Fighting For Our Rights By Toni Morrison

The United States is a immigrant country, which faces varieties of problems. The African American problem is one of the most serious one. Racial segregation is a deep-rooted social problem, which reflects in every field in the United States. For example, education, labor market and criminal justice system. In the aspect of education, most of black children were not permitted to enter the school, because the white children studied there. In the aspect of labor market, the black people 's average wages were lower than the whites. They did the manual work. In the aspect of criminal justice system, the blacks were easily in jail. Badly, their sentences were also more serious than the whites. In general, the blacks live in the bottom of the American society. Martin Luther King delivered the famous speech I Have a Dream, ' ' I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ' ' (1) However, it was difficult for African American to get the freedom. The 1776 Declaration of Independence announced that everyone are equal and freedom.But black slavery still occurred in the southern states of America. Then the Civil War broke out, African American kept struggling for land and political rights.

The black race has faced many hardships throughout American history. The harsh treatment is apparent through the brutal slavery era, the Civil Rights movement, or even now where sparks of racial separation emerge in urbanized areas of Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit. Black Americans must do something to defend their right as an equal American. “I Am Not Your Negro” argues that the black race will not thrive unless society stands up against the conventional racism that still appears in modern America. “The Other Wes Moore” argues an inspiring message that proves success is a product of one’s choices instead of one’s environment or expectations.

The life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination… the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land (qtd. in W.T.L. 235).

Frederick Douglass once said, “No man can be truly free whose liberty is dependent upon the thought, feeling and action of others, and who has himself no means in his own hands for guarding, protecting, defending and maintaining that liberty.” Throughout the history of America his words have proven true seeing that those of African descent have been faced with a tremendous amount of prejudice. Whether that be in terms of the basic rights vital to African americans, or the freedom of expression that should be allotted to every human being. They were subjected to endless economic and social prejudice. While at the same time being refused the decencies all American citizen deserved. But most importantly, African Americans were denied the right to decide how their country was controlled and in turn their “liberty”. These atrocities prove that the reform introduced during the Reconstruction era did little to resolve the problems plaguing African Americans or improve their quality of life.

“What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell me: that this is your country, that this is your world, that this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” (Coates). This powerful quote exemplifies the mistreatment of blacks in America as something that has been prevalent throughout our nation’s history and is still present in our contemporary world. Our national founding document promised that “All men are created equal”. As a nation we have never achieved the goal of equality largely because of the institution of slavery and its continuing repercussions on American society.

To many million of American americans , Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the prophet of their crusade for racial equality. He was their voice of anguish,their battle cry for human dignity. He forged for them the weapons of nonviolence that withstood and blunted the ferocity of segregation.And to many millions of American whites, he was one of a group of african americans who preserved the bridge of communication between races when racial warfare threatened the United States in the nineteen-sixties.In his dedication to non-violence, Dr. King was caught between white and african american extremists as racial tensions engulfed into arson, gunfire and looting in many of the cities during the summer of 1967.Militant african americans argued that only by violence and segregation could the group attain self-respect, dignity and real equality in the United States. when he led a protest march through downtown Memphis, Tennesse. a group of african american youths suddenly began breaking store windows and looting, and one african american was shot to death.Two days later, however, Dr. King said he would stage another demonstration that attributed the violence to his own "miscalculation.”At the time he was assassinated in Memphis, Dr. King was involved in one of his greatest plans to dramatize the plight of the poor and stir Congress to help african americans. Other times mlk was

“But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” ( pg 261 # pgh 3 ). This quote comes from Dr. Martin Luther King jr. on I have a dream and is interesting because how they were supposed to be free when abraham lincoln along time ago but still aren't free . This person said this during the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was “The civil rights movement was a mass popular movement to secure for African Americans equal access to and opportunities for the basic privileges and rights of U.S.” citizenship. Being in the right position. This time in history was difficult for many people because there was a lot of fighting about the rights and how blacks and whites were treated very different. During this time people

Martin Luther King Jr. was not only a huge civil rights activist, but a person to look up to in such dire times. He gave people hope and spoke of the equality for all. Due to his popularity and worldwide recognition, his death was of course a huge topic to be discussed. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther Jr. was shot outside his hotel room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was rushed to the hospital and later pronounced dead at 7:05 that evening. The announcement of his death immediately caused an uproar and later even violence to occur. Martin Luther King Jr’s death was no ordinary death, upon investigating the case, questions were being brought up. This lead to conspiracy theories to be made about the case of his murder.

