1968 Martin Luther King example essay topic

On January 15, 1929, one of the greatest civil right activist was born, Michael Luther King, whose name was later changed to Martin when he became six years old. Martin was one of three children from Martin Luther King Sr., a pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Alberta King, a formal school teacher (Jennings). Martin was always very smart and dedicated to school. He was even promoted ahead two or three grades during his elementary and highschool years.

He graduated from Booker T. Washington and was admitted to Morehouse College at the age of 15! It was expected of Martin to follow his father's footsteps and become a preacher, however, Martin didn't plan to enter into ministry. Eventually he met Dr. Benjamin Mays, who was a scholar whose manner and bearing convinced him that a religious career could help him on a political standpoint as well. Well, on February 25, 1948, at the age of 19 he graduated from Morehouse and entered into Croze r Theological Seminary. Soon afterward, Martin ordained Cooper 2 into the Baptist ministry. Martin didn't let that stop him from continuing an education, in 1951, Martin entered into Boston University.

In the year of 1953, Martin Luther King Jr. married Coretta Scott and settles in Montgomery Alabama. It would be here, that Martin Luther King would make his first civil rights movement. After moving to Montgomery, King brought together the black community, and became President of the Montgomery Improvement Association, to pursue a 382-day boycott of the public transportation system, after the famous Rosa Parks was arrested. The boycott was successful and the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation is illegal.

It wasn't too long before King would resign from preaching and dedicate his time to the civil rights movement. On a speaking tour, King was nearly killed when he was stabbed by an assailant in Harlem. King had some very unsuccessful movements, such as one in Albany, Georgia, where King was arrested on July 27 and Jailed. However, during this jail time, which consisted of eleven days, King wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail. Later in May, the Birmingham agreement is announced and the stores, restaurants, and schools would be desegregated.

On June 23, MLK led 125,000 people on a Freedom Walk in Detroit, Michigan. Later on August 28, 1963, MLK led the largest civil rights demonstration in history with nearly 250,000 people rallied along Cooper 3 with King. This was also the march that King would give his most famous, I Have A Dream Speech. He was Time's Person of the Year in 1963, and was later named a recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize (Jones). He became the youngest person to win the award at the age of 35. King had trouble appealing to the blacks in the North.

Most young and angry blacks didn't really care for King's peaceful tactics nor his preaching. However, there was still a lot of support from blacks everywhere sharing a dream of freedom from King. King was also an author, he wrote his first book, the Stride Toward Freedom. Like I said earlier, King wasn't liked by all the blacks. In 1964 King was literally stoned by Black Muslims in Harlem. This really hurt King, but he didn't let it bring him down, and continued to fight for civil rights.

King tried to appeal to every class of the African-American race. King even moved into a Chicago slum tenement to attract attention to the living conditions of the poor. He went on to lead a campaign to end discrimination in housing, employment, and schools in Chicago. He even led a Poor People's Campaign, which focused on jobs and freedom for the poor of all races. In March 28, 1968 King led a march for support of sanitation workers on strike in Memphis, Tennessee which turned violent. This was the first march that King was in that turned to violence.

King gave his last famous speech in 1968 titled, I've Been to the Moutain top. This would lead to the famous day of the Cooper 4 assasignation of MLK Jr (Jennings p. 373). On April 4th, 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. was fatally shot in the neck while standing on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee (Jennings p. 380). King was standing next to Jesse Jackson and Ralph Abernathy when a rifle bullet ended his life.

His death caused a widespread of violence throughout the United States. There were riots in 130 cities, and nearly twenty thousand people arrested (Sunderland). King's killer is very controversial. The convicted killer, was James Earl Ray, who pleaded guilty to killing King.

However, Ray was never given a trial. And further, his lawyers have not been allowed to test the gun alleged to have used to murder King. And to top it all off, The relatives of Martin Luther King, including his wife, have even stated they don't believe that James Earl Ray is the real killer. Ray was never given a trial or a liver transplant, and died of liver cancer while serving his 99 year jail time (Sunderland). King's legacy has lived on. In 1969, his widow, Coretta Scott King, organized the Martin Luther King Jr.

Center for Non-Violent Social Change. Today it stands next to his famous Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. His birthday, January 15, is now a national holiday, celebrated each year with educational programs, artistic displays, and concerts throughout the United States. Also the motel he was shot at is now the National Civil Rights Museum.