Preview

Martin Luther King I Have A Dream Speech Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
948 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Martin Luther King I Have A Dream Speech Essay
Today, Martin Luther King, Jr. is distinguished as a hero for the permanent legislation he empowered, but for his delivery of his hopes and dreams he shared with the nation during the civil rights era.
Martin Luther King, Jr., first stepped into the national spotlight in late 1955 when he led an African American bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama (Biography.com Editors). King experienced racism in early years and claimed he always wanted to do something to make the world a fairer place for African Americans (Col). On the night Rosa Parks, a colored woman, was arrested for violating the Montgomery city code by not giving her seat to a white man, King met with the leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other civil rights activists from the area so arrangements could be made for a citywide bus boycott (Biography.com Editors). In this
…show more content…
He and other civil rights activists planned the March on Washington, a peaceful political rally to address the public of the injustices colored men and women were continually facing in the United States. Out of all the speakers and performers, King was elected to speak last. In front of an estimated quarter million supporters and media broadcasters, King delivered an urgent speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial about racial tolerance and non-violence between races in the. This speech was, undoubtedly, one of the most powerful political declarations of the century. It was a great inspiration in the pursuit of freedom for colored people in many different countries as well. His pleas for racial equality and hopes that one day black and white children could walk hand in hand and learn to live together inspired Congress to expedite the passing of the Civil Rights Act. By 1964, laws were passed that gave African Americans more rights than they had ever been given before

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    When Dr. King was 25, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and accept an offer to become the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. During King’s tenure at Dexter, the leading political activists in Montgomery formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to protest the arrest of Rosa Parks, an influential political figure and important NAACP official. Rosa Parks is now remembered today for sitting at the front of a public bus, sectioned for “whites-only”, and refusing to move. This famous and well known example of political activism inspired King and the MIA to lead a boycott on public bus transportation in Montgomery, the first major example of King participating in political activism. With the important encouragement…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. She was charged, convicted and fined for breaking segregation laws. In response, Martin Luther King, Jr led the black community in a protest by boycotting busses. More than 50,000 members of the black community stepped up. The boycott lasted 381 days. On December 21, 1956, King’s actions resulted in the Supreme Court changing the law, ending segregation. To celebrate this hard earned victory, that very day, Martin Luther King, Jr. took a ride on a bus. He sat near the front, next to a white man (Sohail, 2005).…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plessy V Ferguson Essay

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This women was tired she had worked all day and felt she had every right to that set, and she was right. When Dr. King heard about Rosa Parks standing up for her rights and was jailed for that he knew he had to act, so he went to Montgomery Alabama and demand justice for Rosa Parks. The city council denied his request. Dr. King left with no other choice gathered the black people of Montgomery and did something that had never been done before by the black people before. Dr. King decided they should boycott the bus transit system, until the segregation on the bus ended, and jobs were offered to black men as drivers for routes where black people lived. Dr. King had the church get involved with the boycott, by organizing carpool time and pick/drop off locations. The city of Montgomery took notice to this, and decided to place a ban on people for loitering, even though they were only waiting for their ride. In 1956 the city of Montgomery had Dr. King indicted on for violating antiboycott laws. King was found guilty of leading an illegal boycott and sentenced to $500 fine and 386 days in jail. In November 1956 the U.S. Supreme Court declares bus segregation laws…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    After the March on Washington fifty-two years ago civil rights activist Dr. Martin King Jr. delivered for the first time his "I Have a Dream Speech" at the Lincoln Memorial. During the speech, Dr. King offered inspiration and called for an end to racism in America. In fact, he spoke on his personal hopes and dreams for people of all races in his country. One of his hopes was that one day people of color would be judged based off their character, rather than their skin color. As for his dream that he expressed in speech, it was that a day would come that colored people and whites could unite and see one another as equals.…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Isn’t it insane to believe that one person can have a crucial influence on society, changing people’s interpretation on the world? Around the 1970s African Americans were looked upon differently compared to Caucasian people and began segregating them. The African Americans saw how unfair they were treated, but extremely few spoke up. One essential person during that time was Martin Luther King Jr. He stated his opinion that everyone should be treated equally, no matter what the consequences were. He is one of the many reasons why the world is the way it is now.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It was the day of the March on Washington and the “I Have A Dream” speech. The march on Washington was when tons of people marched for jobs and freedom and some 250,000 people took part in it. after that, Martin Luther King Jr. Gave one of the most famous speeches of all time. It was called the I have a dream speech. And on June 11, 1963 John F Kennedy televised it because of it’s importance. Interestingly,King’s speech was almost never heard by people because right before the speech, the expensive sound system was sabotaged! But people were called to fix it just in time for the famous speech. (NCC staff Constitution Daily). That Speech was about his dream of equality for all mankind. His mindset was that we're all human, so why aren't we all treated the same and why does the color of our skin matter? After this famous speech it is easy to assume that it changed the way all people were treated in America. And it did! But in reality the amazing speech led A Civil rights change all over the world. People in many different countries heard it and were inspired to make change just because one man named Martin would do whatever he had to for racial…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "I Have a Dream" was a speech given by Martin Luther King. King was the last to give his speech for the event. He gave his speech on August 28, 1963 on the Lincoln Memorial. The speech was said in the" March on Jobs and Freedom" to approximately 250,000 people were present. King's main purpose for his speech was to end racial inequality throughout the country. More so to get African Americans as much opportunities as anyone else.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. was a man who wanted to do away with racial discrimination. He wanted to do whatever he could, he started groups of men; black and white, he started to preach out in public and started to inspire many people all over the nation, from newspaper writers to the high priest of North Carolina.. One of his most famous speeches was “I have a Dream” speech. Before his speech he delivered about 250,000 men and women and they marched to the Lincoln Memorial. During his speech he said many things but a few of which caught men, women, and even children’s undivided attention. He alluded, “Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still am told to sit in the back of the bus because whites were sought to be better than blacks. On December 1 ,1955 a woman named Rosa Parks was on a part of a bus where…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On August 28, 1963 the march on Washington brought over 250,000 people marching for eliminating segregation in school and public places, and giving people equal job rights for African American people to find a peaceful way to stop racial discrimination. But the most remember able thing that happen was Martin Luther king jr speech “I have a dream” where he express that one day people of all different races, religion and characters can be free from discrimination, when it states “…when we allow 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…

