Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. . .

is one of the most important figures in American history. This recorded meditation (which is heard on the Vermeer Quartet’s CD of The Seven Last Words of Christ) is from a sermon entitled “Garden of Gethsemane.” It was delivered in 1957 when Rev. King was 28 years old – 9 years after his ordination and his graduation from Morehouse College, 6 years after graduating from Crozer Theological Seminary, 4 years after marrying Coretta Scott, 3 years after “Brown vs. Board of Education,” 2½ years after earning a Ph.D. from Boston University and becoming Pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, 16 months after the protest by Rosa Parks, 2 months after being elected President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 6 years before his “I Have a Dream” speech, and 11 years before he was assassinated.