Bus Boycott By Blacks example essay topic

Martin Luther King Jr. was in the forefront of the civil rights movement for Black Americans during the 1950's and 1960's. His leadership is of import not only for blacks, but also all Americans, because of the nonviolent method he advocated. His speech 'I have a Dream. ', 34 years of after his death, still inspires millions of Americans. Martin was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His mother was a schoolteacher and his father, a Baptist minister.

After his childhood years he graduated from More house College in Atlanta in 1948 with a B. A degree. He joined as an assistant pastor under his father. Later, he joined Croze r Theological Seminary, in Chester Pennsylvania. Here he studied Plato, St. Augustine, Rousseau, Hinduism, Jainism, and Islam. He discovered Gandhi, who through the principle of individual nonviolent resistance could lead Indian freedom struggle successfully.

Later he joined the doctoral program at Boston University. Here he proposed to Coretta Scott and married her in 1953. In 1955 he got a PhD in systematic theology from Boston University. As a child Martin knew of the discrimination and humiliation of blacks.

He had white friends but as soon as school started they said they couldn't play with him just because he was black. In a department store he was slapped by a white matron for inadvertently stepping on her toe. He came across various racial affronts like 'nigger', 'whites only'. He experienced the debasement of black employees during the summer jobs he did. He was to give up his seat in bus when more white passengers boarded in. Young Martin noticed that black people were being treated unfairly.

After finishing his last year at Boston University, he has chosen a small church in Montgomery, Alabama to live. With in a year he won considerable regard of the black community. In Montgomery, segregation was practiced in the buses. When a black woman, Rosa Parks, refused to vacate her seat in the bus for a white passenger, she got arrested. This incident, on December 1, 1955 led to the bus boycott by blacks. Martin was in forefront of this struggle, the success of which brought him to national limelight.

The Supreme Court ruled that segregation is against U.S. Constitution. During this struggle, he advocated nonviolent resistance and appealed to the white conscience. He said, "We will meet the forces of hate with the power of love. We must say to our white brothers all over the South, We will match your capacity to inflict suffering with our capacity to endure suffering. Bomb our homes and we will still love you... We will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win in the process".

The struggle did not stop with ending of bus segregation in Montgomery. He, along with other black leaders formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, to fight for black civil rights. He wrote the book Stride toward Freedom, about the Montgomery bus boycott. He gave up his job as pastor. Establishing his base in Atlanta, he toured all around the country, helping to organize demonstrations against discrimination of blacks. He was arrested many times.

In 1963, he lead the struggle against 'whites only's to res in Birmingham, Alabama. The Birmingham police unleashed dogs on children and other protestors. Firemen sprayed on marchers with fire hoses. All around the country, people watched these horrific events on news. President Kennedy got involved and promised to pass a new law making segregation illegal in all public places. This law is the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

On August 28, 1963, he led the march on Washington. He gave his now famous speech, "I have a Dream" to a crowd of 250,000 at the Lincoln Memorial. In 1964, He wrote his second book called why we can't wait. In 1965, in Selma, Alabama, young blacks had organized a protest where blacks had been stopped from trying to vote. A young protestor, Lee Jackson, was killed. In protest against this he led a march of 25,000 people to the state capital in Montgomery, asking the question 'How long?' blacks have to wait for ending segregation.

Martin's struggle has won him both pain and honors. He was threatened that his house will be bombed, his family killed. There were many threatening phone calls to him and his family. In spite of these, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Martin did not confine himself to the problems of blacks. He said, "I am a citizen of the world", and spoke against the war in Vietnam.

He committed himself not only for blacks but Hispanics, Native Americans, poor whites, all discarded, dispossessed and forgotten sections of the American Society. He was concerned about all the poor people in the United States, both black and white. In April 1968, he traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to march with sanitation workers that were underpaid. Here, he was assassinated on April 4th, 1968.

His death did not end the Black Awakening and fight against racism. His nonviolent gospel is still relevant in our present society.