Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaks at City Temple Hall, London, UK, on Dec. 7, 1964. Like another video posted by Getty Images (see "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on British 'Racial Problems'"), this one was erroneously dated as April 7, 1964.
Dr. King, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), had been invited to stopover at Britain by Canon John Collins, head of Christian Action, a group that supported activists fighting against South African apartheid, or forced "racial" segregation, the policy of that nation's then-"white"-minority-ruled government.
Dr. King's speech was mostly about the South African struggle (not in this video), which had reached a new stage the previous April with the conviction and imprisonment of several liberation movement figures, including Nelson Mandela, deputy national president of the "banned," or outlawed, African National Congress (ANC) and head of Umkhonto we Sizwe, or MK ("Spear of the Nation"), the group's armed wing.
However, Dr. King also found time in his speech to discuss racism at the U. S., and troubling signs of growing "racialism" at Britain.
The following day, Dr. King flew to Oslo, Norway, to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, making him the third "black" person to receive this award. The second, four years earlier, was Albert Lutuli (also Luthuli), then the "banned" national president of the ANC.
(Independent Television News Video Courtesy Getty Images)