essay on martin luther king junior

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Lesson 1: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nonviolent Resistance

Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mathew Ahmann in a crowd.)

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

"I have consistently preached that nonviolence demands that the means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek." ⁠—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963

These words were spoken by Martin Luther King, Jr. during his ten-day jail term for violating a court injunction against any "parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing" in Birmingham. He came to Alabama's largest city to lead an Easter weekend protest and boycott of downtown stores as a way of forcing white city leaders to negotiate a settlement of black citizens' grievances. King wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" in response to a public statement by eight white clergymen appealing to the local black population to use the courts and not the streets to secure civil rights. The clergymen counseled "law and order and common sense," not demonstrations that "incite to hatred and violence," as the most prudent means to promote justice. This criticism of King was elaborated the following year by a fellow Baptist minister, Joseph H. Jackson (president of the National Baptist Convention from 1953–1982), who delivered a speech counseling blacks to reject "direct confrontation" and "stick to law and order."

By examining King's famous essay in defense of nonviolent protest, along with two significant criticisms of his direct action campaign, this lesson will help students assess various alternatives for securing civil rights for black Americans in a self-governing society.

Guiding Questions

To what extent was King's nonviolent resistance to segregation laws the best means of securing civil rights for black Americans in the 1960s?  

Learning Objectives

Explain Martin Luther King, Jr.'s concept of nonviolent resistance and the role of civil disobedience within it.

Analyze the concerns regarding King's intervention in Birmingham and King's responses to those concerns.

Evaluate the arguments made against King's protest methods and the alternatives recommended.

Evaluate the arguments regarding non-violence and the effect these strategies had on civil rights in the United States.

Lesson Plan Details

If students know anything about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and '60s, it will probably be Martin Luther King, Jr.'s role in leading the Movement along the path of nonviolent resistance against racial segregation. Most likely, they will have seen or read his "I Have a Dream" speech (August 28, 1963), delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, which closes with the famous line, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" Next to the "I Have a Dream" speech, King's most famous writing is his "Letter from Birmingham Jail." He began writing the lengthy essay while jailed over Easter weekend in 1963. He eventually arranged its publication as part of a public relations strategy to bring national attention to the struggle for civil rights in the South.

The Birmingham campaign of March and April 1963 followed a less successful protest the previous year in Albany, Georgia. Albany police chief Laurie Pritchett did not want to draw media attention to the Albany protest led by King and local citizens. He dispersed jailed protesters to surrounding jails to avoid overcrowding, and had local city officials post bail for King any time he got arrested. King eventually left Albany in August 1962 when the protest movement stalled for months and when the city reneged on its promise to desegregate bus and train stations. Discouraged by the Movement's inability to provoke a reaction that would precipitate change, King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference decided to accept the invitation of Birmingham activist Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth to agitate for change there. In Birmingham they devised a new strategy called "Project C" (for "confrontation").

Birmingham was Alabama's largest city, but its 40 percent black population suffered stark inequities in education, employment, and income. In 1961, when Freedom Riders were mobbed in the city bus terminal, Birmingham drew unwelcome national attention. Moreover, recent years saw so many bombings in its black neighborhoods that went unsolved that the city earned the nickname "Bombingham." In 1962, Birmingham even closed public parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, and golf courses to avoid federal court orders to desegregate. Nevertheless, the fight to hold onto segregationist practices began to wear on some whites; the question remained, how best to address the concerns of local black citizens?

When eight white clergymen (Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish) learned of King's plans to stage mass protests in Birmingham during the Easter season in 1963, they published a statement voicing disagreement with King's attempt to reform the segregated city. It appeared in the Birmingham News on Good Friday, the very day King was jailed for violating the injunction against marching. The white clergymen complained that local black citizens were being "directed and led in part by outsiders" to engage in demonstrations that were "unwise and untimely." The prudence of the Movement's actions in Birmingham was also called into question by local merchants who believed the new city government and mayor—replacing the staunch segregationist Eugene "Bull" Connor (the commissioner of public safety who later employed fire hoses and police dogs against protesters, many of whom were high school and college students)—would offer a new opportunity to address black concerns. Even the Justice Department under President John F. Kennedy urged King to leave Birmingham. The clergymen advised locals to follow "the principles of law and order and common sense," to engage in patient negotiation, and, if necessary, seek redress in the courts. They called street protests and economic boycotts "extreme measures" and, thus, saw them as imprudent means of redressing grievances. Finally, if peaceful protests sparked hatred and riots, they would hold the protesters responsible for the violence that ensued.

In spite of the court injunction, King went ahead with his protest march on Good Friday, and was promptly arrested, along with his close friend and fellow Baptist preacher Ralph Abernathy and fifty-two other protestors. King served his jail sentence in solitary confinement, but soon began reading press reports of the Birmingham campaign in newspapers smuggled into his cell by his lawyer. Both local and national media expressed greater optimism for reform from the new city government and lesser sympathy for King and his nonviolent, direct action campaign. But what irked him most was the criticism from the Birmingham clergymen, most of whom had actually criticized Governor George Wallace's inauguration proclamation of "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!" So King began to write, using the margins of the Birmingham News .

King's reply to the clergymen's public letter of complaint grew to almost 7,000 words, and presented a detailed response to the criticisms of his fellow men of the cloth. Employing theological and philosophical arguments, as well as reflections on American and world history, King defended the legitimacy of his intervention to desegregate Birmingham. He explained how the nonviolent movement employed peaceful mass protest and even civil disobedience to bring pressure to bear on the social and political status quo. Given that the immediate audience of his letter were religious leaders, his letter made numerous references to biblical and historical events and figures they might find persuasive. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" was a plea for a more robust and relevant participation of white church leaders (and members) in the affairs of this world, starting with the just complaints of their black neighbors and fellow Christians.

The following year, a longstanding critic* of King delivered an address that focused on an alternative way for black Americans to secure progress in civil rights. Dr. Joseph H. Jackson, president of the National Baptist Convention, was known as "the black pope" because of his leadership of the largest religious organization of blacks in the United States. Jackson thought King's civil disobedience and nonviolent but confrontational methods undermined the very rule of law that black Americans desperately needed. Appealing to the historic contribution of blacks to the development and prosperity of America, Jackson counseled that less controversial and provocative means should be adopted in the struggle for civil rights. He also encouraged them not to neglect their "ability, talent, genius, and capacity" in efforts of self-help and self-improvement. Citing the 1954 Brown v. Board decision and 1964 Civil Rights Act as important signs of progress and hope for black Americans, Jackson argued that to advance in America, blacks had to work with and not against the structures and ideals of the nation.

* In 1961, after failing to oust Jackson from the presidency of the National Baptist Convention, King broke away from the organization and founded a rival group, the Progressive National Baptist Convention. In 1967, Jackson would publish Unholy Shadows and Freedom's Holy Light , which reaffirmed his "law and order' approach to the civil rights struggle.

NCSS. D1.2.6-8. Explain points of agreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a compelling question. NCSS. D1.3.6-8. Explain points of agreement experts have about interpretations and applications of disciplinary concepts and ideas associated with a supporting question. NCSS. D2.Civ.2.9-12. Analyze the role of citizens in the U.S. political system, with attention to various theories of democracy, changes in Americans’ participation over time, and alternative models from other countries, past and present.  NCSS. D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.  NCSS.  D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.  NCSS.  D2.His.3.9-12. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.  NCSS. D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras. NCSS.  D3.1.9-12. Gather relevant information from multiple sources representing a wide range of views while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and the public statement of the white Birmingham clergymen make a natural pairing for a discussion of the pros and cons of nonviolent resistance. However, because the "Letter to Martin Luther King from a Group of Clergymen" is a relatively short document compared with King's 6,800-word reply, this lesson includes a longer statement critical of King's campaign of mass protest and civil disobedience: Joseph H. Jackson's 1964 Address to the National Baptist Convention.

