“I have a dream right now … that 1 day the small black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with small white boys and tiny white girls. I have a dream these days…. that my 4 small kids will 1 day reside in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character “.
~ Martin Luther King Jr., August 18, 1963 at Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.
If we say the modern American liberal history thrive on the life of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., it will not be untrue. One of the most prominent figures of the twentieth century in civil correct activism who was originally named Michael and later renamed Martin, was born on January 15, 1929 in the capital of Georgia, Atlanta. His father and his grandfather both had been clergymen so eventually Luther also became a pastor of a Baptist church.
Martin possessed brilliance in himself since his childhood. He remained a top performer in his early days of education. In 1952, Martin acquired the degree of Bachelor of Divinity and right after that he began his doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University. He was awarded with PhD in philosophy on June five, 1955.
The young Martin grew up in the segregated South which atmosphere invoked in him the resistance against status quo. His concepts flourished to eliminate racism with the passage of time. The theologian method of Howard Thurman , who was a civil appropriate activist, the non violent resistance attitude of Mahatma Gandhi and the guidance of Bayard Rustin, a renowned social activist of that era have been a great source of inspiration for him to adopt the way of agitating with non violence and peace.
Martin’s very first achievement was leading the black boycott of the Montgomery bus technique in 1955. This protest began when a black lady, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. In the segregated south, black men and women did not have appropriate to sit on the front seats of the public transports. This 382-day boycott eventually led to a adjust in the regulations of the bus company by a Supreme Court choice and such segregation was declared unconstitutional.
Following this Martin activities became far more efficacious and in 1957, he was the major designer of the Southern Leadership Christian Conference (SCLC), which was organized to co-ordinate demonstrations against racial discriminations. During all this period Martin became popular in masses and his enormous public presence became an alarming threat for the authorities. His life became hard and in continuous danger but his eager for civil rights even improved.
In 1963, Martin headed the mass agitations against discriminatory practices in Birmingham, Alabama where the white population have been violently resisting desegregation. When the scenario elevated Martin was arrested and put behind the bars. There he wrote his popular letter which in the end determined the ray of hope and a supply of inspiration in the lives of the black folks of America.
When Martin got release, he participated in a large rally towards Washington DC in which he delivered his well-known speech “I have a Dream” predicting a day when the guarantee of freedom and equality for all would grow to be a reality in the United States of America. Later that year, Martin was declared by Time magazine as “Man of the Year“. In 1964, the Nobel Prize nomination committee selected him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Hence Martin became the youngest person ever to get the Nobel Peace Prize just in the age of 35.
In his final days Martin started to raise his voice against the US invasion in Vietnam and also to protest against the poverty predicament. Maybe now it became indispensable for the diehards of the establishment to accept his existence and the wonderful Martin was assassinated on 4 April 1968 for the duration of a check out to Memphis, Tennessee. Soon after his death the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation constructed his memorial along the Tidal Basin at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The individuals of America celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s day on the third Monday of January every single year and this is a public vacation in the United States of America.
No doubt the life of the excellent Martin Luther King, Jr. is a core example of struggle of racial equality and civil rights and he is one particular of the most crucial figures of contemporary era. His notion of ‘somebodiness’ will often be remembered as a symbol of human dignity and worthiness in the heart of millions of folks around the world.
Read Complete Text of ‘I have a Dream’ Speech by King Martin Luther Jr.
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