Today marks the birthday of iconic Civil Rights activist and leader Martin Luther King Jr. Many celebrities like to share the impact King made via their social media accounts by posting an image found through a Google search, slapping a quote on it and calling it a day. His birthday has also become a day where companies like to appease the black community by putting his name on basketball jerseys or generically “sprinkling his name on b*llsh*t” as called out by influencer Leslie Antonoff (@HauteMommie), who accurately dubs these instances as #UnityParsley. Morgan Freeman, however, has set a new standard by honoring MLK through 12 original Instagram videos featuring King’s very own words. All of which, are still applicable to life today.
Freeman began posting the commemorative videos on his IG page beginning 8 AM ET, releasing a video every hour on the hour. The videos feature Freeman narrating quotes from King, while showcasing memorials that were backdrops to the 14 year (and counting) movement like the Edmund Pettus bridge where the march from Selma took place, the Lincoln memorial where he gave the iconic “I Have A Dream” speech, and the recently erected MLK memorial in Washington, D.C. that overlooked the Black Lives Matter protestors after George Floyd’s murder.
“Across the globe we have seen many acts of selflessness. Neighbors, friends, and even strangers working together to heal our world. In these trying times we must remember and uplift the good, while rising above violence. Today is not an ordinary day, today is about a man who had a dream and had the voice to speak the truth to an entire country. Even though there was opposition.”
Is how Freeman began the first video in the 12 part IG story stream. The 12 videos culminated in a collage of King giving his speech in Washington superimposed onto the thousands that flocked to see him and a picture of him interlocking arms with wife Coretta Scott King in the voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery.
Freeman closed out the IGTV video with words that King would approve of for everyone to remember during these times by saying, “Today we must remember to keep the dream alive. So be kind, show love to one another. Help pave the way for equality and justice and have faith that our great country can recover from anything.”
Keep scrolling to see exactly how Freeman honored MLK on his Instagram page.
Morgan Freeman MLK Instagram
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