Martin Luther King Jr.: An Inspirational Hero

Martin Luther King Jr. : an Inspirational Hero

Martin Luther King Jr. once said “ In the recesses of my heart, I am fundamentally, a clergyman, a Baptist preacher.” During a time of inequality and a time of need, Martin Luther King Jr. became a leader, a regional sign of hope, strength, and courage. People all around him looked to him as a leader, someone that would help change the way people looked at colored skin forever. King was not liked because he stood up and said that he didn’t like the way colored-skinned people were being treated, but was liked because he had enough courage to take a stand and become a leader who fought for what he thought was right in a peaceful and respectable way. Martin Luther King Jr. is an example of a courageous
hero who will be forever imprinted in our minds. To begin, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia, January 15, 1929. At an early age Martin faced racial criticism and segregation in society (“Martin Luther King, Jr.”). He had attended segregated schools all his life until he was accepted into Morehouse College, where he won a prestigious award and was elected president of his primarily white senior class (“Martin Luther King, Jr.”). After graduating from college King met Coretta Scott in Boston, 1951. The couple wed in 1953 and had 4 children, Yolanda Denise King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King, and Bernice Albertine King (“Martin Luther King, Jr.”).
After Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery bus in 1955, King was elected as the leader of the Montgomery bus boycott.
This led to King becoming the face of hope in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. After leading the Montgomery bus boycott King continued his life but got more involved with society and the social injustice that he knew too well. He was arrested many times during the movement, but was never violent. In 1960 when he joined black college students at a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter (“Martin Luther King, Jr.”). King would then remain an inspirational leader until his
death.
As a result of becoming a well known leader of the movement, King became known not only as a leader, but as a great orator whose work would continue forever even though he wouldn’t. He gave his “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963 (“Martin Luther King, Jr.”). In 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act which outlawed racial segregation. That same year King received The Nobel Peace Prize from Gunnar Jahn on Dec. 10 (“Martin Luther King, Jr.”). Throughout the whole movement King always used peaceful refusal because “King believed that peaceful refusal to obey unjust law was the best way to bring about social change.” On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed on a motel balcony in Memphis Tennessee by James Earl Ray (“Martin Luther King Jr.”). After King’s death Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison and President Johnson declared a national day of mourning; in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill making the third Monday of January Martin Luther King Jr. Day (“Martin Luther King Jr.”).
We will never forget the brave actions that Martin Luther King Jr.
Undertook to gain equality. King faced racial segregation when he was young. But he decided to take a stand against it. When King was accepted into Morehouse and won the prestigious award he proved that colored skinned people could be just as smart or smarter than light skinned people. Martin Luther King Jr. does not go forgotten. Every year millions of people celebrate him and what he did to help gain rights and respect for so many people today. King changed how the world looked by taking a stand and being courageous. The world will never forget his incredible actions that helped end a huge social injustice; his words can be used to give us hope, faith, and
inspiration.