Friday, October 14, 2005

Today in 1964

As you know, this blog is both a screed on current events as well as an exploration of my birth year, 1964, the Last Year of the Boomers. So occasionally I'll post "Today in 1964" timeline events, sometimes with comments, sometimes not. It's late, and I should be asleep, so I'll just post an event for the night.

On this day, October 14, 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr., the leader of the Civil Rights movement in the United States, received the Nobel Peace Prize for his leading the non-violent movement to end racial prejudice in the United States. According to his biography at the Nobel Peace Prize website, "at the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement."

Thank you, Dr. King. We all miss you.

Sites used:
Nobel Peace Prize website on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
including Presentation Speech, Biography, Nobel Lecture and Acceptance Speech.
Wikipedia Timeline, October 1964

1 comment:

Red Tory said...

I’ve always harbored more than a little resentment at “baby boomers” given that I was born in late 1959. It seems I totally missed the boat and have always been riding in their wake. Too young to enjoy/appreciate the youthful liberation of the 60’s, mired in schizophrenic disco/punk world during much of the 70’s when I was attending school. Then hitting a shithole recession just when I was seriously entering the labour market (18%-22% interest rates… give me a break — buying a car or a house was out of the question.) Then having to deal with these smug bastards when they were making off with all the candy in the store during the mid-late 80’s and entrenching themselves in the establishment. To me, they have been and always will be the utterly selfish, self-absorbed “Me generation” and I really believe they’re a huge part of the problem with America these days. To paraphrase Tom Brokaw, they’re “The Crappiest Generation.” No offense intended.