"Give Us the Ballot" is a 1957 speech by Martin Luther King Jr. advocating voting rights for

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. King delivered the speech at the

Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom The Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, or Prayer Pilgrimage to Washington, was a 1957 demonstration in Washington, D.C., an early event in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. It was the occasion for Martin Luther King Jr.'s '' Give Us t ...

gathering at the

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in ...

in Washington, D.C. on May 17. In the key section of the speech King listed some of the changes that would result by African Americans regaining voting rights: :"Give us the ballot and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights ... :"Give us the ballot and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an anti-lynching law ... :"Give us the ballot and we will fill our legislative halls with men of good will ... :"Give us the ballot and we will place judges on the benches of the South who will do justly and love mercy ... :"Give us the ballot and we will quietly and nonviolently, without rancor or bitterness, implement the Supreme Court's decision of May 17, 1954.""Give Us the Ballot" Speech
Martin Luther King Papers, Vol. 4, Stanford University It is one of King's major speeches.

References

{{Voting rights in the United States Speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. 1957 in Washington, D.C. History of voting rights in the United States 1957 speeches

See also

References