Bound by the Lasting Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King
Dotted across maps of the United States and the United Kingdom, you’ll find some familiar names and places. Swansea, Arizona. Westminster, California. There’s even a London, Minnesota! As Oscar Wilde so drily remarked, “We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.”
Yet we are bound by so much more than names. The relationship between the US and UK is so special, in part, due to our close linguistic, historical, cultural and political ties. And thanks to the long history of British and American sister cities, first established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, our communities have even more in common.
There are many stellar examples, of course. The world-class horse-racing shared by Newmarket and Lexington, Tennessee; the proud military history of Runnymede and Herndon, Virginia; and the rich music scene of Belfast and Nashville.
This year, we commemorate the special link between Newcastle upon Tyne and Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King journeyed to England to receive an honorary degree from Newcastle University. At the time, many Americans viewed Dr. King as a controversial figure, and Newcastle was the only British university to honour him during his lifetime.
In an impromptu speech, his last outside the United States before his assassination, Dr. King addressed lecturers and students. He called for countries all over the world to rise to the challenge of social justice, “for all men of good will to work passionately and unrelentingly to get rid of racial injustice, whether it exists in the United States of America, whether it exists in England, or whether it exists in South Africa. Wherever it is alive, it must be defeated.”
For more than four decades, footage of Dr. King’s powerful speech lay lost in the Newcastle University archives. In 2012, it was recovered and broadcast by the BBC.
In 2014, the BBC gave Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed the opportunity to view Dr. King’s Newcastle speech for the first time. “You can tell the occasion meant a great deal to him […]. Thank you [Newcastle] for not only seeing what Dr. King meant and would subsequently mean to the world, but thank you for acknowledging it while he was alive and healthy and vibrant.”
Fifty years later, Dr. King’s words still ring true. And while both countries have achieved progress, we both have more to accomplish in the fight for equality.
Throughout 2017, the city of Newcastle will be marking Dr. King’s visit with a roster of events — from public lectures and poetry readings to art exhibitions and musical performances that honour Dr. King’s impact on civil rights.
And Atlanta, the birthplace of Dr. King, continues to mark his legacy. Today, civil rights leaders from around the world have visited the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, which seeks to educate and engage the public in an ongoing dialogue about the history and future of civil rights.
As we look ahead to the future of the Special Relationship, it is these ties that will continue to bind us together — our shared sense of history and our commitment to equality and freedom.
This story is part of the #SisterCitySunday series on Medium. Each Sunday from October 2, 2016 to May 7, 2017, new stories from the 28 European Union Member States will be published. Stories will also be shared on social media using #SisterCitySunday.
To join the conversation on social media, make sure to use #SisterCitySunday and tag @EUintheUS and @SisterCitiesInt on Twitter and Instagram, and EUintheUS and SisterCitiesInternational on Facebook. Let us know about your experiences in twinned cities and share your partnership stories with us!
