Dr Martin Luther King Receives New York City's Medallion of Honor
- 1964 - Upon his return from Norway after receiving the Nobel Prize, Dr King stopped in New York City. He was honored with the Medallion of Honor and a reception at the Waldorf Astoria. The next day’s New York Times reported on Dr. King’s visit: “Addressing a crowd that packed every corner of the City Council Chamber and overflowed into the corridors of City Hall, Dr. King, in a deep voice and measured tones, said: ‘I am returning with a deeper conviction that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time—the need for men to end the oppression and violence of racial persecution, destructive poverty and war without resorting to violence and oppression’
[1] .”The Times also noted that “Dr. King slipped the medal into the right flap pocket of his dark‐blue suit. In the left inside pocket of his jacket was the small, yellow check of the Nobel Prize Committee, made out for 273,000 Swedish kroner ($54,600).
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The Times report added that Dr. King planned to donate his entire prize to the civil rights movement.
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