Dr Martin Luther King example essay topic

Martin Luther king Jr's birthday was first observed as a national holiday in 1986. However, I researched that his life had become a fixed part of American mythology for years before that. Indeed, to many African Americans whose rights he helped expand, to many other minorities whose lives his victories touched, and to many whites who welcomed the changes his leadership brought, King's life seemed fabulous even as he lived it. He is celebrated as a hero not only for the concrete legislation he enabled, but also for his expression of dreams and hopes shared by many during an era of disruption and change.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in his maternal grandparents' large Victorian house on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the second of three children, and was first named Michael, after his father. They both changed their names to Martin. As a child, King's encounters with racial discrimination were mild but formative. The first significant one came when he began school. White playmates of his were to attend a different elementary school from his, and, once the year began, their parents no longer allowed King to come over and play.

It was this instance of injustice that first led his mother to explain to him the history of slavery and segregation. That's where I believe it all began. King was a Baptist minister and leader of the civil-rights movement in America from the Mid-1950's until his death by assassination in 1968. King promoted non-violent means to achieve civil-rights reform and was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. King's grandfather was a Baptist preacher. His father was pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church.

King earned his own Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozier Theological Seminary in 1951 and earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Boston University in 1955. I read that while at a seminary King became acquainted with Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolent social protest. On a trip to India in 1959 King met with followers of Gandhi. During these discussions he became more convinced than ever that nonviolent resistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom. As a pastor of a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama, King lead a Black bus boycott. He and ninety others were arrested and indicted under the provisions of a law making it illegal to conspire to obstruct the operation of a business.

King and several others were found guilty, but appealed their case. As the bus boycott dragged on, King was gaining a national reputation. The ultimate success of the Montgomery bus boycott made King a national hero. Dr. King's 1963 "letter from Birmingham Jail " inspired a growing national civil rights movement. In Birmingham, the goal was to completely end the system of segregation in every aspect of public life (stores, no separate bathrooms and drinking fountains, etc.) and in job discrimination. Also in 1963, King led a massive march on Washington DC where he delivered his now famous, "I Have A Dream" speech.

King's tactics of active nonviolence (sit-ins, protest marches) had put civil-rights squarely on the national agenda. On April 4, 1968, King was shot by James Earl Ray while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was only 39 at the time of his death. Dr. King was turning his attention to a nationwide campaign to help the poor at the time of his assassination. He had never wavered in his insistence that nonviolence must remain the central tactic of the civil-rights movement, nor in his faith that everyone in America would some day attain equal justice. Black Americans needed a person like Martin Luther King, but above all, I believe, America needed him.

The important qualities of this special man cannot be underestimated nor taken for granted. Within a span of 13 years from 1955 to his death in 1968 he was able to expound, expose, and free America from many wrongs. His tactics of protest involved non-violent passive resistance to racial injustice. It was the right prescription for our country, and it was right on time. Hope in America was fading on the part of many Black Americans, but Martin Luther King, Jr. provided a candle along with a light.

I honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. because he showed America the way to mend those broken fences and to move on in building this land rather than destroying it. He led campaign after campaign in the streets of America and on to the governor's mansion - even to the White House - in an effort to secure change. King's righteous acts would never be forgotten.