“We go forward”: Malala honours Dr. King in the church where the civil rights leader preached

In September, Malala addressed the Ebenezer Baptist Church and promised to continue speaking out for girls.

Malala addressed the congregation of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was co-pastor with his father, on Sunday, September 3.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was only 35 years old when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was the youngest person in history to receive the award — that was until exactly 50 years later, when Malala Yousafzai became a Nobel winner at 17 years old.

In September, Malala followed in Dr. King’s footsteps yet again when she travelled to Atlanta, Georgia to attend a Sunday morning service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Reverend King had shared the pulpit with his father.

Following the service, Malala visited Dr. King’s birthplace, just a short walk from the church. (Credit: Richard A. DuCree / Ebenezer Baptist Church)

Malala told the congregation that she hoped to honour Dr. King’s legacy every day by raising her voice — just as the civil rights leader did — for the 130 million out-of-school girls around the world.

She noted that this problem may seem far away to many in the room; but even in America hundreds of thousands of girls are not in school. “Like many of their sisters around the world, the poorest girls in the United States suffer the most. They leave school because of poverty, pregnancy, or simply because they do not feel safe or welcome,” Malala stressed. She vowed to continue to fight for their rights just as she does for every girl who faces barriers to education.

(Left) Malala poses with the Ebenezer Baptist Church liturgical dance troupe, which performed during the service. (Right) Malala visited the gravesite of Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King, accompanied by Bernice King, their youngest daughter, who was only five years old when Dr. King was assassinated. (Credit: Richard A. DuCree / Ebenezer Baptist Church)

She ended her address by delivering a call to stand up for girls: “The greatest leaders in the fight for human rights — Dr. King, John Lewis, Rosa Parks, Gandhi and many before them — have paved a road to justice and humanity for every one of us.”

“We still are walking down the road today,” Malala continued. She explained that the road gets longer when injustice — in the form of gender, racial or socioeconomic bias — continues to persist in our world.

No matter how long the road, “we will walk it together,” Malala promised, “We go forward. Go forward for justice. Go forward with hope. Go forward in peace.”

Malala and Dr. Raphael G. Warnock during the church service. (Credit: Richard A. DuCree / Ebenezer Baptist Church)

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