua leads them into the Promised Land.

• The Mountaintop (play about King's last day)

• Martin Luther King Jr.: "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (Full text)