Latest news with #IHaveaDreamSpeech
CBS News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Denver civil rights leader James Peters, friend of Martin Luther King Jr., dies at 92
A Denver pastor who helped Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and was a prominent figure in the Civil Rights movement passed away this week. DENVER,CO--DECEMBER 17TH 2006- Left: the Rev. Richard Battles, Martin Luther King Jr., Gayle Stockham (in glasses) and James D. Peters, in a 1964 photo. THE DENVER POST/ ANDY CROSS (Photo By Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images) Andy Cross Peters was born on Jan. 16, 1933, and began preaching at the age of 19. He said his mother, Edna J. Belton, instilled a love of poetry and speechmaking in him. He was one of the founding members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the 1950s and 1960s and a friend of King's. At the age of 30, Peters helped organize three train cars to travel from Bridgeport to Washington, D.C. for the March on Washington. It's there that King delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream Speech." UNITED STATES - CIRCA 1963: Crowds of people on The Mall, starting at the Lincoln Memorial, going around the Reflecting Pool, and continuing to the Washington Monument / Getty Images On the 60th anniversary of the march, he shared his memories of the event with CBS Colorado. "We were up by the Lincoln Memorial, thousands and thousands, you've never seen so many people," Peters said. "A lot of people had to bring their children because they said, 'This is history,' it was. A lot of tears were shed. Mine and the others because we had fought for this for so long." Before moving to Colorado, Peters served as a pastor at a church in Bridgeport, Connecticut. There, King presented him with a plaque in front of his congregation. Peters went on to chair the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and served as the pastor of New Hope Baptist Church for 28 years before his retirement in 2007. OCT 11 1987, JUN 30 1989, JUL 2 1989, JUL 24 1989, OCT 19 1990, JUN 23 1991 Rev James Peters new chairman of the State Civil rights Commission. Credit: The Denver Post (Denver Post via Getty Images) Denver Post In an Instagram post, Peters's son Jasper announced his father passed away on May 10 "surrounded by love and prayer, in the presence of his family." Peters was 92 years old. Former state senator Rhonda Fields shared a tribute to Peters on X, stating, "I'm deeply saddened by the passing of Rev. Dr. James D. Peters, Jr., a pillar of faith and wisdom at New Hope Baptist Church & beyond. His legacy leaves a lasting impression on the hearts of many. Rest in eternal peace, Dr. Peters." Friends and family will gather for a funeral service at New Hope Baptist Church this weekend to celebrate his life.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Everybody's Got a Story: Original ‘I Have a Speech' lives inside Peoria Riverfront Musuem
PEORIA, Ill (WMBD) — It's an original document that's priceless. The Peoria Riverfront Musuem is now home to Martin Luther King Jr's 'I Have a Dream Speech'. 'I felt like a kid on Christmas morning being able to be in the same room space with a document like this,' Assistant Curator & Community Engagement of the museum Everley Davis said. 'It's a touchstone in American History. It is a moment in modern America that human rights, civil rights begin to pivot into the area that we are in now,' Chief Curator of the museum Bill Conger said. During this year's MLK Luncheon, the museum revealed a surprise it was sitting on for a while: they got their hands on MLK's 'I Have a Dream Speech'. 'Being able to unveil to the community was the icing on the cake for me,' Davis said. The document is now displayed at the museum. It's the building block of their next big project. 'From Jan. 26 to 27, the entire museum will be transformed into a series of exhibitions that celebrate America's history,' Conger said. 'The main exhibition will be focused on wraps around some of the country's most prominent documents.' 'It's really showing the big steps the museum is taking to bring national stories to the Midwest,' Davis said. What's fascinating about the original speech is nowhere on it does MLK actually call it the 'I Have a Dream Speech'. When he spoke in Washington, the speech was only supposed to be four minutes. It ended up being 16 minutes, the phrase 'I Have a Dream' was raw emotion. 'The first thing I noticed were the filled in like the circles for different letters, like frozen peas and what not,' Davis said. 'But that was just me not generationally familiar with the Vimeo graph. Seeing the withering of the on the paper was a unique experience.' Now this historic document inside the walls of the museum is a powerful reminder of everything MLK stood for. 'His legacy to me, it will never die. It is shaped not just what black protest or gathering looks like. It is what American protests and really stepping up and speaking out for yourself looks like,' Davis said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