The “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by one of the key figures of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr., is one of the most powerful and influential writings in american history. The letter was written while he and fellow protestors were being held in custody for protesting in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. King was a very passionate and selfless man. He only had love in his heart for all living beings regardless of their race or religion. He believed in a peaceful way of protest to not give power to the opposition. Throughout his fight for equality he wrote many important speeches and documents this one being one of the most influential. Sadly his death was of an unnatural form. He was assassinated 1968 in Memphis,

“ If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” (King). Martin Luther King Jr. is a name many know. He was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up in a very religious family, with his father being a pastor, and all. He was galvanized by his father and became a Baptist minister and social minister after he attended Boston University at the age of 15. He, later, married Coretta Scott on June 18, 1953, a woman who mothered his four children, Yolanda King (1955), Martin Luther King III(1957), Dexter Scott King (1961) , and Bernice King (1963). He was greatly motivated by many great people such as Gandhi, Lincoln, and many other well-known males. King played a tremendous role in the civil rights movement. He was a great leader who inspired many people, during and after his lifetime. A huge role model for many people to this very day, and generations to come. He was an inspiration and role model because he used nonviolence to fight for equal rights, he never stopped fighting for what he believed in, and because he was a voice that convinced people that “all men are created equal.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929; He died on April 4, 1968. His original name was Michael Luther King Jr. he changed his name to Martin Luther King. His grandfather started the family long tradition of pastoring of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; His father had served as pastor from 1916 until death. Martin Luther King was co pastoring under his father, he attended segregated public school in Georgia. Graduating high school at the age of 15; He received the B.A. degree in 1940 from More House college, a distinguished negro institution of Atlanta, from which his father and grandfather graduated from. After 3 years of Theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class. He was awarded B.D. in 195, with a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled graduate studies at Boston University. He met his wife Coretta Scott while in Boston, Martin has 2 daughters and 2 Sons. He awarded leadership of the first negro in 1955. His bus boycott lasted for 382 days. On December 1956, After the Supreme Court of the United States declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, and now the road the bus at equals. During these days king was arrested multiple time for the bombing of his house, which also subjected to personal abuse. He engaged as a negro leader, at age 35 he was the youngest man to receive the “Nobel” prize, and on April 14, 1968, while standing on his balcony in Tennessee he was assassinated.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was the predominant leader of the Civil Rights Movement to end racial discrimination and segregation in the latter half of the twentieth century. As a world-renowned spokesperson advocating nonviolent protest, many of his speeches were centered on peaceful ways to change the unfair treatment and segregation of blacks. His hope was to use these methods of nonviolent protest so that one day all of God’s children, whites and blacks included, would live, and treat each other, as equals. On April 3, 1968, he delivered what would be his final speech, I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, in Memphis, Tennessee, at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters).

Martin Luther was a civil rights activist, a clergy and one of the key personalities behind the formation of the American Civil Rights Movement. The major goal of the movement was to advocate for the abolishment the racial discrimination of the African Americans population. King was shot on 4th April 1968 while he was his motel room at Memphis, Tennessee and was pronounced dead that evening while in hospital2. After the killing, James Earl Ray, who was convicted for murdering King, escaped but was arrested after two months in London. Many people believe that the government was involved in the assassination. Following the death of King, lots of riots and protests emerged in different cities across US.

Even though freedom has been our nation’s identity for its entire existence, our nation has suffered “dark ages” when the freedoms of African Americans were repressed. During the period of slavery, African Americans were forced to labor under often cruel and gruesome conditions, for their white masters. Solomon Northup, a free man forcefully made a slave, describes his thoughts on slavery in his 12 Years a Slave:

On the night of April 3, King gave a speech at the Mason Temple Church in Memphis. Just after 6 p.m. the following day, King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel, where he and his associates were staying, when a sniper’s bullet struck him in the neck. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, at the age of 39