Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister, social activist, and advocate for civil rights in America. He was born in Atlanta Georgia on 15th January 1929.
Martin Luther King was born in a family of Southern Black Ministry since his father together with his maternal grandfather were Baptist preachers.
Despite his education and religious background, Martin Luther King Jr. was equally discriminated against for his skin color.
One of Martin Luther’s playmates refused to play with him after they started to attend segregated schools.
Therefore, before joining Morehouse college, Martin Luther went to Connecticut to work on a tobacco farm.
Unlike the South where the blacks were discriminated against, in Connecticut, all races coexisted peacefully. Martin Luther was inspired by Connecticut and decided to fight racial segregation by becoming the leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association in 1955.
The association was formed after Rosa Park was arrested for not surrendering her seat to a white American passenger. Martin Luther stated, “ we have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice”.
Martin Luther began his journey into fame due to his eloquence and inspiring character.
Martin Luther went ahead to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to operate as a Southern national platform whereby African Americans aired their grievances.
In 1959, Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s prime minister invited Martin and his party to discuss peaceful noncompliance since
Martin believed in nonviolent resistance as a weapon to fight for freedom.
Martin advocated for peaceful protests since he believed that the same way Africans were able to break the bondage of colonialism, Negros are also able to break the Jim Crow law on racial segregation. Besides, racial segregation, Martin Luther advocated for basic civil rights of the blacks such as voting and labor rights.
What gave Martin Luther King Jr. international influence?
Martin gained international recognition in 1963 after police used dogs and fire hoses to end his campaign against segregation in Birmingham. Martin was jailed together with school children who were among his supporters. However, they were released and Martin continued with his peaceful campaigns.
Martin Luther continued gaining internationally influential after leading a peaceful protest of 250,000 people in Washington to advocate for blacks’ jobs and freedom in 1963.
Martin delivered an ‘ I Have a Dream’ speech that focused on peace and racial equality. Martin believed that all humans were created equally and they should all be treated the same.
The speech saw Martin awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and declared the ‘Man of the Year’ by Time Magazine in 1964. Besides, King continued to acquire international attention after leading the Selma to Montgomery march, which was allowed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Therefore, in 1965, Congress granted voting rights to Africa Americans by passing the Voting Rights Act.
How did Martin Luther King Jr. die?
Martin was assassinated by James Earl Ray, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years. Ray is believed to be among the radical youths that preferred violent campaigns over peaceful campaigns by Luther. Ray shot Martin on the evening of 4th April 1968, while standing on the balcony of a motel in Memphis. presented Ronald Reagan created a U.S federal holiday, on the first Monday of January to honor Martin Luther.
