Martin Luther King Jr.’s Influence on America
Martin Luther King Jr. was an influential leader in our society who advocated racial justice throughout all America. Through his social activism King portrayed his determination to remind the American nation of the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness as promised to everyone by the Declaration of Independence. He led the African Americans to the path of justice and equality through his promotion of peace and his strong voice for the blacks in the mid-1950. King appeals to his audience’s morals and ethics to express the freedom that this country has to offer. Through this strong desire for change, he promoted civil rights through organizations and peacefully led oppressed
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This created a big role in how King proceeded with his activism and beliefs. He believed, “Power cannot be found in bullets and guns, but we have a power. It is a power as old as the insights of Jesus Nazareth and as modern as techniques of Mahatma Gandhi.” (Wukovits 45). King had a moral objective as a preacher. He taught the people to not submit to evil because it will be returned to them. “I will not fight but I will not comply... If such physical death is the price that we must pay to free our children from a life of permanent psychological death, then nothing could be more honorable.”(Wukovits 45). One of King’s motivations for racial equality was the unfair position that his children were put in. The world was starting to see a clearer view that non-violence was the best tactic to overcome the issue. Incidents that the police would take part of were spraying the blacks with powerful fire houses during protests or marches. They continued to try and trigger a sort of violence return. However, the influence King had upon the people made them not fight. After this part in history, protestors still use forms of non-violence. This expressed a stance of what the right thing had to be done. Today if seen on today, protestors will give police or guards assigned to watch them, some flowers or even try the act of hugging them. This idea of gentle, kind …show more content…
as a figure that advocated only the civil rights of African American, but it is essential to understand that his dream also encompassed the equality of color, gender and religion.-King proclaims “As we allow freedom to ring…all of Gods children, black men, and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing..” The phrase “all of Gods children” includes al types of people that exist in this world. He dreamed of everyone living in peace and without fear of social discrimination following them around. With such a strong concluding point, King made his speech universally relevant to everyone in his audience, not just African Americans. For his dream to come true there must be social acceptance and tolerance for everyone can live a peaceful life. As an activist, Martin Luther King Jr. was responsible for creating many organizations and programs that spread awareness about equal rights and supported them. Many of his efforts are still seen today. One of them was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was an organization in which people such as , -King fought,- It was group of people such as, King, to achieve equal rights for African American through non-violent strategies that were based on Christian beliefs on peace. -Martin Luther King Jr. did travel a lot around to preach and lecture on nonviolence and civil rights. Another put together boycott King contributed to was the
King, Jr. was a strong believer in the fact that every race should be treated equally to one another. As Edward Berry stated in his own Rhetorical Analysis, “Doing Time: King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail””, King dreamed of a time where whites and blacks could be equal (111). Some of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s largest achievements through this movement where the March on Washington, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and obviously the Birmingham Campaign. He gave his all into this movement and on April 4, 1969, at the young age of 39, was assassinated because of his belief in racial equality and gave his life for the Civil Rights Campaign. Like Martin Luther King said in his piece, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, “I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom far beyond my own hometown (1). And that he did. Which is one of the biggest reasons that he is so widely remembered in the United States of America and
‘Nothing mattered more to king than being an outstanding preacher. Martin Luther King had an exceptional personal some state. He was a very proud and an outspoken man. He had been ‘conditioned’ from the mere age of nine and ordained in a black church for later life purposes (1). At a young age racism surrounded him and was affected first hand. He was abused by a white mill owner purely on the colour of his skin. He also witnessed other black people suffering from violence when he saw a white mob attack and barbarically murder a black man. King was a very opinionated person and became a lead figure head publicly known on a national scale. This came to be
Martin Luther King Jr. started a revolution in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in change. He wanted to put an end to the Jim Crow laws which gave Negroes economic, educational, and social disadvantages. These laws made white people more superior than the blacks. Martin Luther King Jr.’s voice was heard when he chose to boycott these laws after a woman by the name of Rosa Parks was arrested because she
King not only wanted racial equality he wanted a unity between the two. He wanted segregation in education to be put in the past in hopes of a future with both black and white working together (Document 4). Within his famous “I have a dream” speech it is clear to see the intentions that he
Dr. King was looking for support from members of society in order to create an effective change in society’s ethics. Moreover, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s large audience and public movement used nonviolent tactics, such as sit-ins, marches, and freedom rides to put the Civil Rights Movement in action. Before directly acting against the law, Dr. King had used other means to try to obtain justice for all; he used the four basic steps of a nonviolent campaign to decide how he would approach this cultural issue of racism: determination of whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action (King 1). After the first three steps of his nonviolent campaign proved to be ineffective, he decided to seek direct action through a large demonstration of civil disobedience. Dr. King had a tremendous impact on the segregation issue in not just Birmingham, but the entire country, by leading the Civil Rights Movement, which eventually helped influence anti-segregation legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that affected a massive population of the entire country. Although Dr. King’s journey ended in his assassination, his relentless passion for equal rights was empowering to many and helped to create a more just society.
