On September 12, 1962, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech at the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City to honor the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on the eve of its centennial anniversary. At a dinner organized by New York’s Civil War Centennial Commission, Dr. King spoke on the importance of the Emancipation Proclamation in American history, arguing that the document proved that government could be a powerful force for social justice. He urged Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller and President John F. Kennedy to hasten integration and progress towards full civil rights.
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