Preview

Martin Luther King Jr Influence

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
937 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Martin Luther King Jr Influence
When we think Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we often think of an African American man that led all African Americans into making history each day he led the civil rights movement. During the 13 years of MLKS leadership from December 1955-April 4 1968, the African American community achieved more progress towards racial equality in America than the previous years had done. King was and still is to this day considered of the most prominent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history!
Dr. Martin Luther King was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta Georgia to Alberta Williams King and Martin Luther King, Sr. and siblings such as an older sister, Willie Christine King, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams
…show more content…
was a very influential man on King's life. He was a Baptist minister and was in charge of the children's moral and religious education. To Mr. King, his father was a model of courage and compassion and strength. King Sr. "had led a successful campaign to equalize the salaries of white and black teachers in Atlanta". He worked hard and well for the rights of people and taught his son to do it as well. King Jr. knew from a young age that people didn't have the same rights and he couldn't understand the reason as to why. He tried to comprehend it, but he couldn't see how a man could be so distasteful to another man so much just because of the color of his skin. King once said, "I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character". He wanted to open people’s eyes and see each other as being people. Not to be judged on their race, religion, gender, age or anything except their character and what they are willing to do to change things in the world. "Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness." -Martin Luther King Jr. . He was very passionate and he wanted others to be as well.
King was taught when he was very young how people were segregated. He had many white friends before he started school, but when school started he was no longer allowed to see hear or play with them. The white parents did not want their sons playing

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr was born January 15, 1929 to the name of Michael Luther King Jr, in Atlanta, Georgia. King came from a comfortable middle class family living on the street known as “African American wall street” for the first twelve years of his life. The first time he ever experienced a form of prejudice was at the age of six when one of his Caucasian playmates told him that his parents stated they could no longer be friends. One particular summer King spent time on a tobacco farm in Connecticut. That visit was the first time he had ever experienced race relations that did not involve the south. He was taken back at how the different races were involved in each other’s everyday life without problems. This experience gave King a glimpse of what life could be like.…

    • 2449 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr.

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Martin Luther King is a well known, inspiring man, to all cultures of the world. King was and still is one of the most influential heroes. King 's views and beliefs, which were similar to the non-violent ideas of Gandhi, helped African Americans through the 50 's and 60 's obtain the rights and liberties that was their birth right. King faced many obstacles on his quest like jail and even assassination attempts. Despite these obstacles, he became a successful leader during the Civil Rights Movement, and even after his death, by guiding African Americans in a non-violent and positive direction for the fight to secure rights and equality. These reasons make Martin Luther King worthy enough of the title "hero."…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “One of the most memorable highlights of King’s career was a speech delivered on August 28, 1963”(CBN). King believed in something more than just skin color. He believed one day people would finally see that we’re not so different and that it’s okay to use the same places and to be treated equal. King decided to devote most his time to make that happen. He participated in walks, wrote and performed speeches, etc. King even won a Nobel Peace Prize for all of his work he put into making things happen.…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    tried to correct in the corrupt society in the early 1960’s. He wanted to make the United States one community with all of its many faces. Jr. had become very tired of these laws called the Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow Laws were segregation laws that took rights away from black people and gave more rights to white people. Martin Luther King Jr. was a powerful speaker and a great motivator. Jr. learned a lot from his experiences growing up. These rough times gave him the guts and the will to stand up for what he believes in. No matter what Martin Luther was always motivated to help the cause for the right thing. In martin Luther King Jr. speech “I Have A Dream” King declared that he and the colored men and women deserve to not be crippled with their civil rights and it has been one hundred years that they have been living under these…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia.When he was younger he did not quite understand why blacks and whites were different. As he grew up he made everyone equal in his mind. King was an inspiration even when he was younger to help his community. For example, he was a minister and pastor in many churches because of his belief in God, he fought against racial prejudice, and became a sharecropper family in a poor farming community. King told us that…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    ‘Nothing mattered more to king than being an outstanding preacher. Martin Luther King had an exceptional personal some state. He was a very proud and an outspoken man. He had been ‘conditioned’ from the mere age of nine and ordained in a black church for later life purposes (1). At a young age racism surrounded him and was affected first hand. He was abused by a white mill owner purely on the colour of his skin. He also witnessed other black people suffering from violence when he saw a white mob attack and barbarically murder a black man. King was a very opinionated person and became a lead figure head publicly known on a national scale. This came to be evident from 1955 onwards when he represented the Montgomery bus boycott. However prior to this boycott in 1955, in 1954 he began to work as a pastor in Montgomery. King had a very likeable personality and rarely missed the opportunity to publicly speak in front of large crowds. He even flagged a marathon from Selma to Montgomery just to address a crowd regarding the civil rights movement and his feelings representative of many others. It is clear to see that Martin Luther King’s aims were to gain equality for black people. He wanted to draw attention to the racial inequality on a national level and more importantly challenge the status quo with ruthless determination that a majority of black people had accepted but the questions remains how pivotal was his presence to the success of the movement. This determination can be portrayed in some of his actions for example he would rather have faced a jail sentence rather than a ten dollar fine not due to money but with regards to principle. Martin Luther King is key to the civil rights movement as he could be seen by some as a role model and setting the principles for the early stage of the movement while there was little progress. Many have commonly noticed his methods in tackling issues…

