Your Majesty , Your Royal Highness , Mr President , Excellencies , Ladies and Gentlemen.
I accept Nobel Prize for Peace at the moment 22 million Negros of United States are engaged in a creative battle to end long night of racial injustice.
I accept this award on behalf of a Civil Rights Movement which is moving with determination and the majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish reign of freedom and rule of justice.
I am mindful that only yesterday in Birmingham , Alabama children crying out for brotherhood were answered with firehoses , snoring dogs and even death.
I am mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia , Mississippi young peoples seeking to secure right to vote were brutalized and murdered.
I am mindful that debilitating and grinding poverty afflicts my people and chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.
Therefore I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting , to a movement which is not yet won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of Nobel Prize.
After contemplating I conclude this Award I am receiving on behalf of that movement is a profound recognition that non-violence is the answer to the Crucial , Political , Moral Questions of our time. The need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to to violence and oppression.
Civilization and Violence are antithetical concepts. Negros of United States following the people of India have demonstrated that non-violence is not sterile passivity but a powerful moral force which makes for Social Transformation.
Sooner or later all the peoples of the World will have to discover a way to live together in peace. And there by transform this pending Cosmic Energy into a Creative Song of Brotherhood.
If this is to be achieved man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge , aggression and retaliation.
The foundation of such method is Love. Tortuous road which is led from Montegomery , Alabama to Oslo bears witness to this truth. This is a road over millions of Negros are travelling to find a sense of dignity.
The same road has opened for all Americans a new era of progress and hope. It has led a new Civil Rights Bill. It will am convinced be widened and lengthened into Superhighway of Justice as Negro and White men and increasing numbers create alliances to overcome their problems.
I accept this Award today with abiding faith in America and audacious faith in the future of Mankind. I refuse to accept dispair as the final response to ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that uneasiness of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternally oddness that forever confront him.
I refuse to accept the idea that man is made flotsam and jetsam in the river of life , unable to influence the unfolding events surround him. I refuse to accept the view that Mankind is so tragically bound to Starless Midnight of Racism and War. That the bright day of peace and brotherhood can never be a reality.
I refuse to accept the cynical notion that Nation after Nation must spiral down a Militaristic stairway into the hell of murder and annihilation. I believe that truth and unconditional love will Have the final word in reality.
This why Right Temporarily Defeated is Stronger than Evil Triumphant. I believe even amidst today's mortar bursts and winding bullets that there is hope for brighter tomorrow. I believe that laying prostrate on blood flowing streets of our Nation can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among children of men.
I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies , education and culture for their minds. And dignity , equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what sane men have torn down , other sane men can build up. I still believe that one day Mankind will bow before Altars of God , be crowned triumphant over War and blood shared , non-violent redemptive goodwill will claim the rule of the land.
The Lion and Lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and non shall be afraid. I still believe that we shall overcome. This faith can give us courage to face uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward City of Freedom.
Our days become clearer with no hovering clouds. Our nights become darker than thousand midnights we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of genuine Civilization struggling to be born.
Today I come to Oslo as trustee inspired with new dedication to humanity. I accept this Prize on behalf of all men who love peace and brotherhood. I say come as trustee. Within the depths of my heart I am aware that this Prize is much more an honour to me personally.
Every time I take a flight I am always mindful of the many people who make successful journey possible , the known Pilots and the unknown ground crew. You are one of the dedicated Pilots of our Struggle who has set it for control as freedom movement soared into orbit.
You are once again Chief Lutuli of South Africa who struggles with and for his people. A steel met with most brutal expression of man's inhumanity to man. You are one of the ground crew without whose labour and sacrifice the Jet Flight to Freedom could never have left the Earth.
Most of these people will never make the headline. Their names will never appear in Who is Who. Yet when years have rolled past , when the brazen light of truth is focused on this marvelous age in which we live , Men and Women will know when Children will be taught we have a fine land , a better people , more noble Civilization because these humble Children of God were willing to suffer for Righteousness sake.
I think Alfred Nobel will know what I mean when I say I accept this Award in the Spirit of a Curator of some precious item which he holds in trust for its true owners. All those to whom truth is beauty and whose eyes are beauty of genuine brotherhood , Peace is more precious than Diamond , Silver or Gold.
Thank you.
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