The famous "
I Have a Dream" address was delivered in August 1963 from the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Less well-remembered are the early sermons of that young, 25-year-old pastor who first began preaching at the
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in
Montgomery, Alabama, in 1954. As a political leader in the
Civil Rights Movement and as a modest preacher in a Baptist church, King evolved and matured across the span of a life cut short. The range of his rhetoric was anticipated and encompassed within "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life," which he preached as his trial sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in 1954 and every year thereafter for the rest of his life.
Sermons • 1953 – "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life" • 1954 – "Rediscovering Lost Values", Sunday February 28, Detroit, Michigan. • 1955 - "The Impassable Gulf (The Parable of Dives and Lazarus)", Sunday October 2, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama. • 1956 - "The Death of Evil Upon the Seashore", Wednesday May 17, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City • 1956 - "Living Under the Tensions of Modern Life", Sunday September (exact date unknown), Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama. • 1956 – "Paul's Letter to American Christians", Sunday November 4, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama. • 1957 – "The Birth of a New Nation", Sunday April 7, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama. • 1957 – "Garden of Gethsemane", Sunday April 14, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama. • 1957 – "Loving Your Enemies", Sunday November 17, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama. • 1960 – "Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool", Sunday May 15, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta • Possibly the first time King delivered a variation of this sermon, see 27 August 1967 below • 1963 – "Eulogy for the Martyred Children" (victims of
16th Street Baptist Church bombing), Wednesday September 18,
Birmingham, Alabama • 1964 - "Religious Witness for Human Dignity," May 31, Los Angeles Coliseum, California • 1964 - "Religious Witness for Human Dignity," June 3, Goodwin Stadium, Arizona State University, and Tanner Chapel AME Church, Phoenix, Arizona • 1966 – "Guidelines for a Constructive Church", Sunday June 5, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta • 1967 – "The Three Dimensions Of A Complete Life", Sunday April 9, New Covenant Baptist Church, Chicago. • 1967 - "Three Evils of Society" Address Delivered to the First Annual National Conference for New Politics • 1967 - "The Casualties of the War in Vietnam" Address delivered at the Nation Institute • 1967 – "Why Jesus Called A Man A Fool", Sunday August 27, Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church, Chicago • Possibly the last time King delivered a variation of this sermon, which started at least as early as May 15, 1960 (see above) • 1967 – "A Knock at Midnight", Delivered on several occasions, including the Installation Service of Ralph Abernathy at Atlanta's West Hunter Baptist Church February 11, 1962. • 1968 – "The Drum Major Instinct", Sunday February 4, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta. • 1968 – "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution", Sunday March 31,
National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. • King's last Sunday sermon. • 1968 – "
I've Been to the Mountaintop", Wednesday April 3,
Mason Temple,
Memphis, Tennessee. • 1968 – "Why America May Go to Hell", planned to be delivered on Sunday April 7, but never delivered due to
his assassination.
Speeches ==Notes==