Martin Luther King Jr Biography Essay

Essay on Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born at home on Tuesday, January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His
parents were Martin Luther, Sr. and Alberta King.
He was born into a world where segregation was the law. Where his boyhood best friend, who was
white, wasn't allowed to play with him once they started school. Where black people went to
separate bathrooms, drank from separate water fountains, couldn't eat in "white's only" restaurants,
and had to give up their seats on buses if a white person wanted it.
Martin was a very intelligent boy. He was able to enter Morehouse College at 15 simply on the
strength of his scores on the college entrance exam taken during his junior...show more content...
D. in systematic theology. Upon graduating, he accepted a call to preach at the Dexter Avenue
Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus to a white man.
The Montgomery Improvement Association (with King as their president) organized the boycott on
the bus company that lasted 381 days and lost them 65% of their profits.
In 1957, Martin helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was its first
president.
Martin was arrested 30 times and spent time in jail (where he wrote "Letter From Birmingham
Jail"), had his house bombed, was arrested once for driving 30 in a 25 mph zone (haven't we all
done this at one time or another??), was stabbed, and finally, was assasinated. In 1964, because of
his work in the Civil Rights Movement, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for being someone
"who had contributed the most to the furtherance of peace among men".
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voters Rights Bill into law. This law guaranteed
that "No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, colour, or national origin, be
excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination". From
March 16 – 21, 1965, Martin lead a group of 3200 people in a protest march from Selma to
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Martin Luther King Jr Essay
History is something that we all learn in school. American history is important for me especially
because I am an American citizen and it is something I love to study. Segregation is something that
the U.S. has always been late on. When you think about civil rights who do you think about?
Martin Luther King Jr.? There are a lot of civil right activist who are cast away in Martin Luther
King Jr.'s shadow and they rarely get their stories told. I agree, that Martin Luther King Jr. is a
person we should mention in our history books, but we should not just "glorify" him and leave the
others castaway in his shadow. What Americans need to understand is that all races that are
non–white were segregated and the African Americans were not the only people who suffered there
were many others who have been shamed for their skin...show more content...
We always talk about the civilrights movement in our U.S. history, but we only see one–side of the
story, and we tend to forget about the other people who were involved. I might be a little bit bias,
but from being a history major and actually studying history a lot of things slip through the
cracks, when it comes to civil right activist most people will think about Martin Luther King Jr.,
but the truth is that there are others: for example, Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez is usually cast
away in the shadow of Martin Luther King Jr., and he doesn't get the recognition he deserves.
What I have notice is that U.S. history is painted in black and white. We as Americans need to
start seeing the world in color. African Americans were not the only people to face oppression and
segregation, and you rarely hear their story. Being Hispanic I never knew that we were treated like
garbage, but that is how the people saw us, yes, times have changed but I want people to understand
that we all had to fight for our own civil rights to make a

Martin Luther King, Jr Essay
After Being Dragged out of their homeland, brought to an unknown country, and forced to be slaves,
African–Americans saw a road trip to equality through the eyes of Martin Luther King, Jr. Even after
being emancipated from slaves to citizens, African–Americans were not ready to wage the battle
against segregation alone. The weight which African Americans carried on their back, was lightened
when they began to see what Martin Luther King, Jr. brought to the table against segregation. Martin
Luther King, Jr. was the single most important African–American leader of the Civil Rights
Movement and was responsible for dramatically improving the chance of equality for
African–Americans. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the key individual, which helped...show more
content...
King's speaking ability increasingly improved over time. At the time, No one knew that attribute
would propel him to the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. On December 1, 1955, Rosa
Parks, one of the leaders of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People [NAACP] refused to give up her seat to a white person on a segregated city bus in
Montgomery, Alabama, despite being reprimanded by the driver (Schulke 166). Montgomery,
Alabama was known for its terrible treatment of blacks. The buses in particular had been a source
of tension between the city and black citizens for many years (Schulke, 167). As a result of refusing
to give up her seat, Rosa Parks was arrested. Rosa Parks' popularity among the black community,
proved to be the spark that ignited the non–violent Civil Rights Movement (Norrell 2).
For more than a year, the African–American community in Montgomery successfully boycotted the
city bus company, Montgomery City Bus Lines, which resulted in the loss of much needed revenue
to support the city expenses. The Bus Boycott was the impetus for many whites to act violently
towards African Americans in Montgomery. Being an avid member of the NAACP, King became
much involved in the boycott. King's non–violent approach towards the boycott obviously drew a lot
of attention. King's home in Montgomery was firebombed by openly racist members of the Ku
Klux Klan [KKK] (Norrell 1). Seeing that the bus

Martin Luther King Jr.
In this world, there are a lot of people who showed great courage and tried to make the world a
better place. Among these people, one of them is Martin Luther King Jr. He made the world a better
place for black citizens by doing non–violence movements and marched the way to freedom. Martin
Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta Georgia as Michael King Jr., but changed
his name to Martin Luther King Jr. in honor of Protestant Martin Luther. Through his activism, King
played a pivotal role in ending the legal discrimination of African American citizens. During his
childhood, Martin Jr.'s father strongly considered racism and segregation to be an affront to God's
will, and strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority...show more content...
This is a group committed to achieving full equality for African American through non–violence. As
a role of being president of SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Martin Luther
traveled across the country and around the world giving lectures of non–violent protest and civil
rights as well as meetings with religious figures, activists, and political leaders (Martin Luther King
Jr., History). In 1960, King and his family moved to Atlanta, where he became a co–pastor of the
Ebenezer Baptism church. In 1963, activists did boycotts, sit–ins, and marches to protest
segregation, unfair hiring practices and their injustices in one of America's racially divided
cities. On April 12, 1963, King wrote the civil rights manifesto, known as "Letters from
Birmingham Jail," an eloquent defense of civil disobedience addressed to a group of white
clergymen who criticized his tactics. Later that year, King worked on a number of civil rights and
religious groups to organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This was a peaceful
political rally designed to shed light on the injustices African Americans continued to face across the
country. The event was held on August 28, and attended by 250,000 participants. This event was a
moment in the history of the American civil rights movement and a factor in the passage of the
Civil Rights Acts of 1964 King's most famous address "I Have A Dream"

Martin Luther King Jr Biography Essay

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