We Shall Overcome: Martin Luther King's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech

2012-01-11-King_Nobel.JPGDr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech Dec. 10, 1964, in the auditorium of Oslo University in Oslo, Norway. King was recognized for his leadership in the American civil rights movement and for advocating nonviolence.

Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his leadership of the civil rights movement. At that time, he was the youngest person, at age 35, ever to have received the peace prize.

“He is the first person in the Western world to have shown us that a struggle can be waged without violence,” Gunnar Jahn, chairman of the Nobel committee, said in presenting the award Dec. 10, 1964, in Oslo, Norway.

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, celebrated Monday, read King's Nobel acceptance speech here, on the website maintained by the Nobel Foundation. You can also read King's Nobel lecture and biographical material.

And while you're at, check out its broad and deep archive of historical material about the Nobel Prizes and the inspiring people who have won them.

Here's another nugget: A long-lost speech King gave at a Cleveland high school in 1967 was recently unearthed. The Cleveland Plain Dealer presents this speech as well as the story behind how it was found.