Martin Luther King, Jr.: Dreaming a Reality
Thesis:Martin Luther King was a leader that was born in a segregated world but was determine to change it so everyone live in a equal nation. And he did this by his words and action that don’t need any bloodshed. He used brain over bronze to accomplish what he set out to do. Martin Luther King jr. was as born as a middle child in Atlanta Georgia in January 15th 1929 into a family which was actively involved in the civil right movement. Martin father and grandfather was lead preacher at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Martin Luther King mother was a teacher and thought him how to read, she also try to taught Martin about prejudice and the Jim Crow law that separated Black and White . Martin father was preacher , and was strong Blackman who help black get job and black teacher that same pay as white teacher. Martin got married to Coretta Scott in Alabama in June 18, 1953. Martin Luther King Jr. had four children Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice Albertine.
Martin Luther King began his education at Yong Street Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia he attended Booker-T Washington High and later on graduated and went to Morehouse College with a scholarship from his high because he got an high school entrance examination he even skip ninth and twelve grade he entered at age fifteen. He graduated collage with a Bachelor of Divinity in sociology King then began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and received his Doctor of Philosophy on June 5, 1955.
Martin inspiration was a civil rights leader, theologian, and educator Howard Thurman who was actually Martin father friend use to mentor The Kings and his friend. King played a big role in the founding of Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957; this organization was created so non-violent black people to protect. King also organized and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, and labor rights in addition to basic civil rights. One of Martin most famous rallies(marches) was the March On Washington where lack people from all over the nation came together to fight for their God given right at that event their were many speeches given one of them was the famous “I Have A Dream Speech” all this was held August 28, 1963. Other things you might find interesting about that event was that their wasn’t only black people their even white that had the same mind set as black were their trying to fight along with them for civil right and what they believe in. There were performance by Gospel legend Mahalia Jackson who sang “How I Got Over”, also musician Bob Dylan performed several songs, including “Only a Pawn in Their Game.
Their criticism from many people and this might even surprise that “black nationalist Malcolm X, in his Message to the Grass Roots speech, criticized the march, describing it as “a picnic” and “a circus”. The March on Washington isn’t the only event that happen for the civil right of the black, another event that happen was a Boy Cott which Martin Luther was still a pastor back then, well by now you are asking what really happen to cause that Boy Cott?. And the answer was that a African-American amed Rosa Park who was an seamstress came from a hard day of work and went to the back of the bus and a white told her to get up so he can sit there and she refuse for doing that she arrested for this anger was spark in the Alabama community. And so a meeting was called by the black community and an overflow crowd came to Ebenezer Baptist church for a meeting concerning Rosa Park situation and so Dr. King told them the only way that they could them was to Boy Cott the bus company. So on Dec. 5, the African-American residents of the city refused to use the buses.
Most walked, those few with cars arranged rides for friends and strangers, some even result to even riding mules. Only a very few numbers of African-Americans rode the bus that day. Martin Luther king gave a lot of speeches such as the famous “I Have a Dream”, “The Purpose of Education” speech, and his other famous “Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech” and I See the Promised Land (a. k. a. I’ve been to the Mountain Top) which was his last speech. The “I Have a Dream” speech was famous because King talk about the dream he has for the nation and the peech goes like this 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. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father’s died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring. ” And if America is to be a great nation this must become true.
So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! ” This speech was the captivate the nation because of the words behind that it meant behind it. Martin Luther King Jr. as such a hard worker and a strong believer of equality and worked so hard on his nonviolence protect for civil right that he was even recognize as a modern prophet and even a modern day Moses. For all his hard work he was given the most honorable reward of all time which was the Noble Peace Prize on December 10, 1964 this prize which is only given to a person that done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses when Martin receive his prize he gave a very good acceptation speech.
Unfortunately on April 4, 1968 while Dr. King stood on a Memphis motel balcony probably taking a fresh breath of air was shot with a sniper bullet and died on the spot the shooter James Earl Ray was opposite of Martin Luther King’s Jr. motel where it was easy to aim and shoot at king . James Earl Ray was arrest in London at a airport, on March 10, 1969, Ray entered a plea of guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee state penitentiary.
Even though the killer was found and punished it wasn’t even to filled the sadness in people hearts. Dr. King’s death wasn’t only a family issue it was a nationwide issue because he was a Great man who was trying to make the world a better place for every race. Conclusion: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was black man who was born into unequal world but tired his all best to change it without bloodshed he was willing to die for his believes.
He was even critics by many people that don’t have the same mind set as him; his life and family life were put in danger but No that didn’t stop him he kept moving on. Like the old saying goes “Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven” and Martin did a lot for us and gave us a big push toward equality so he probably in his grave or in heaven smiling down at the nation because his dream finally came to pass.
