Martin Luther King jr

 Martin Luther King jr

Martin Luther King junior was a minister and a leading activist during the twentieth-century civil rights movement.

 He was born Michael Luther king junior on January fifteenth nineteen twenty-nine in Atlanta and later changed his name to Martin. King grew up steeped in religion and act. 

His father was a reference Havanese are a Baptist church and a local and double ACP later a talented student king skips two grades in high school and entered Morehouse College at age fifteen.

King was sceptical about Christianity but later embraced his fate and entered the seminary while earning a doctorate at Boston University king met a sparring singer correct, Scott, they married in nineteen fifty-three and had four children Yolanda Martin for the third dexter Scott.

 King established himself as a rising star in the civil rights movement after Rosa Park's arrest in Alabama in December nineteen fifty-five for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger and double ACP chose to leave the Montgomery bus boycott.

 The protests ultimately led to a US Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation on public buses in Alabama with civil rights demonstrations emerging all over the country king helped organize the Southern Christian leadership conference to unite them inspired by Mahatma Gandhi 

King advocated nonviolent protest like boycotts incidents King's experience passion for the cost and the position in the community gave him the credentials to become a leader three hundred eighty-one day boycott of the city buses on December twenty-eighth nineteen fifty-six the Supreme Court ruled segregated buses to be unconstitutional this was a major victory for the civil rights cost improved hangs nonviolent protest could yield results.

 King was now the national phase of the civil rights because he was jailed over twenty times was once stabbed in the chest his house was bombed and he suffered relentless personal attacks on himself and his family 

one day I was crying profusely and mom picked us up from school and asked me what was wrong and I said well the kids said dad is a jailbird and she explained to me why he was going to jail that he was really going to jail to make this world a better place for all of god's children well the next day I came back to school with almost a new attitude.

Being proud of what my father was doing it was the spirit of love that he exhibited that transformed a lot of lives we still have the attitude of love used to say I love everybody and every man's brother you may not Love Me but that's your issue, not mine.

 Dr king thousands of feet eloquence to his fearless especially after his home was fired they show their courage that they were prepared to give their life because of freedom.

 This was the home of Martin Luther King junior and his young family from nineteen fifty-four until nineteen sixty.

 King pretty much said you had to do two things in order to be free you have to forgive everybody for everything they've ever done to you and number two you have to lose your fear.

 He was alive Ralph evident this church you have taken up a collection the night the house was bombed September thirtieth nineteen fifty-six.

 May reduce the Williams and Mrs king were in the living room the baby your land that was in the master bedroom sleeping and all of a sudden Mrs king yes and no one's out front so the random Holloway. That last one off seconds later Dr king city to take a full breath from the time he left that church got here and found out that his family was not but in the meantime three to five hundred eighty-three let. 

They have guns and knives and sticks in homes and shovels  Amir that angry crowd kind of exploded in the future your special the cake home and it didn't take him any words to calm those people all the races and the skylight he's homeless people home he who lives by the sword die by the sword and we have to love our white brothers and sisters even on that level go home god will take care of us 

That's exactly what Mark asking us to be calm in the midst of all the term is going on that was one of the greatest opportunities that he took advantage of all right families came worked tirelessly to promote the cause he so strongly believed in and from nineteen fifty seven through nineteen sixty-eight

 he travelled over six million miles delivered twenty-five hundred speeches wrote five books and dozens of articles his hard-working ability to communicate earned him such respect that he currently here of president John F. Kennedy who personally met with the king of all the speeches delivered known has stood the test of time like his famous I have a dream speech symbolically delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in nineteen sixty-three.

In front of two hundred fifty thousand people, both black and white King had become such a force in America that he was named time magazine's man of the year in nineteen sixty-three a nice achievement indeed but it paled in comparison when in nineteen sixty-four he became the youngest man ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize Martin Luther King junior was an American 

he was deeply American and What's striking to me is that he had more confidence and in American democracy the constitution in the principles of fairness and opportunity they nearly all of his critics.

 King put his life on the line for many of these protests a nineteen sixty-five March for voting rights in Selma Alabama turned violent when police viciously attacked the protesters in a conflict of Bloody Sunday.

Ever determine king led another Selma demonstration two days later when the marchers reached a bridge blocked by state troopers they simply knelt down in price. King and other leaders persisted launching a third March days later under the protection of the Alabama National Guard and other Marshalls ordered by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The power of the king's activism compels Johnson to sign the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty-four and the voting rights act of nineteen sixty-five as the Vietnam War intensified. King focuses movement on what he saw as the three major aces of poverty and militarism.

