"I've been to the mountaintop" The conclusion of King's final speech It's the second most famous speech he ever gave. But Martin Luther King Jr. nearly didn't make a speech the night of April 3, 1968. Because of a thunderstorm bearing down on Memphis, King had decided not to show up for a rally in support of striking sanitation workers. But when his friends Ralph Abernathy and Samuel Billy Kyles saw the size of the crowd, they called King and told him he'd better come. The speech King gave that night was one he ad-libbed. Here's the way it ended: Martin Luther King speaks in Memphis in March 1968. PHOTO: Wayne State University College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs "Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you. "You know, several years ago I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from here was, 'Are you Martin Luther King?' "And I was looking down writing, and I said yes. And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through. " . . . if I had sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation . . . to move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget . . . It simply said, 'Dear Dr. King: I am a ninth grade student at the White Plains High School.' She said, 'While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze.' An exhibit at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis "And I want to say tonight, I want to say that I'm happy that I didn't sneeze. Because if I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1960, when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters. And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream. . . If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been here in 1963, when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the conscience of this nation and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have had a chance later that year, in August, to tell America about a dream that I had. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama, been in Memphis to see the community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering. I'm so happy that I didn't sneeze. King giving his "I have a dream" speech in Washington D.C. PHOTO: Library of Congress "And they were telling me, now it doesn't matter now. It really doesn't matter what happens now. I left Atlanta this morning, and as we started on the plane, there were six of us, the pilot said over the public address system, 'We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane. And to be sure that all the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with the plane, we had to check out everything carefully. And we've had the plane protected and guarded all night.' "And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? "Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I have been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." (King was assassinated the next day, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Click here to read his "Mountaintop" speech in its entirety; here to hear the speech; here for an eyewitness account of his assassination; here for a tour of the National Civil Rights Museum.)