This address was delivered by Dr. King at the Formation of the Gandhi Society for Human Rights event on May 17, 1962. Dr. King opens by discussing various anniversaries that coincide with the event and represent similar struggles for justice including the Supreme Court school desegregation ruling, the Emancipation Proclamation, and Henry David Thoreau's death. Throughout the address he uses elements of these occasions in conjunction with quotes by Thoreau to outline his view regarding the future of social, political and economic conciliation by way of nonviolent action and federal regulation of state conduct. Specifically, he references a proposal for an Executive Order submitted to President Kennedy by the SCLC that calls for national desegregation and federal assertion of power to enforce it. The speech includes a reiteration of the order.