King addresses in this quotation the reasoning behind the sit-ins and the protests that are underway in response to the discrimination that is occurring. His argument about justice is that the single injustice of the discrimination of black people at this time unhinges the idea of justice is encompassing and in this case it is not encompassing the entire population. He speaks of this mutuality between all humans, no matter the race or background of a person and this injustice is truly an injustice to everyone, whether they are affected directly or indirectly by this
We must keep in mind that King specifies his use of peacefulness in order to keep his honest conscience from playing a part in his actions. He considered the fact that he was a faithful member of the church in order to validate his reasoning behind his peaceful procedures. For instance, King conveys that, “I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle” (King 5). He suggests that he is grateful to God because of his background being part of the church. King states that he wants nonviolence to become a part of their struggle due to the fact of his need of a good moral character and a clear conscience. He wishes for a nonviolent method of gaining free will since he is called for being a leader which obliged him to making honest decisions. King’s use of God gives the reader an idea about how much of a moral man he is. He not only abides by the law that governs him, although the law of the time might have been positioned in the wrong direction, but also to the principles set forth by himself to implement the correct judgments. Not only does King appeal to his religious beliefs in order to obtain freedom from the chains of oppression, but also to the values of the United States of America to sequentially be granted the God-given right, free will. For example,
Martin Luther King Jr. was a social justice leader, ambassador, and an icon to the African American communities in the United States during the !950’s and 1960’s. He was an icon for what he did in his lifetime that made him so well known. He all around helped the community and gave awareness to what he was trying to say. He wanted peace, freedom, and equality no matter what religion and race you were. He tried to express this to many people. Results of this ended with him going to jail for protesting on what he believed in. He had a major impact on influencing others on the awareness on race relations in the United States. His marches, speeches, and leadership started in the mid 1950’s to ban segregation the United States. This was the era of segregation and discrimination against other men, woman, boys, and girls. The era of what race you were and what you believed in.
Back in Martin Luther King Jr.’s day, racism, segregation, and violence toward blacks was prevalent within America. In order to take a stand, he engaged in peaceful protests and presented a speech that would move not only America, but the entire world. These actions eventually led up to putting an end to segregation in schools, workplaces, as well as public areas. This also lead ultimately to the road being paved for the United States of America becoming a country that accepts people no matter their race, religion, or gender, giving equal rights to everyone.
“I have a dream” an inspiring speech that has changed America, Dr. Martin Luther King jr. who delivered this speech was a great impact to the America we know today. From Martin Luther King jr. -(experts from) Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and Martin Luther King jr. -(excerpts from) Letters from a Birmingham Jail by Les Prix Nobel and Martin Luther King Jr (MLK). MLK a Baptist Minister and social activist who received the Nobel Peace Prize. Martin Luther King overcomes adversity through fighting the challenges of racial Injustice, his faith in America, and by going through the conditions of Nigro Live's.
Martin Luther King, Jr. states, “Along with the march as a weapon for change in our nonviolent arsenal must be listed the boycott” (King Document 6). He is showing one technique of nonviolent protest during the Civil Rights Movement. Boycotting a store or business would cause change because not buying from an establishment affects them negatively. This would cause for the store owners to change their rules and allow colored people, therefore demonstrating the impact of King’s non-violent methods. Another way King was able to create change was through peaceful protests, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character” (King Document 2). This is an example of an organized march that took place in the 1960s. The March on Washington succeeded in creating change and was another way people could resist nonviolently. In addition, Dr. King boycotted Montgomery Buses along with many others, “We are here, we are here this evening because we're tired now. And I want to say that we are not here advocating violence. We have never done that….The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest. That's all.” (King The Montgomery Bus Boycott). He started non-violent
Martin Luther King Jr. changed things in America just enough to send it on the right path.Man has enough problems with everyday life and other more unique problems that will come along.People will add to the problems which only gives more struggle to people and, racism has always been the problem that adds more, until it came to the attention of the people.The problem with all racism are the people who bring it and the people who do nothing to stop it.There were people who tried to help and the only way they did that was by sticking out in a good way by giving yourself a positive reputation. Ignorance is the only reason things were bad and by solving that issue would help with everything else.Although America was changing because of King things still needed to be fixed but, only through the people.
Martin Luther King Jr. is a well known and an inspiring man to all cultures of the world. King was and still is one of the most influential heroes. King 's views and believes helped African Americans through the 50 's and 60 's to the rights and liberties that was their right. King faced many obstacles on his journey, things like jail and even assassination attempts. Despite these obstacles, he became a successful leader during the Civil Rights Movement and after his death, by guiding African Americans in a non-violent and positive direction for the fight to secure rights and equality for blacks.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December, 1955 till to April 4, 1968, African Americans accomplished more genuine progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years had produced. Dr. King is broadly regarded as America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history. Drawing inspiration from both his Christian faith and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. Dr. King led a "nonviolent movement" in the late 1950’s and ‘60s to accomplish legal equality for African-Americans in the United States. While others were supporting for liberty by “any means necessary,” including violence, but Martin used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, such as protests, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience to achieve seemingly-impossible goals. He went to lead similar campaigns against poverty and international conflict, always preserving loyalty to his principles that men and women everywhere, regardless of color or creed, are equal members of the human family
The Civil Rights Movement played a very important role for African Americans in the Unites States. In the early 1960s The Civil Rights Movement was unified to end racial segregation and discrimination. African Americans still lived in an unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and injustice, like race inspired violence. many Americans united together across color lines to protest the racism and discrimination that existed in the United States. During the 1950s and the early 1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr. became an important leader of the Civil Rights Movement. He advocated non-violent protest. He believed that people of all races would look favorably on a movement that encouraged peace and equality and did not meet injustice with violence. King's peaceful message attracted thousands of supporters of all races who agreed that segregation and the lack of rights for African Americans could not continue. But some of the African Americans became frustrated and began to reject the calls for non-violent protests. They wanted changes to occur much more