Object of the Month: October 2026

• Artist: Sarup Singh (d.2025)
• Object name: Portrait of Martin Luther King Jr.
• Date made: 1968
• Credit: Gift of Mr Sarup Singh, 2001

Chosen by Caitlin Price, Community Co-Producer

This portrait of the American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968), was painted by the Leicester artist Sarup Singh MBE in 1968. King’s peaceful and powerful protests and speeches contributed to the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act which ended racial segregation in America.

After the 1964 Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the fight for equality was still far from over and by 1968 King was working on his Poor People’s Campaign. He was assassinated whilst supporting striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. On the third Monday of January each year, America remembers and celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. with a public holiday.

The Object of the Month can be seen in person throughout October 2026 at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery.