Considered one of the most influential individuals of the 20th Century, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. achieved a lot very quickly and efficiently for black people at that time. If it wasn’t for his persistence and ability to deliver speeches, America would be a different place today.
Overview:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929. He is best known for leading the civil rights movement in the U.S., where he kept fighting for segregation laws to be abolished for African Americans in the South. He used nonviolent strategies like The March of Washington of 1963 to get him closer to his goal of getting civil rights.
“I Have A Dream”
The most well-known thing about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which profoundly altered people’s perspectives. It is the most well-known ad-libbed speech ever delivered, and it was delivered in front of more than 25,000 people on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Tell them about the dream, Martin! Shouted an audience member, Mahalia Jackson. King started talking about a future that touched everyone present. The dream speech is credited for starting the national conversation about racial equality and advancing the civil rights movement.
Leader of Peaceful Protests
Dr. King had experience preaching nonviolence and love as the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. Combining his religious beliefs with the motivation of Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent activism to achieve success, Dr. King went to India in search of guidance on how to spearhead the future nonviolent civil rights movement. King successfully changed history through acts of civil disobedience, showing the world that revolutions don’t always have to be violent.
Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955
On December 1, 1955, segregation in public places was supposed to end. The state’s racial segregation laws led to Rosa Parks’ famous refusal to give up her seat on a city bus to a white person, an act of civil disobedience that resulted in her imprisonment. It was this incident that led E.D. Nixon to organize a boycott spearheaded by Martin Luther King Jr. King endured an incredible 385 days of persecution, including having his home bombed, getting numerous threats, and going to jail. Public transportation underwent a permanent transformation when, on December 20, 1956, the Supreme Court declared that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional due to intense political and social pressure.
Facts:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and became the youngest to get it.
He went to Morehouse College in 1944 at age 15, and not only that but also during the World War ll period.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was named after protestant reformer and respected Atlanta pastor Martin Luther, who was also his Dad.
Think he accomplished everything quickly with no obstacles? He was arrested 29 times, which were mainly because of traffic violations and civil disobedience.
So influential that he almost got assassinated 10 years before his actual assassination. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was technically “stabbed” with a 7-inch mail opener narrowly close to his heart by a woman called “Izola Ware Curry” because she thought he was a contributor to the Communist party.
In December 1999, when his family filed a civil case, the jurors came to the decision that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated because of a conspiracy. The money earned from the case was donated to charity because his family only cared for justice, not the money.
