Awards and recognition
From the Gallery of 20th century martyrs at Westminster Abbey. From left to right - Mother Elizabeth of Russia, Martin Luther King, Archbishop Oscar Romero, and Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Besides winning the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, in 1965 the American Jewish Committee presented King with the American Liberties Medallion for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty." Reverend King said in his acceptance remarks, "Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free."
As of 2006, more than 730 cities in the United States had streets named after King. King County, Washington rededicated its name in his honor in 1986, and changed its logo to an image of his face in 2007. The city government center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is the only city hall in the United States to be named in honor of King.
In 1965 King was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. Pacem in Terris is Latin for 'Peace on Earth.'
In 1966, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America awarded King the Margaret Sanger Award for "his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity."[48]
King received The Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights, presented by the Jamaican Government, posthumously in 1968.
In 1971, King was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for his Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam.
In 1977, the Presidential Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to King by Jimmy Carter.[49]
King is the second most admired person in the 20th century, according to a Gallup poll.
King was voted 6th in the Person of the Century poll by TIME.[50]
King was elected the third Greatest American of all time by the American public in a contest conducted by the Discovery Channel and AOL.