King delivers 'Mountaintop' speech 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Apr 3 1968)

Video: 'Martin Luther King's Last Speech: "I've Been To The Mountaintop"'

(Wednesday, April 3, 1968, 9:00 p.m. CST; during the Memphis sanitation strike, part of the African-American civil rights movement (1954–1968)) — In what turned out to be his final speech, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech at a rally of striking sanitation workers at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee.

At the end of the speech, King discussed the possibility of an untimely death:

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live – a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

On the following day, King was assassinated.

Video: 'Martin Luther King, Jr: “Mountaintop” speech full length'