Martin Luther King Jr.
King, Martin Luther, Jr. (1929-1968), American clergyman and Nobel Prize winner, one of the principal leaders of the American civil rights movement and a prominent advocate of nonviolent protest. King’s challenges to segregation and racial discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s helped convince many white Americans to support the cause of civil rights in the United States. After his assassination in 1968, King became a symbol of protest in the struggle for racial justice.
Education and Early Life
Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the eldest son of Martin Luther King, Sr., a Baptist minister, and Alberta Williams King. His father served as pastor of a large Atlanta church, Ebenezer
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The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Montgomery’s black community had long-standing grievances about the mistreatment of blacks on city buses. Many white bus drivers treated blacks rudely, often cursing them and humiliating them by enforcing the city’s segregation laws, which forced black riders to sit in the back of buses and give up their seats to white passengers on crowded buses. By the early 1950s Montgomery’s blacks had discussed boycotting the buses in an effort to gain better treatment—but not necessarily to end segregation.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a leading member of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was ordered by a bus driver to give up her seat to a white passenger. When she refused, she was arrested and taken to jail. Local leaders of the NAACP, especially Edgar D. Nixon, recognized that the arrest of the popular and highly respected Parks was the event that could rally local blacks to a bus protest.
Nixon also believed that a citywide protest should be led by someone who could unify the community. Unlike Nixon and other leaders in Montgomery’s black community, the recently arrived King had no enemies. Furthermore, Nixon saw King’s public-speaking gifts as great assets in the
Montgomery’s group of civil rights advocates decided to dispute racial segregation on city buses after the arrest of Rosa Parks whom refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. The advocated created the Montgomery Improvement Association in order to boycott the transit system and King was chose as their leader. During his first speech king stated: “We have no alternative but to protest. For many years, we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice.” On December 21st of 1956, the United States Supreme Court declared segregation on buses as unconstitutional and which allowed African Americans the same equality of Caucasians as they rode the bus. During this time, King’s was arrested, his home was dynamited and family was threatened but he still persevered and never gave in to using violence to demand what was right.
Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968.
There is reason beyond doubt that Martin Luther King Jr. lost his life trying to restore lives of African-American people in the states. With the sculpture of Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest presidents, soaring behind him, King used the rhetorical talents he had picked up as a Baptist preacher to elaborate how a “Negro is still not free. This speech was a passionate expressive discourse, counterfeited out of the language and essence of democracy. He told of the struggle ahead, emphasizing the importance of persistent action and peaceful protest. He stated that;
Martin Luther King, JR., was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929 to Martin Luther King and Alberta Williams King. He was the middle child. He had an
When informing Americans across the nation of his dream, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proposed an unforgettable speech that would one day change The United States of America forever. In analyzing “I Have a Dream”, there are a few rhetorical purposes that are reflected throughout. These purposes are repeatedly focusing in on a particular audience in which King speaks to. Using different types of appeals and literary elements, his speech produced a meaningful purpose that the audience could relate to.
For more than a year, the African-American community in Montgomery successfully boycotted the city bus company, Montgomery City Bus Lines, which resulted in the loss of much needed revenue to support the city expenses. The Bus Boycott was the impetus for many whites to act violently towards African Americans in Montgomery. Being an avid member of the NAACP, King became much involved in the boycott. King's non-violent approach towards the boycott obviously drew a lot of attention. King's home in Montgomery was firebombed by openly racist members of the Ku Klux Klan [KKK] (Norrell 1). Seeing that the bus
African American people have come a long way from the illiterate slaves, who were once picking cotton in fields, to powerful political leaders. A prime example would be President Barack Obama, the first African American president of the United States of America. But first we must ask ourselves, how did this occur? Who lead African Americans to better living standards? Civil rights leaders, such as Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks, just to name a few. However, among these great names in history, there is one that stands out, and that man is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King gave hope to those in need with his awe inspiring sermons he performed at the church his grandfather founded. He changed foes to
The NAACP organizers, particularly the leader, E.D. Nixon decided the most way to gain support and spread the word in black communities in Alabama to enlist the help of local ministers and church leaders. Nixon and NAACP established the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to arrange the boycott and at it, they appointed a twenty-six year old minister, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr as its president. King studied writings of Henry David Thoreau and Mohandas Gandhi. Their teachings prescribed civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance to social justice. As they saw King at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and heard him say, “the once dormant and quiescent Negro community was now fully awake.” After what Nixon heard and learned from King, he thought King would be a good leader for this boycott.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama. The law said that black people had to sit in the back of the bus while the the white people sat in the front. Bus drivers often referred to black people on the bus as nigger, black cow, or black ape. Blacks had to pay in the front of the bus and they had to get off to go threw the side door to sit in the back.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is the newest memorial to be built in Washington D.C. The memorial was finished with construction in the summer of 2011. This memorial celebrates the life of one of the most influential leaders of the Civil Rights era, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This is a reminder of Dr. Kings’ powerful impact on the country and even the world. It was only right that a memorial was built in Washington D.C. to honor the life of this powerful man. Dr. Kings’ memorial is located on 1964 Independence Avenue. The street number represents the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that Martin Luther King had a huge role in. The vision in adding the Martin Luther King’s memorial was to have a “line of leadership” which is the combination
In 1955 King was elected as the leader for the Montgomery Improvement Association. This group was created to protest the arrest of Rosa Park for not moving to the back of the bus when a white man asked. This protest
Throughout all the great civil rights leaders, I personally believe that Martin Luther King was the greatest of them all. What king achieved during the little over a decade that he worked in civil rights was remarkable. "There are few men of whom it can be said their lives changed the world" from wikipedia. Using Mohanda Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence King gained the power of many citizens respect which lead him in success in, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Birmingham Protest March, and breaking the barrier to allow black people vote rights.
People do not acknowledge the struggles that African Americans had to endure for them to be treated equally, the way a true American is supposed to be treated. One of the ways they were not treated equally was by not being able to participate in sports with whites. From the beginning of our nation, colored people were highly disrespected and treated as if they were some type of animals, which have no say in what happens to them. They were not given any opportunities and were treated harshly because their skin color was different. Whites were able to practically do anything they wanted, unlike blacks, who were racially discriminated or beaten for no apparent reason. African Americans were among the worst treated races in the US; however,
King?s home was bombed. Also Nixon?s home was also bombed. After that they turned to the law. The whites arrested blacks for any minor traffic violation possible. No matter the problems they faced they did not break down. They took it all the way to the federal courts. November 13, 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal court's ruling, declaring segregation on buses unconstitutional. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was officially over. Although the boycott was over the whites did not take this lightly. There was a series of bombings, threats and attempts to scare blacks off busses.
The Civil Rights Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King The Civil Rights movement is still identified by people across the world with Dr Martin Luther King. His day of birth is remarked with a national holiday in the United States and there are many historic sites dedicated to MLK across the nation. His funeral in Atlanta on 9th April 1968 was attended by political leaders from around the world and later in 1977 King was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom which stated that MLK was “the conscience on his generation” who…”saw the power of love could bring down segregation”.