    • 168 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    King was critical for the civil rights movement; he was massively proactive. This is evident from King’s first significant role, the 1955 Bus boycott - King put forward his method of non-violent protest as for correcting the inequalities of the American Society. Already from this first act we see King’s ‘pure’ intentions, his ideal of non-violent protest which he would continue to use throughout his civil rights campaign, King persuaded local people to boycott, without them it would be unsuccessful. The value of this one event is key to understanding the importance of King; this one event set the tone for the rest of…

    • 2465 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Martin Luther King, Jr. came to national prominence in 1955 as the leader of a boycott of the city-owned bus line in protest of its discrimination against African-American riders. From this time on, until he was murdered in 1968, Dr. King remained the most prominent African-American civil rights leader. King’s leadership of demonstrations and open defiance of racist laws led police to arrest him a number of times. While in the Birmingham, Alabama, jail in the spring of 1963, King wrote an eloquent defense of his belief in nonviolent resistance. This excerpt comes from that essay:…

    • 2979 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    As A result of Martin Luther King Jr.’s activism, oratory skills, courage, dedication and imagination, he became the perfect icon in the Civil Rights movement among African-American.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech were both important catalysts in the Civil Rights Movement. In his speech, Martin Luther King Jr. discussed how he dreamed about the day when African Americans would be treated the same as white citizens. He addressed his dream where one day African Americans and white individuals would be able to sit together in peace. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of using non-violent protests…

    • 930 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On December 1, 1955, the NAACP member boarded a public bus and took a seat in the “Negro” section in the back of the bus. Later, Parks refused to relinquish her seat to a white passenger, defying the law by which blacks were required to give up their seats to white passengers when the front section, reserved for whites, was filled (Polsgrove, 2001). Parks was immediately arrested. In protest, the black community launched a one-day local boycott of Montgomery’s public bus system. As support for Parks began, the NAACP and other leaders took advantage of the opportunity to draw attention to their cause. They enlisted the help of a relatively unknown preacher, Martin Luther King Jr., to organize and lead a massive resistance movement that would challenge Montgomery’s racist laws (Kohl, 2005). Four days after Parks’ arrest, the citywide Montgomery bus boycott began (Kohl, 2005). It lasted for more than a year. Despite taunting and other forms of harassment from the white community, the boycotters persevered until the federal courts intervened and desegregated the buses on December 21, 1956 (Kohl,…

    • 2510 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peace, “ a state of mutual harmony between people or groups, especially in personal relations”.(Dictionary.com) Is it possible on earth? Unfortunately, no. We have wars, arguments, and bullies all around us. It’s just not possible for our world, and peace is getting out of our grasp. Everyday peace is slowly slipping away. But one man thought he could make peace between people, change their perspective about each other.…

    • 792 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays