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In 1957, Martin Luther King, Jr. went to Ghana, as the country celebrated the end of British colonial rule. He engaged with and spoke frequently about Africa anti-colonial movements for the rest of his life. Fresh off his return from Ghana he preached in Montgomery, AL: (1/7)
"Ghana has something to say to us. It says to us first, that the oppressor never voluntarily gives freedom to the oppressed. You have to work for it." (2/7)
"And if Nkrumah and the people of the Gold Coast had not stood up persistently, revolting against the system, it would still be a colony of the British Empire. Freedom is never given to anybody." (3/7)
"For the oppressor has you in domination because he plans to keep you there, and he never voluntarily gives it up. And that is where the strong resistance comes. Privileged classes never give up their privileges without strong resistance. (4/7)
The full sermon is transcribed here: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/birth-new-nation-sermon-delivered-dexter-avenue-baptist-church (5/7)
. @_SeanJacobs offers a more panoramic view of the centrality of African liberation to King's worldview here: https://africasacountry.com/2017/01/martin-luther-king-jnr-pan-african (6/7)
I also love @RobertVinson20's account of King and ANC leader Albert Luthuli's relationship in "Up from Slavery and Down with Apartheid! African Americans and Black South Africans against the Global Color Line." (paywall) (7/7) https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-american-studies/article/abs/up-from-slavery-and-down-with-apartheid-african-americans-and-black-south-africans-against-the-global-color-line/76365488F191FFC2D7E3124C16D690BB
