MLK
A couple of quick notes on MLK Day before I run off to Santa Cruz:
I realize that the man was far from perfect; I know that there's a certain dislike of the annual reaffirmation of the sanctificaton of Saint Martin. But whatever else you might say about him, he was a hell of a rhetorician.
If you haven't actually heard the "I Have a Dream" speech, I recommend going to American Rhetoric's Top 100 American Speeches page and listening to the MP3. Even before he launches into the famous sequence, there are some good lines:
"This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism."
"Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred."
I recently heard (and it's confirmed in a gomemphis.com article about the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (see also the Wikipedia article for a little more background), among other places, though I don't know whether the story is known for sure to be true or not) that halfway through the speech, Mahalia Jackson whispered to King, "Tell them about the dream." She'd heard an earlier version of that speech, and she was right that it was the right speech to give. The applause on the recording suggests to me that King already had the full attention of the crowd at that point, but he does seem to gain energy and momentum from then on.
I normally try not to play the "When Mozart was my age" game, but I couldn't help noticing that King was 34 years old when he gave this speech, and 36 at Selma. That's pretty impressive.
If you're interested in more of his speeches, there's a bunch of MP3s at Atlanta IMC, though there doesn't seem to be any accompanying text to provide context or info. If you're not sure where to start, try martin_luther_king_jr_-_we_shall_overcome.mp3.