NBC NEWS KEY CORRESPONDENT, TOM BROKAW, SHOWS US HOW FIVE
DECADES LATER, DR. KINGS
MESSAGE IS AS IMPORTANT AS EVER.
>> Reporter: DR. MARTIN LUTHER
KING JR. USED THE POWER OF HIS
VOICE AS A NONVIOLENT WEAPON IN
A GREAT MORAL CAUSE.
KING WAS RAISED IN ATLANTAS SEGREGATED BLACK MIDDLE CLASS.
HE WAS A P.K., A PREACHERS KID,
VERY SMART. VERNON JORDAN, THE PROMINENT
WASHINGTON AND WALL STREET
LAWYER GREW UP IN THE SAME
NEIGHBORHOOD.
NEIGHBORHOOD.
>> THERE WAS JUST SOMETHING
ABOUT HIM THAT MADE US KNOW THAT HE WAS HEADED TO GREAT PLACES.AT
HE WAS HEADED TO GREAT PLACES. >> Reporter: AFTER COLLEGE, KING
JOINED HIS FATHER AT EBENEZER
BAPTIST CHURCH. I CAME HERE TO EBENEZER BAPTIST
TO HEAR DR. KING PREACH ONE
SUNDAY MORNING.
SUNDAY MORNING. AS HE BEGAN TO SOAR, HIS FATHER
LEANED FORWARD AND SAID, MAKE IT
PLAIN, SON.
PLAIN, SON.
MAKE IT PLAIN. THE REVEREND RAFAEL WARNOC IS
KINGS SUCCESSOR IN THE PULPIT
HERE.
HERE.
WHEN HE LEFT FOR MONTGOMERY,
ALABAMA, HE WAS THE RIGHT MAN,
IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME.E RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT
TIME.
ROSA PARKS REFUSED TO GIVE UP HER BUS SEAT TO A WHITE MAN AND
A REVOLUTION BEGAN.
KING WAS JUST 26 YEARS OLD, BUT
QUICKLY BECAME THE DYNAMIC
LEADER OF THE CITY BUS BOYCOTT.
>> IF THERES VIOLENCE, IT MUST
NOT COME FROM NEGRO PEOPLE.
>> Reporter: AND WHEN THE
SUPREME COURT RULED THE
MONTGOMERY SEGREGATION WAS
ILLEGAL, KING BECAME A NATIONAL
FIGURE BEFORE HE WAS 30.
HE FORMED THE STUDENT NONVIOLENT
COORDINATING COMMITTEE AND TOOK
HIS CRUSADE ACROSS THE SOUTH.
>> THE TIME IS ALWAYS RIGHT TO
DO RIGHT.
DO RIGHT. >> Reporter: KING AND HIS
FOLLOWERS STAYED TRUE TO
NONVIOLENCE, EVEN AS THEY WERE
BEATEN, ARRESTED AND JAILED, AND
THEY MADE SURE THE NETWORK NEWS
CAMERAS RECORDED IT ALL, LIFTING
THE MOVEMENT OUT OF THE SOUTH,
ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
>> YOURE UNDER ARREST.
>> Reporter: KING WAS JAILED
MORE THAN 20 TIMES.
WHEN WHITE SOUTHERN PASTORS
SURGED HIM TO SLOW DOWN, KING
WROTE FROM HIS BIRMINGHAM JAIL
CELL, WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR
340 YEARS FOR OUR CONSTITUTIONAL
AND GOD-GIVEN RIGHTS.
THIS WAS A CRUSADE LARGER THAN
ONE MAN.
ONE MAN. BUT THAT MAN GAVE US A VOICE
THAT LIVES ON.
WASHINGTON 1963.
WASHINGTON 1963. >> I HAVE A DREAM TODAY.
>> Reporter: BY MIDSUMMER 1964,
A HISTORIC STEP.
PRESIDENT JOHNSON SIGNED A NEW
FEDERAL LAW OUTLAWING RACIAL
DISCRIMINATION.
DISCRIMINATION.
>> WE SHALL OVERCOME. >> Reporter: BUT THE LAW COULD
NOT END RACIAL HATRED.
WHEN KING TOOK HIS MOVEMENT
NORTH, THE RECEPTION IN SO MANY
CITIES WAS VICIOUS.
AND A NEW GENERATION OF YOUNG
BLACK LEADERS REJECTED
NONVIOLENCE.
NONVIOLENCE.
>> WE WANT BLACK POWER.
>> I THINK MY GENERATION HAVING
WATCHED YOUR GENERATION MOVE
THINGS AND CHANGE LIVES, WE
UNDERSTAND THAT THE ISSUE IS SO
MUCH DEEPER THAN JUST POLICY,
THAT ITS CHANGING HEARTS AND
MINDS.
MINDS. >> Reporter: KING SHARED WITH
SANDRA VAN OAKER IN MAY, 1957,
HIS DEEP DISAPPOINTMENT.
>> ITS EASIER TO INTEGRATE A
BUS THAN IT IS TO MAKE GENUINE
INTEGRATION A REALITY.
BUT I MUST CONFESS THAT THAT
DREEL
DREEL DREAM THAT I HAD, HAS TURNED
INTO A NIGHTMARE.
>> Reporter: BY 1968, KING WAS
STRUGGLING TO KEEP THE MOVEMENT
ALIVE.
ALIVE.
HE WENT TO MEMPHIS TO SUPPORT A STRIKE BY BLACK SANITATIONORT A
STRIKE BY BLACK SANITATION WORKERS.
WORKERS. HIS LAST SPEECH, THE MOUNTAIN
MOUNTAINTOP.
MOUNTAINTOP.
>> I MAY NOT GET THERE WITH YOU.
>> Reporter: THE NEXT DAY, KING
WAS MURDERED BY A WHITE EX-CON.
AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY, BLACK
NEIGHBORHOODS EXPLODED IN RAGE. BUT IN ATLANTA, HIS FUNERAL WAS
A SOLEMN, BITTERSWEET FAREWELL,
TO A MAN WHO GOT TO THE
MOUNTAINTOP AND BECAME A MARTYR,
AN ICON, THE IMMORTAL AMERICAN.