luther king jr. was arrested in my hometown of birmingham, alabama. his crime, leading a peaceful march to protest the indignity suffered by the black community and the jim crow era. he had violated the ban on public demonstrations which targeted the growing resistance of african-americans to the injustices they were insuffering. while in solitary confinement in birmingham, dr. king wrote what became known as the letter from the birmingham jail, a stinging response to a group of white clergy in alabama who had denounced his tactics and questioned the wisdom and timing of his arrival in birmingham. they insisted he was an outside agitator coming to alabama to instigate trouble. dr. king responded famously. injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. in his letter he rejected the idea that african-americans should be more patient for change in the face of the daily indignities inflicted by segregation, in the face of threats of violation. there comes a time, he wrote,
to promotes as a way human rights [applause] thank you very much. it is my honor to introduce this remarkable panel on a topic at the core of everything the carter center does. the north star for this organization will be human rights, because that has been the north star for my grandparents. we are honored to do that. many of these people have been introduced to you before. i will use a prop to introduce my grandfather to you in a unique way, for the first time ever. [laughter] [applause] i would like to introduce you to jonathan s great-grandfather. [laughter] buddy?that, [applause] that s the easiest applause line of the whole day. seriousness, we are thrilled you are here. we are excited that you have devoted your life to human rights and all of us are doing our very best to ensure that incredible legacy on this particular issue is preserved forever. thank you and welcome president carter. [applause] jonathan s great-grandfather. next, another person who needs no
introduced to you all before. i m going to use a prop to introduce my grandfather to you in a unique way, for the first time ever. hold on. [laughter] [applause] jason: i would like to introduce you to jonathan s great-grandfather. [laughter] jason: how is that, buddy? [applause] is the easiest applause line of the whole day. in all seriousness, we are thrilled that you are here. we are excited that you have devoted your life to human rights and all of us are doing our very best to ensure that incredible legacy on this particular issue is preserved forever. so thank you very much, and welcome president carter. [applause] jason: jonathan s great-grandfather. next, another person who needs no introduction, is the 42nd vice president of the united states. he served with my favorite president of all time. [laughter] i think you could see, even this morning at breakfast, the relationship these two great leaders have is one unique in history. they have an enormous amount of respect
unlike winston churchill, abraham lincoln s humor tended to go toward self-deprecation. during one of the debates in illinois, the spectator shouted that lincoln was being two-faced. two-faced, cried lincoln, if i had two faces, do you think i would wear this one? [laughter] michael: lincoln s humor was an essential component of his persona. richard carwardine will explore with us whether his humor might also occasionally have been a handicap. richard carwardine was handicap. richard carwardine was educated at corpus christi and queens colleges oxford and at the university of california at berkeley. for three decades he taught history at the university of sheffield before being appointed rhodes professor of american history and institution at oxford university and a fellow of saint catherine s college. he was elected president of corpus christi college oxford in 2010 and served in that post until 2016. he is the author of one of the finest modern biographies of the 16th pre
foundation of our nation. on april 12, 1963, dr. martin luther king was arrested in my hometown of birmingham, alabama. his crime, leading a peaceful march to protest the indignity suffered by the black community and the jim crow era. he had violated the ban on public which targeted african americans. while in solitary confinement, dr. king wrote what became known as the letter from the birmingham jail, a stinging response to a group of white clergy in alabama who had denounced his tactic the and questioned the wisdom and timing of his arrival in birmingham. they insisted he was an outside agitator coming to alabama to instigate trouble. dr. king responded famously. injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. in his letter he rejected the idea that african americans should be more patient for change in the face of the daily indignities inflicted by seg daition, in segregation, there comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over. i did not see this experience