    • 2318 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the leaders of the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 50s and 60s; he additionally served as a preacher, and an activist. Because Dr. King grew up in America, the political injustices, racism, and exploitation that blacks were exposed to lead to an inevitable passion about what he was preaching for – freedom and…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. He was born to Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. King Jr. had an older sister, Willie Christine King, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King. Growing up in Atlanta, King attended Booker T. Washington High School. A very intelligent student, he skipped both the 9th and the 12th grade and entered Morehouse College at fifteen without graduating from high school. In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology, and enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary. He graduated from Crozer with a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951.…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dr. King was an African American who wanted each and every human being to be treated equal. He did not care what color you were because in his eyes color did not matter. Dr. King was born in Atlanta, Georgia and grew up attending Ebenezer Baptist Church. While at Ebenezer he served as a pastor from 1914-1931. King was a very educated man which shows by him graduating high school at the young age of fifteen. He later went on and graduated from Moore House College.…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. was exposed to the effects of racism at an early age. He was raised in a house with his brother and sister, his mother Alberta Williams King, and his father Martin Luther King Sr., a missionary for their local Baptist church. For the King’s the church was a safe haven from the racism…

    • 3126 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King Jr. is a name that everyone in America now a days should recognize who he was and some of the things he did. The mid 1900’s were not the brightness for both blacks or whites in the country as segregation was still around but, 1950’s to 1960’s those who were segregated were starting to open their eyes and release their thoughts. Martin Luther King Jr. was considered the leader of these efforts and this did not go down unpunished. He was arrested numerous times however he was showing no fear during these arrests. He would write letters meant for whoever would read it such as the one from Birmingham Alabama Jail and it had purpose to it. The purpose which was the…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dr. King was a great man he marched for freedom, he protested peacefully so that the black could vote, and most importantly he had a dream that the nation will rise up to its true meaning. He also had a dream that his 4 kids would not be judged by their color but by their character. He really wanted freedom to ring out all across the world. During the march they mad many mistakes by using violence. Jimmie Lee Jackson was killed in a restaurant. They wanted to have a war with major. Dr. King led a march against Governor. George C. Wallace that included 1/3 whites. Later that night a priest was killed for marching with the blacks. 5months later J.L.B signed the voting rights act of 1965. Martin L. King led the American Civil Rights Movement for…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King was a peaceful leader for African American civil rights movement. “I have a dream that one day right there in Alabama little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Dr King's Dream

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Dr.King’s dream was influenced by his childhood. He was taught to treat others kindly and with respect. Because of segregation, Martin was separated from several of his friends, but he worked to change things, to make his dream reality. His dream that his children would one day be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Martin Luther King was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. King Jr was raised in a religious Christian background being the son of a Pastor. His father, Martin Luther King Sr. Served as pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Martin lived in an era where racial segregation was rampant throughout the United States. Numerous groups in our uncertain times, continue to face racism and discrimination, although in the mid-nineteen hundreds, disconnected race and other various groups were at a peak that would seem unimaginable for people of our time today. Martin went to segregated grade schools where he was exposed to minute levels of racism. (The life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.) He graduated from…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays