“Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured and forgotten.”

—  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Where Do We Go from Here : Chaos or Community? (1967), p. 109
1960s
Context: Many of the ugly pages of American history have been obscured and forgotten. A society is always eager to cover misdeeds with a cloak of forgetfulness, but no society can fully repress an ugly past when the ravages persist into the present. America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay. If it loses the will to finish or slackens in its determination, history will recall its crimes and the country that would be great will lack the most indispensable element of greatness — justice.

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American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Ci… 1929–1968

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