There was something about him that took over his whole being,” he noted.
But the power that King displayed, some attendees later remembered, was not the power of bombast. On the contrary, his power was rooted in his conviction and expressed with dignified poise and rhetoric. “He was very calm and obviously eloquent, as we all know, but in a very calm manner,” said DeTurk, “and he was not, in any sense of the word, a rabble rouser, as you would think in terms of someone who was screaming and hollering, and carrying on. No, no, no. Not at all. The rousing part of Martin Luther King, I think, was in what he stood for, what he exemplified, what he said, and what he believed.”
LaPlante had a similar impression. “When he did deliver his speech, it was very smooth and pleasant,” he recalled. “It was not fiery. It was not abrasive. It was mild and fluent; it flowed. It was eloquent at the same time and inspiring.”
He was not, in any sense of the word, a rabble rouser, as you would think in terms of someone who was screaming and hollering, and carrying on. No, no, no. Not at all. The rousing part of Martin Luther King, I think, was in what he stood for, what he exemplified, what he said, and what he believed.”
— David DeTurk, humanities professor, St. Francis College
As for the content of the speech, we know from media coverage that King began his portion of the symposium with the following statement: “The most potent weapon for the oppressed is nonviolent action in their battle for civil rights.” He briefly traced the country’s history of injustice to Black people, beginning with the slave trade and noted that despite progress, there was much more work ahead. “The Negro has a lot to do and a long way to go yet. The Negro has come a long way since the first Negro slaves were brought here from Africa,” he stated.