Martin Luther King Jr.
"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." (S. King 17) These are the words made famous by a man who was one of the greatest civil rights leaders of our time.
Michael Luther King Jr. was born in the city of Atlanta, Georgia on January 15th, 1929. The second child of Michael Luther King Sr. and Alberta Christine Williams King, Michael was to become one of the most widely respected civil rights leaders in our country's history (#1).
Michael lived a very sheltered childhood in a middle class family. His house was located in a white neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia (Dubovoy 113). Even being sheltered couldn't keep him away from experiencing some racist situations. All of his friends, and even his best friends, were white. One of King's worst racist experiences occurred in first grade. While playing with his friends outside they suddenly turned on him and wouldn't play with him "because we're white and you're colored." (Dubovoy 114) King was devastated and he ran home in tears. It was his grandmother who was there to comfort him, explained to him what racism was, and told him about how African Americans struggle everyday for their freedom (Dubovoy 114).
Michael's father was a self-made businessman, an activist, and a pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. His mother stayed home and took care of him and his siblings. Michael Sr. had his own ways of expressing how he felt about segregation and he had unorthodox methods of protesting against segregation. One time while on his way to register to vote Michael Sr. rode the "whites only" elevator up the building to the registration booth. His father also h...
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...ghts Leaders Author: Sina Dubovoy Publisher: Facts On File Inc. New York, NY 1997
KING 1 The Papers Of Martin Luther King, Jr. Author: Martin Luther King Jr.
Publisher: University Of California Press Berkley, CA 1983
KING 2 The Words Of Martin Luther King, Jr. Author: Coretta Scott King
Publisher: New Market Press
New York, NY 1996
Internet
(#1)http://www.answers.com/topic/martin-luther-king-jr Author: N/A
Publisher: Answers 2006
(#2)http://www.lib.lsu.edu/hum/mlk/srs218.html Author: Mitchell Brown
Publisher: LSU Library 1996
(#3)http://www.thekingcenter.org/mlk/bio.html Author: N/A
Publisher: The King Center 2004
(#4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr. Author: N/A
Publisher: Wikipedia
OTHER
World Book 2000 Author: _______ Publisher: World Book Inc.
Chicago, IL 2000
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15,1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the middle child of three born to Alberta Williams King and Martin Luther King Sr. Martin’s parents were kind and loving and did their best to try to shield their children
Segregation is the act of setting someone apart from other people mainly between the different racial groups without there being a good reason. The African American’s had different privileges than the white people had. They had to do many of their daily activities separated from the white people. In A Lesson Before Dying there were many examples of segregation including that the African American’s had a different courthouse, jail, church, movie theater, Catholic and public school, department stores, bank, dentist, and doctor than the white people. The African American’s stayed downtown and the white people remained uptown. The white people also had nicer and newer building and attractions than the African American’s did. They had newer books and learning tools compared to the African American’s that had books that were falling apart and missing pages and limited amount of supplies for their students. The African American’s were treated as if they were lesser than the white people and they had to hold doors and let them go ahead of them to show that they knew that they were not equal to them and did not have the same rights or privileges as they did just because of their race. In A Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass segregation is shown through both slavery and the free African American’s during this time. It showed that the African American’s were separated from the white people and not
History is indeed made up of significant events which shape our future and outstanding leaders who influence our destiny.
