Martin Luther King King

The struggle for equality in America cannot go unmentioned without Martin Luther King Jr. As a pastor, Martin Luther King caught the eye of many Black Americans with his nonviolent means of fighting for the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Unlike Malcolm x who used violent means as a way of achieving equality between the white and the black race in America, Martin Luther King cherished nonviolent demonstrations and bus boycotts to cause pain to the US economy so that the rights of the black people are respected. King eventually managed to win the struggle in Court in the case of Brown V Board of Education where the court abolished the idea ‘similar but different’ treatment. The petitioner, a black American, sued the Board of Education for what appeared as segregation against the black people who were forced to study in separate schools specially made for Black American. The court deemed such a provision in contravention with the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America which protected equal rights and nondiscrimination. Martin Luther King, therefore, is a respectable figure in the fight for the black Americans liberation in America.

The Early Life of Martin Luther King

King was born in the year 1929 to Martin Luther King Snr. And Alberta Williams King in Georgia, United States of America. He cherished religious beliefs right from childhood having come from a family with a religious background. Martin Luther King Snr. Was a pastor just like his son Martin Luther King Junior would later become. King spent a lot of his early years in a place known as Sweet Auburn Neighborhood a place inhabited by a majority of the most powerful Negros. Just like other Negros, Martin Luther King Jr. attended schools specifically meant for Africans. The setup of these schools is what later on shaped Martin Luther King to fight the segregation on a racial basis in all public and private schools. At fifteen years, Martin Luther King Jnr. Attended the Morehouse College and pursued Bachelors degrees in both Law and Medicine. He left pursuing his medical ambition and went to practice law in the human rights field as a defender of equal rights in the United States of America. He again went back to school after earning his law and medicine degrees to pursue a degree in Theology. King got a lot of knowledge from the Biblical Training where he sought to use nonviolent means in the pursuit of his dream to achieve equality in the United States of America. He got awarded a doctorate in theology in the year 1953 from Boston College. King gave birth to four children through his wife Coretta whom he married in 1953, the same year he acquired his doctorate in theology.

Martin Luther Kings Call for a Bus Boycott

Martin Luther Kings struggle for equality through a Bus Boycott occurred in the year 1954 where he had settled with his family in Montgomery, which matured into a courts decision in the case of Brown V Board of Education. The boycott began by a black by the name of Rosa taking up a place meant for the whites in Montgomery Bus and refusing to arise for a white man to sit. The act led to his apprehension by the police for disobeying the law. A boycott initiated by Martin Luther King Jr and other human rights activists took place later that year in Montgomery. The boycott that went on for about 381 days paralyzed the transport sector in the United States of America and sent a signal about the need for equality and discrimination in America. Martin Luther King Jr. got selected by his fellow activists as the official speaker of the black people due to his fluent oratory skills. The court, later on, heard the cries of King and in a decision of the Supreme Court later in the ear 1956, discrimination in busses was quashed. The decision marked a new beginning for both the whites and blacks to sit anywhere on the bus. After this achievement, Martin Luther King Jr. became a wanted man for the prominent white men, who sought to eliminate him and his family. His home and family got attacked by a bomb. Together with his fellow Christian ministers, Martin Luther King Junior later on assisted form a movement dubbed the Sothern Christian Leadership Conference a group motivated by the need to achieve equality and non-discrimination using nonviolent means.

The Freedom March by Martin Luther King

Having been appointed the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King used the opportunity to meet other like-minded people like the Mahatma Gandhi followers to champion for his nonviolence protest movements. He widely gave speeches and public lectures on the need for the fight for equality without damage. His life being in danger, he migrated back to his fathers home in Georgia a place known as Atlanta, but that doesnt mean he gave up the fight. The 1960s saw Martin Luther King advocate for the Civil Rights movement. A lot of peaceful protests challenging segregation in all sectors in America took place leading to the arrest of Martin Luther King Junior in the year 1863. Again while in prison, King continued his pursuit of equality. He started another campaign termed Letter from the Birmingham Jail as a show of resistance to the intimidation of the fighters for non-discrimination and non-segregation. After his release, Martin Luther King Jr. organized protests in Washington to lament over the increasing injustices against the Negroes. The Demonstrations yielded the passage of the Civil Rights Act in the year 1964 an event that led him to give a great speech termed I have a dream. His efforts and dedication won him two awards in that year. The 1964 man of the year award by the Times Magazine and the Nobel peace prize. No other person at his age has ever received such a price. King through his Christian movement together with other students who championed for the non-violence protests embarked on a campaign to sensitize registration of voters for President Johnson. Information about the campaign circulated widely around the globe and Throughout the United States of America. Eventually Johnson Won as the president of the United States of America leading to the passage of the Voting rights Act. The intention of the Act was to grant the Blacks the voting power that had been taken away from them for a very long time.

The Assassination of King and His Last Moments

In the late 1960s, the nonviolent protests by King were rejected by a more violent group that took over from his campaign. The fight for freedom was to be later on made by Carmichael and King concentrated on the eradication of poverty in the United States of America. King died on a bullet while aiding a workers protest in Memphis sending the whole country into mourning. A national holiday had to culminate by the order of the then president, Johnson. The Culprit, who shot King dead, pleaded guilty but, later on, withdrew his statement. In 1983, Ronald Reagan assented to law a bill advocating for the recognition of King through a national holiday. The first celebration took place in 1986.

Conclusion

Indeed, Martin Luther Kings History presents a genuine legend in the history of the United States of America. His nonviolent protests leading to the culmination of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act and the elimination of segregation in buses and schools go down in history as memorable moments for the Negro liberation.