preview

How Is Martin Luther King Jr Alike

Decent Essays

The United States of America is known to the rest of the world as the country where people are treated as equals and have the same rights despite race, gender, or religion. Yet, life in America during the 1950s and 1960s told a different story, one of hostility and segregation against those who were Black. Life for Blacks could be best explained by understanding that “Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still inhabited a starkly unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and various forms of oppression, including race-inspired violence” (History.com). African Americans were constantly attacked, killed, and discriminated against purely because of the color of their skin. Additionally, …show more content…

King was born into a family with a history of being Baptist Ministers. King was taught moral and religious education from his father. He believed in and learned the Christian faith and therefore, believed in love and kindness over hate. In addition, his mother taught him and his siblings that they are just as good as anyone else. As the website dedicated to informing people about King’s life states it, “Drawing inspiration from both his Christian faith and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King led a nonviolent movement in the late 1950s and 60s to achieve legal equality for African-Americans in the United States” (Thekingcenter.org). His Christian faith and upbringing led to the way he conducted his civil rights campaign. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed in nonviolent protests to bring about change. King believed that this was the best way, rather than resorting to violence. In fact, King was the head of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man and was arrested. (thekingcenter.org) Martin Luther King, Jr.’s efforts resulted in the the U.S Supreme Court ordering Montgomery to integrate its buses and himself emerging as a national leader of the American civil rights movement. King was able …show more content…

His father, Earl Little, was a preacher and active member of the local chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and supporter of Black Nationalist leaders. (Biography.com) Due to the fact that Earl was a part of and a supporter of these groups, he and his family were often threatened and subject to harassment from the KKK and the Black Legion, a vigilante terrorist white supremacist organization. In 1929, a racist mob set Malcolm’s family’s house on fire (Biography.com) Malcolm X himself remembered, "The white police and firemen came and stood around watching as the house burned to the ground," (Malcolm X). Malcolm’s view of Whites was forged from ever since he was a baby. He witnessed the hate thrown at his family and this later influenced the movements he created and supported. Additionally, Malcolm’s father was believed to be killed by White supremacists, because he received death threats from them, but the police ruled his death as a streetcar accident. (Biography.com) White people constantly harassed his family and because of this, his whole civil rights campaign was focused on black power with no involvement of whites, and even called for violence against them unlike Martin Luther King, Jr.’s

Get Access