Martin Luther King Jr was born on the 15th of January, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, known as Michael Luther King Jr and was than assassinated on the 4th of April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The world renowned Baptist minister and social activist had a massive impact on the American civil rights movement from the mid 1950’s until his assassination in 1968. Martin Luther King Jr’s up bringing was fairly pleasant and he was brought up with a great education. However, he had his couple of prejudices and traumatic experience through out his life. One of these including one of his friends who was a fair skinned boy who was told to tell King that he was no longer allowed to play with him because the children were now attending
was the master of generating widespread support for the Civil Rights movement. It was his words in this letter that persuaded many, even those not of his race. However, King repeatedly states that he was immensely disappointed by those who did not take a direct stand against wrongdoings:“Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea” ( 970). King believed that the only way to combat the injustices of the world was for everyone to join forces and speak together so that everyone’s voice can be heard, not stand alone as an “outside agitator” that the government can easily ignore or quell. If social change is a necessary action, than people should not act as if they are the sole person to make a difference, as King said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (970). Every injustice in the world affects every person; if people do not take a stand together, then it will continue to tear apart society; people cannot just stand idly by and call out grievances every once in a while. Injustice is “like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light” (King 974). If people just continue to pick at an issue, then it will only become worse. However, if they open it wide
King’s critics wrote that he was “unwise and untimely” in his pursuit of direct action and that he ought to have ‘waited’ for change, King explains that “This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never’”. This short statement hits home especially when followed up with a lengthy paragraph detailing injustices done towards African Americans, including lynching and drowning. In his descriptions King uses familial terms such as ‘mother’ and ‘father’, which are words that typically elicit an emotional response from an audience, to picture ones family in such terrible situations would surely drive home the idea that the African American community cannot ‘wait’ anymore for a freedom that will probably never be given to them
Doctor Martin Luther King was born in January 15th, 1929 in Atlanta Georgia named after his father Martin Luther King Senior. During his adolescence Martin lived under racial segregations where Whites and African Americans were divided. To cope with
The Civil Rights Movement is one of the most important events of the history of the United States. Although many people contributed to this movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., is widely regarded as the leader of the movement for racial equality. Growing up in the Deep South, King saw the injustices of segregation first hand. King’s studies of Mahatma Ghandi teachings influenced his views on effective ways of protesting and achieving equality. Martin Luther King’s view on nonviolence and equality and his enormous effect on the citizens of America makes him the most influential person of the twentieth century.
In 1963, living in Birmingham, Alabama was tough to live in due to how segregated it was. Everything from businesses, diners, libraries, churches, and even bathrooms were segregated. Martin L. King went to Birmingham because he was called by affiliates from the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights contacted him in aiding them on a nonviolent direct action program. He wanted to help because of the injustices there and was said that anything unjust in Birmingham ultimately affects everyone. King and others paraded around Birmingham protesting against this when he was arrested for doing so after a court ordered that Martin L. King could not protest in that area. While in jail, he wrote a letter that later becomes a big part of history during the struggles of segregation.
Born January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia Martin Luther King, JR. was rooted in the African American Baptist church. He was the grandson of Reverend. A.D. Williams, and the son of Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., both pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. “Young M.L.” as he was called, grew up in moderately comfortable circumstances in a city that was not as oppressive of its black residents as some areas of the South, but upheld stubbornly all aspects of racial segregation (American Reformers). Introduced to segregation at a young age he attended two separate elementary schools, one that was segregated, and another, which was just for blacks. He was a good student, skipping the ninth grade, and at fifteen upon completion of his junior year at Booker T. Washington High School, he entered Atlanta’s Morehouse College.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American baptist minister, Civil Rights activist, and humanitarian. He was born on January 25, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia under the name of Michael King, Jr. Both he and his father later adopted the name of the German protestant leader Martin Luther in honor of him. King thrived at Booker T. Washington High School, graduating at the age of 15 before moving on to Morehouse College. For years, he had questioned religion, but in his third year of college, he took a bible class that renewed his faith. King later went on to study at Crozer theological seminary for three years. He met his future wife during his last year of seminary, and went on to receive his Ph.D in 1955 at the age of 25.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 into an America where racism was acceptable. He did not understand why racism was allowed. Young Martin Luther King was exposed to the harsh rules of the Jim Crow laws which kept white people
“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 the content of their character.” This was a speech by Martin Luther King Jr. Even one hundred years after slavery was banned, African Americans were still being treated unfairly. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most famous leaders of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s. The Civil Rights movement was a movement of African Americans who felt that they were not being treated equally. There were also many other famous leaders and inspirations during the Civil Rights Movement. This movement was very important to the freedom of African Americans.
King traveled the country making speeches and inspiring people to become involved in the Civil Rights Movement. He organized non-violent student sit-ins and fought for the rights of the black population. In his speech, he proclaimed a free and better nation of equality and that both races, the blacks and the whites, should join together to achieve common ground and to support each other instead of fighting against one another. King’s vision is that all people should be judged by their “personality and character and not by their color of skin”(‘I Have a Dream”). All the points he made in his speech were so strong that lots of people were interested in his thoughts. He dreamed of a land where the blacks could vote and have a reason to vote and where every citizen would be treated the same and with the same justice.
To begin with, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929.2 His father, Martin Luther King Sr. who was a pastor, and his mother Alberta, who was a schoolteacher who raised both King and his two siblings.3 King was very religious because the three generations of men, starting with his great-grandfather, were all preachers. His younger brother and uncle were also preachers. Religion had a big influence on his life. King grew up in a neighborhood of average citizens. No great wealth or possessions, leaders, or anyone of great stature. His best friends were religious, attended Sunday school together and church which King was considered their second home.