In nineteen sixty-eight king had made many enemies and recognized he might not live to see the fruits of his labour.

Well in Memphis to lead a protest March defending the rights of striking garbage workers in.

 April of nineteen sixty-eight king delivered a rousing speech titled.

 I've been to the mountaintop it would be his last standing on the balcony of his second-floor room at the Lorraine motel in Memphis king was shot and killed.

By James Earl ray king's assassination, however, he could not race his progress or his legacy. We were watching all of us the evening news when it flashed across the screen and on April fourth nineteen sixty-eight that had been shot.

As we went through the procession there is so many thought so we're going through my mind with all the emotions, gosh what we gonna do now.

 It was hard but one of the things that I remember most prominently wore the number of people that came into Atlanta thousands that came to pay respect.

You know when you see all of these people you began to start evaluating while one may be what our father was doing is really very very significant in nineteen eighty-three Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation declaring the third Monday of every January. Martin Luther king junior day a public holiday to celebrate the man and what he stood for.

The modern civil rights era of Martin Luther king is of vital importance not just in history but for today because it shows America tackling a problem that nobody really thought it could handle and it did that by an extraordinary collection of new heroes coming to the fore to move America forward in freedom here 

we are threatened again in American we always will be with very difficult political problems ahead for our economy and the world ahead of us and here's an example from the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties of how America rose to just such a challenge even though most people thought 

we couldn't do it the hardest thing to include when you're trying to do six think stories are this or the small stories of people all men who are not well known historical figures but who made a critical difference of the crippled lady with polio who was a cook in Saint Augustine Florida up who came forward when everyone else was too scared to March for freedom because they've been getting beaten so badly on the streets of of of of Saint Augustine Florida our oldest city in America founded fifteen sixty-five but 

it was very violently segregated and doctor king's people could not find marchers well this lady Georgia read still up in the kitchen and said I will lead the March on my crutches but you have to take me home to change out of this of cooking uniform because I if I'm going to jail I'm going on my Sunday best.

 There are lots of people like that and stories that add up to the cumulative Birmingham March or freedom summer or the Selma March or things that some people aren't familiar with great historical turning points the moments wouldn't have happened without the smaller foot soldiers.

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" Speech 

 On a hot day in August nineteen sixty-three, Dr. Martin Luther king junior delivered a speech that would define the civil rights movement his legacy.

 This, of course, was his I have a dream speech delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for jobs and freedom.

 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 him but by the content of their character I have a.

 Once served as a massive push for economic and political justice for African Americans.

 Held during the year celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation crowds marched on the national to watch over musical performances.

 Dr king a Baptist preacher and prominent civil rights leader was scheduled to speak towards the end of the day his debut on the national stage up until that point king mostly addressed small crowds at black churches rallies are fundraisers.

 This time he would be seen by nearly two hundred and fifty thousand people on the ground as well as millions at home watching on television.

 This was an opportunity to reach a wide audience and persuade the public and the government to take action against racial injustice the night before can work with a close group of advisors to get the speech just right.

 We worked through the night settling on a final draft in the predawn hours of August twenty-eighth.

 Interesting res I have a dream a phrase he used earlier speeches was nowhere to be found in this copy.

 The words when manifest until almost halfway into Dr king's speech when gospel singer Mahalia Jackson who performed earlier in the day called out to him from the sidelines to tell them about the dream.

 King said his prepared remarks aside and improvise the rest crafting the soaring speech that would sear into the minds of millions of Americans we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until jobs.

I'm not and just missed I was divided into two parts the first listed the injustices that African Americans faced segregation police brutality disenfranchisement and discrimination and urge to call to nonviolent action the second launched into Kingstree peace and racial harmony a vision of a future in which people will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character three highlighting king skills as a preacher 

I have a dream was a part sermon and part poetry using rhetorical devices like repetition rhyme in vivid metaphor to drive his point home.

 It was peppered with historic biblical and literary references that moves the crowd this message of struggle and hope became the defining moment not only of king's career but also the civil rights movement both the speech and the March on Washington were credited with helping secure the passage of the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty-four a landmark piece of legislation that ended segregation and discrimination on the basis of race or sex in the workplace also resonated with activists around the globe.

I have a dream the phrase that wasn't meant to final draft appeared in political actions all around the world.

It's considered one of the world's most transformative influential speeches alongside others like Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address Winston Churchill's oil and sweat I have a dream is only one of doctor Martin Luther King junior's but it's none the less one of the happiest to John with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of all nations.