Martin Luther King Jr (America’s most influential civil rights activists.)

Martin            Luther      King Jr                  was one         of America’s         most          influential civil    rights activists. His  passionate, but  non-violent protests,  helped    to  raise        awareness  of racial   inequalities in America,    leading  to significant                     political change.            Martin Luther  King was also an   eloquent   orator who captured the imagination and hearts of people, both black and white.

Early Life of Martin Luther King:

Martin         Luther     King,       Jr.             was   born  in Atlanta  on 15     January       1929.         Both his father and     grandfather    were   pastors  in an   African-American    Baptist church.  M. Luther King attended Morehouse College in      Atlanta,   (segregated      schooling)  and then went   to study at Crozer Theological Seminary    in      Pennsylvania       and   Boston University.     During   his time    at  University Martin    Luther King became aware of the vast     inequality  and      injustice         faced   by black Americans;        in particular,  he        was influenced    by             Gandhi’s     philosophy   of non-violent     protest.     The    philosophy      of Gandhi  tied  in with    the  teachings    of  his Baptist      faith.      At  the    age         of  24,         King married    Coretta     Scott,  a beautiful         and talented   young              woman.        After getting married,  King  became a pastor at Dexter Avenue   Baptist     Church  in    Montgomery, Alabama.

Montgomery Bus Boycott:

martin       luther  kingA   turning  point  in  the life        of   Martin       Luther      King         was           the Montgomery   Bus        Boycott                which       he helped    to          promote.         His   boycott     also became a turning    point in   the civil rights struggle   –  attracting     national    press  for the cause.

It began  in  innocuous  circumstances  on 5      December  1955.     Rosa    Parks,  a       civil rights activist, refused to give up her seat –     she was     sitting   in   a    white-only  area. This         broke    the     strict      segregation          of coloured  and               white            people   on            the Montgomery buses.  The           bus  company refused   to   back    down       and        so    Martin Luther  King    helped to     organise   a   strike where       coloured people  refused         to  use any  of the city buses. The  boycott  lasted for   several  months,  the   issue     was  then brought      to           the   Supreme        Court        who declared                the                         segregation                  was unconstitutional.

Civil Rights Movement.

After   the    success  of      the       Montgomery bus boycott,         King     and   other     ministers founded            the                             Southern          Christian Leadership     Conference    (SCLC).                 This proved to   be  a      nucleus for    the  growing civil rights   movement.  Later  there would be   arguments   about the   best    approach to  take.  In  particular,  the  1960s  saw  the rise      of         the          Black        power   movement, epitomised by Malcolm X and other black nationalist groups. However, King always remained     committed            to    the     ideals  of non-violent struggle.

malcolm x:

Martin Luther King and Malcolm X briefly meet  in    1964   before going to listen  to   a Senate         debate   about         civil         rights          in Washington. (image Wikicommons)

Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr:

Martin   Luther     King   was an inspirational and          influential            speaker;  he  had            the capacity      to               move           and    uplift                    his audiences. In particular, he could    offer a vision   of  hope. He  captured the injustice of the time but also felt that this injustice was like a passing cloud.  King frequently made   references   to       God,  the   Bible and his Christian Faith.

“And   this  is what  Jesus means  when he said: “How is it that you can see the mote in        your       brother’s  eye   and not        see  the beam  in  your     own     eye?”  Or  to     put     it in Moffatt’s translation: “How     is  it  that you see  the splinter  in your  brother’s eye and fail     to  see   the      plank   in   your own  eye?” And this is one of the tragedies of human nature. So we begin    to  love  our enemies and love        those    persons that    hate             us whether in collective life  or individual   life by looking at ourselves.”

Martin Luther King:

His  speeches                   were       largely     free          of revenge, instead focusing  on the need  to move forward. He was named as Man of the   Year by    Time      magazine in  1963,        it followed his famous and iconic  “I Have a Dream       Speech”     –                       delivered                           in Washington during a civil rights march.

“I  have a dream  that   one  day  this nation will rise up and live out   the  true meaning of its  creed:   “We  hold these   truths  to  be self-evident:         that     all    men        are created equal.” I     have   a  dream   that  one     day on the   red    hills          of          Georgia   the   sons       of former      slaves   and   the   sons       of  former slave   owners        will    be   able     to     sit down together at a table of brotherhood”

Martin Luther King:

The         following  year,   Martin    Luther  King was awarded the   Nobel    Peace  Prize  for his     work    towards      social    justice.        King announced  he  would     turn over  the prize money   $54,123    to                      the        civil           rights movement.    With    the      prestige          of          the Nobel                     Prize,    King     was       increasingly consulted by politicians such     as  Lyndon Johnson.

However,           King’s      opposition                  to        the Vietnam War did    not endear    him    to    the Johnson administration; King also began receiving  increased    scrutiny     from           the authorities, such as the FBI.

On                            April  4th,            1968,                  King          was assassinated.      It   was one    day  after       he had delivered  his   final speech  “I’ve  Been to the Mountaintop”

In     his  honour, America     has instigated  a national        Martin             Luther   King        Day. He remains  symbolic   of    America’s  fight  for justice and racial equality.