How Did Martin Luther King Impact Society
Martin Luther King, Jr. born in 1925 January 15th Atlanta, Georgia was an american activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
He was born as Michael King Jr. first and was the middle child in his family. Even though his father Martin Luther King Sr. was quite strict with the kids i the family, his mother’s (Alberta Williams King) gentleness balanced everything out, so he grew up in a safe and loving environment. When he was 12 years old his grandmother died of a heart attack which was very traumatic for Martin, so traumatic that he tried to jump out of a second floor window in his family house to attempt suicide.
When he was 15 he started going to college, because he was an excellent student in high school and he …show more content…
skipped the ninth and eleventh grades. Although his family was very religious he wasn’t into it that much throughout most of his teenage years which led him to decide against entering the ministry, but when he took a bible in his hands during Junior years at college he found the faith again and decided to enter the ministry afterall.
He met his wife Coretta Scott in his doctorate years and married her in June 1953 and had four children. In 1954 when he was still working on his dissertation he became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama. He got his PhD in 1955 when he was only 25 years old.
His Civil Rights resistance was influenced by the events in 1955 when a 15 year old girl refused to give up her seat to a white man and was arrested and when in the same year a woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus for white people no matter what and got arrested, went to court was confirmed guilty and fined $10 and assessed $4 court fee.
On the same night when Rosa Parks was arrested E.D. Nixon, head of the local NAACP chapter gathered together Martin Luther King Jr. and other local civil rights leaders to plan a citywide bus boycott where he was selected to be the leader. On his first speech as the selected president he said("Martin Luther King Jr." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.):
"We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice."
This put even a bigger struggle to the Africans- Americans in Alabama. The bus boycott meant walking to work, harassment, violence and intimidation towards them for 328 days. Even the King’s house was attacked, but the Africans- Americans took a legal action against the city’s ordinance and the city of Montgomery lifted the law mandating segregated public transportation.
In 1959 he was inspired by Gandhi's non-violent activism, so he took a trip to Gandhi’s birth place in India which influenced him even more in believing his rights as an American-African citizen. Bayard Rustin an African- American who studied Gandhi’s non violent movements became the King’s mentor throughout his early years of action and was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.
By 1968 he was growing to get tired of constantly going to jail and always living on the threat of death, just because he wanted to make things equal in the world for the African- American community. There was already a plan being made for another march on Washington to revive his movements, but on April 3, in his eerily prophetic speech, he told his supporters("Martin Luther King Jr." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.):
"I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land."
The next day, he was standing on a balcony outside of his room at the Lorraine Motel and was struck by a sniper's bullet.
Years after his death he was know as the most influential African- American leader of his era.
His life and work have been honored with a national holiday, schools and public buildings named after him, and a memorial on Independence Mall in Washington, D.C.
Martin Luther King’s life had a big impact on the African-American community. With his non-violent ways of making the world equal to everybody people started to believe again, people started to fight back, people had faith for a better world and for a better environment and not only then, when he was alive, but after his death people still remembered him for what he has done, people stood up for themselves, because they believed that the world should be equal.
He had a vision where the colour of your skin was not the reason why a person should be treated differently. He had a vision where no matter who you are you still have the right to live however you want to. But it’s a sad fact that in today’s society his vision is not a reality in America or anywhere else in the world to be honest, but he affected us, the people, not the government, to treat everybody equally, if not fully equally then at least to give the voice to the other minorities in the
world.
The African- Americans thank him every single day for what he has done, for what a big influence he had on the world, for the influence that he had on the people “He will never be forgotten...” said my African- American friend from South Carolina “he will always stay our hero”.
He was born as Michael King Jr. first and was the middle child in his family. Even though his father Martin Luther King Sr. was quite strict with the kids i the family, his mother’s (Alberta Williams King) gentleness balanced everything out, so he grew up in a safe and loving environment. When he was 12 years old his grandmother died of a heart attack which was very traumatic for Martin, so traumatic that he tried to jump out of a second floor window in his family house to attempt suicide.
When he was 15 he started going to college, because he was an excellent student in high school and he …show more content…
skipped the ninth and eleventh grades. Although his family was very religious he wasn’t into it that much throughout most of his teenage years which led him to decide against entering the ministry, but when he took a bible in his hands during Junior years at college he found the faith again and decided to enter the ministry afterall.
He met his wife Coretta Scott in his doctorate years and married her in June 1953 and had four children. In 1954 when he was still working on his dissertation he became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama. He got his PhD in 1955 when he was only 25 years old.
His Civil Rights resistance was influenced by the events in 1955 when a 15 year old girl refused to give up her seat to a white man and was arrested and when in the same year a woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus for white people no matter what and got arrested, went to court was confirmed guilty and fined $10 and assessed $4 court fee.
On the same night when Rosa Parks was arrested E.D. Nixon, head of the local NAACP chapter gathered together Martin Luther King Jr. and other local civil rights leaders to plan a citywide bus boycott where he was selected to be the leader. On his first speech as the selected president he said("Martin Luther King Jr." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.):
"We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice."
This put even a bigger struggle to the Africans- Americans in Alabama. The bus boycott meant walking to work, harassment, violence and intimidation towards them for 328 days. Even the King’s house was attacked, but the Africans- Americans took a legal action against the city’s ordinance and the city of Montgomery lifted the law mandating segregated public transportation.
In 1959 he was inspired by Gandhi's non-violent activism, so he took a trip to Gandhi’s birth place in India which influenced him even more in believing his rights as an American-African citizen. Bayard Rustin an African- American who studied Gandhi’s non violent movements became the King’s mentor throughout his early years of action and was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.
By 1968 he was growing to get tired of constantly going to jail and always living on the threat of death, just because he wanted to make things equal in the world for the African- American community. There was already a plan being made for another march on Washington to revive his movements, but on April 3, in his eerily prophetic speech, he told his supporters("Martin Luther King Jr." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.):
"I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land."
The next day, he was standing on a balcony outside of his room at the Lorraine Motel and was struck by a sniper's bullet.
Years after his death he was know as the most influential African- American leader of his era.
His life and work have been honored with a national holiday, schools and public buildings named after him, and a memorial on Independence Mall in Washington, D.C.
Martin Luther King’s life had a big impact on the African-American community. With his non-violent ways of making the world equal to everybody people started to believe again, people started to fight back, people had faith for a better world and for a better environment and not only then, when he was alive, but after his death people still remembered him for what he has done, people stood up for themselves, because they believed that the world should be equal.
He had a vision where the colour of your skin was not the reason why a person should be treated differently. He had a vision where no matter who you are you still have the right to live however you want to. But it’s a sad fact that in today’s society his vision is not a reality in America or anywhere else in the world to be honest, but he affected us, the people, not the government, to treat everybody equally, if not fully equally then at least to give the voice to the other minorities in the
world.
The African- Americans thank him every single day for what he has done, for what a big influence he had on the world, for the influence that he had on the people “He will never be forgotten...” said my African- American friend from South Carolina “he will always stay our hero”.