Martin Luther King Jr
Author: Charles KellyLuther's life history:
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on fifth January 1929 in Atlanta Georgia U.S.A. He was the second child of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King between his sister, Willie Christine (September 11, 1927) and younger brother, Albert Daniel (nicknamed 'A.D.'; July 30, 1930 – July 21, 1969). Luther was an ardent Christian from an early age since he was brought up in a Christian dominated background. King sang with his church choir at the 1939 Atlanta premiere of the movie Gone with the Wind.
King's civil rights and educational activities:
Martin Luther's involvement in active civil rights activism besides church teachings, were primarily caused by the Jim Crow laws, especially after Rosa parks was arrested for not complying with the laws. The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws enacted in the Southern and Border States of the United States and enforced between 1876 and 1965. They mandated "separate but equal" status for black Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were almost always inferior to those provided to white Americans. Although it was legally required that the facilities should be provided, they were not.
.Besides this king was a member of many other Civic organizations Rights groups. These included: NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee).
Academic achievements:
Besides his work as a church minister Luther was also involved in a great deal of writing. Some of his works include The Measure of a Man, from which the piece what is Man? an attempt to sketch the optimal political, social, and economic structure of society, is derived. He wrote this book in 1959. His "Letter from Birmingham Jail", written in 1963, is a passionate statement of his crusade for justice. Other books to his credit include; Strength to Love (1963),
King also organized and led marches for blacks' right to vote, desegregation, labor rights and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted into United States law with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
After delivering on the mountain top speech, king did not last long since he was assassinated on April 4, 1968, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
Conclusion:
During his lifetime and the legacy he left behind, King has touched the lives of many people. Not only of blacks in America but of all blacks in Diaspora. Due to this king has won many awards both in life and death. Among the awards include: Being the youngest person to win the Nobel peace prize aged only 24, The Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights, presented by the Jamaican Government, posthumously in 1968, the 1971 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for his Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam, the 1977 Presidential Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to King by Jimmy Carter, and a handful of honorary degrees from many American universities and colleges.
References:
Wikipedia the free encyclopedia (2007) retrieved on 23rd April
History of Martin Luther (2007), retrieved on 24th April
Hart ford (2007) the life of Luther king, retrieved on 24th April
Barnes, Catherine A. (1983.) Journey from Jim Crow: The Desegregation of Southern Transit, Columbia University Press, Columbia
The life of Martin Luther Jr (2007) retrieved on 23rd April
AFSCME (2007) I've Been to the Mountaintop" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., retrieved on 24th April
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