When Martin Luther King Jr. visited Jamaica

On the 40th anniversary of his assassination, many are remembering and honoring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The civil rights leader had a dream of equality that continues to resonate today. So, what does the small island nation of Jamaica have to do with this legendary man and his dream?

In June 1965 Dr. King visited Jamaica to deliver the sermon at the University of the West Indies’ valedictory service. Despite the busy schedule, he and his wife Coretta experienced a country for which its motto declares “Out of Many, One People”. There is no doubt that such an experience had an impact on Dr. King. Pieces of the Past, a special feature of the Jamaica Gleaner, shares:

He began by saying that he had never felt more at home anywhere else in the world adding, “In Jamaica I feel like a human being.”

In fact, in the book A Knock at Midnight: Inspiration from the Great Sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. he wrote:

Here you have people from many national backgrounds: Chinese, Indians, so-called Negroes, and you can just go down the line, Europeans, European and people from many, many nations. Do you know they all live there and they have a motto in Jamaica, “Out of many people, one people.” And they say, “Here in Jamaica we are not Chinese, (Make it plain) we are not Japanese, we are not Indians, we are not Negroes, we are not Englishmen, we are not Canadians. But we are all one big family of Jamaicans.” One day, here in America, I hope that we will see this and we will become one big family of Americans.

Would it be too bold to say that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream started here?