Martin Luther King: Speech Contributors

Global figures celebrate Dr King's legacy by reading sections of the speech which resonate with their own experiences and aspirations.

Maya Angelou
American author and poet, Northern coordinator for Dr King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Stevie Wonder
American musician, singer and songwriter. Campaigner for Martin Luther King’s birthday to become a national holiday in the US.
John Hume
Awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize, the Martin Luther King Award and jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to the peace process in Northern Ireland.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
President of Liberia and the first female Head of State in Africa, Nobel Peace Laureate and campaigner for women’s rights.
Ndileka Mandela
Nelson Mandela's first granddaughter speaking for him.
David Grossman
Israeli author and peace campaigner.
Doreen Lawrence
Soon to become Baroness Lawrence, the mother of murdered British teenager Stephen Lawrence.
Joan Baez
Musician and activist who performed at the 1963 March on Washington.
Ariel Dorfman
Chilean-American novelist, playwright, journalist and human rights activist.
Satish Kumar
Indian peace campaigner and environmentalist.
Mary Robinson
Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the first female President of Ireland.
Maestro José Antonio Abreu
Venezuelan economist, educator, and musician.
Dr Shirin Ebadi
Human rights lawyer, Iran’s first female judge, Nobel Peace Laureate.
Raja Shedadeh
Palestinian lawyer, novelist and political activist.
Prof Muhammad Yunus
Nobel Peace Laureate and Bangladeshi microcredit economist.
Wei Jingsheng
Chinese human rights and democracy campaigner, imprisoned for over 18 years.
Albie Sachs
Anti-apartheid campaigner, appointed by Nelson Mandela to serve as a judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
Malala Yousafzai
Sixteen-year-old student and education activist from Swat in Pakistan, shot by the Taliban for going to school.
Congressman John Lewis
The last surviving member of the big six leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement, who spoke at the March on Washington on 28th August 1963.