Tomorrow (Thursday) marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most renowned speeches ever made – Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' address.
The civil rights leader's philosophy and his pursuit of a non-violent strategy for equal rights in America harked back to Mahatma Gandhi and inspired a raft of similar movements.
The Washington speech was the high-point of the struggle for black equality, as demonstrators had marched on the US capital to call for jobs and freedom.
King's life was cut tragically short when he was assassinated in 1968, the same year in which the Derry Citizen's Action Committee was founded and one year after the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was set up.
John Hume and Austin Currie were two of the leading lights in the Civil Rights Association in the north and admit that Martin Luther King had an enormous influence on their strategies, speeches and marches.
Nobel Laureate John Hume cites King as a "major hero" and was informed by the activist's widow, Coretta, in 1999 that he was to receive an annual peace honour in memory of her late husband.
"Obviously Martin Luther King is one of the greatest figures to emerge in the last century," he said.
"He made an enormous contribution to the development of peace and justice.
"His own philosophy inspired the Civil Rights Association in Northern Ireland, there is no doubt about that.
"I was very inspired by [King's] work for civil rights and this is evidenced by the fact that he was quoted so much by the movement here.
"One of his great quotations, also a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, was – 'that old law about an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind'. It is such a powerful message."
At the weekend, thousands of people in Washington DC commemorated the legendary speech King made on August 28, 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, before a crowd of 250,000 people.
He said: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal'.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.
"I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice..."
His words transfixed the crowd and the speech has come to be regarded as a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement.
In 1963, many black people in the American south could not vote and could not use the same restaurants, bathrooms or hotels as white people.
It was a year when drinking fountains were segregated, when police set attack dogs on non-violent protesters and when Governor George Wallace tried to block black students from enrolling at the University of Alabama.
Civil rights activist and former SDLP, and Fine Gael politician Austin Currie studied the American political system at university and was strongly influenced by King.
"At our very first civil rights march [in 1968], which was stopped by the RUC at the hospital gates in Dungannon, we sang We Shall Overcome from the platform," he said, referring to the anthem of the American movement.
"This showed the level of influence of the American civil rights movement.
"That great march on Washington enthused us all. It was one of the greatest speeches of all time. For people like myself, it was idealistic and certainly far, far removed from from those in the US who were in favour of violence, such as the Black Panthers.
"He had more to do with the civil rights movement here than Padraig Pearse, Wolfe Tone or any of the republican icons.
"What he was doing was what civil rights was all about – fighting discrimination in housing and jobs and gerrymandering and campaigning for one person one vote."
King's dedication inspired men and women, young and old, black and white to take action.
He is revered for the changes he elicited through non-violence and was condemned by others for his lack of militancy.
Buses in Montgomery, Alabama, were desegregated in December, 1956, after the United States Supreme Court declared Alabama's segregation laws unconstitutional.
President Kennedy reacted to the civil rights protests and marches by agreeing to submit broad civil rights legislation to Congress. The legislation eventually passed as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
King went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in the same year.
One of King's marches was instrumental in bringing about the passage of the Voting Rights Act which was introduced in 1965.
Bernadette Devlin McAliskey was strongly involved with the Civil Rights Association in the north and credited Martin Luther King in a speech she made in New York in 1982.
"The rise of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland was directly inspired by the events in the United States," she said.
"Our inspiration to take to the streets in peaceful mass marches to demand equality came directly from Dr Martin Luther King Jnr, and the civil rights marches in America that we saw on television."
