Racial prejudice has been a problem for many years. This pattern of injustice would continue until a brave soul stood up for what is right. On August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King began a powerful and moving speech with the words, "I Have a Dream"; which spurred the commencement of a movement for equality and civil rights in the United States. Thirty-One years later on May 10th, 1994 a man by the name of Nelson Mandela had similar ambitions was sworn into office as both the first black and democratically elected president in South Africa. At his inauguration address, he also preached a powerful and poignant speech, essentially celebrating his country's conquest over apartheid. While there were some similarities in their efforts to achieve racial equality, they both utilized some different tactics. Crown involvement and religious undertone were two strategies used to make both of these activists" campaigns successful.
In the 1960's, the United States was a society divided by the color of skin. Dr. Martin Luther King preserved this as a future threat to his family and decided to put an end to this racism. He began by starting a coalition of like minded people called the Southern Christian Leadership Council. With his massive support of his coalition, Dr. King organized speeches to preach against racism, boycotted those who supported racism, and organized rallies and marches. On August 28th, 1963, a powerful and moving speech was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. "I Have a Dream" was preached, causing uproar in the crowd. With powerful religious undertone's Dr. King was able to persuade others to follow him in his fight against racial injustice. He once stated the words, "And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, dark men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestant and Catholic, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual,.