This lesson contains written primary source documents, photographs, sound recordings, and worksheets, available both online and in the Text Document that accompanies this lesson. Students can read and analyze source materials entirely online, or do some of the work online and some in class from printed copies.

Read over the lesson. Bookmark the websites that you will use. If students will be working from printed copies in class, download the documents from the Text Document and duplicate as many copies as you will need. If students need practice in analyzing primary source documents, excellent resource materials are available at the EDSITEment-reviewed Learning Page of the Library of Congress . Helpful Document Analysis Worksheets may be found at the Educator Resources site of the National Archives .

Activity 1. Understanding the Primary Sources: What Do They Tell You?

This activity is arranged around the following primary sources:

• Birmingham's Racial Segregation Ordinances (1951)
• " Letter to Martin Luther King from a Group of Clergymen " (April 12, 1963)
• Audio recording of Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream" (August 28, 1963)
• Martin Luther King, Jr., " Letter from Birmingham Jail " (April 16, 1963)
• Photograph of fire hoses turned against Birmingham demonstrators
• Joseph H. Jackson, "Annual Address to the National Baptist Convention" (September 10, 1964)
• Photograph of voter registration in Mississippi
• In the video clip below, Dr. King discusses the place of love within his philosophy of non-violence:

In addition to primary source documents, this activity contains questions that will help students interpret the content. The questions are included below for review and are also found on pages 5, 11–12, and 17–18 of the Text Document .

Divide the class into small groups in which they will begin working on the questions together, and then assign the unfinished questions for homework.

To provide some background on the sort of discrimination faced by African-Americans in Birmingham (as well as in most of the South), have students read Sections 369, 597, 359, and 1413 of the Birmingham Segregation Ordinances (1951) at the EDSITEment-reviewed site "American Studies at the University of Virginia ." The relevant sections from the 1951 Ordinances, found on pages 1–2 of the Text Document , can also be printed out and distributed to students.

Then have students read the " Letter to Martin Luther King from a Group of Clergymen " (April 12, 1963) and answer the questions that follow (also available in worksheet form on page 5 of the Text Document ). A link to the text of the "Letter to Martin Luther King" can be found at the EDSITEment-reviewed site " Teaching American History ." The letter is also included in the Text Document on pages 3–4 , and can be printed out for student use.

• In 1963, what two recommendations did a group of Alabama clergymen propose to resolve the racial conflict in Birmingham, Alabama?
• Identify two or three criticisms they gave of the political demonstrations and protests taking place in Birmingham.
• What praise did they give to "local news media and law enforcement officials" for their conduct during the demonstrations?

Next, for an introduction to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s stirring rhetoric, have students listen to a brief excerpt from his " I Have a Dream " speech. Go to the EDSITEment-reviewed site "Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project: Popular Requests" and click the Quicktime or Realmedia link for a three-minute, audio excerpt from " March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom ."

Next have students read King's reply to the Alabama clergymen, known as the " Letter from Birmingham Jail ," and answer the questions that follow below (available in worksheet form on pages 11–12 of the Text Document ). A link to the full text of King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" can be found at the EDSITEment-reviewed site " Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project ." For purposes of this lesson, use the excerpts from the essay, located on pages 6–10 of the Text Document .

• Does King consider himself an "outsider" by staging a civil rights protest in Birmingham? List three reasons he gives in response to this criticism.
• List and explain the four-step process King outlines for their nonviolent campaign. [Note: for an example of the nonviolent mindset King wanted to instill in his protest movement, have students read the Commitment Card that participants were asked to sign in preparation for the protest, which is located at the " Teaching American History " site
• If King admits that breaking laws in order to change them is "a legitimate concern," how does he still justify civil disobedience? List two reasons for his defense of civil disobedience, and explain how King thought a law can be disobeyed without leading to anarchy
• How does King's appeal to "eternal and natural law" help him examine human laws?
• Explain why King thinks the tension stirred up by his protest movement promotes social and political reform.
• How does King respond to the charge that he is an extremist? Whom does he identify as the real extremists?
• Why is King hopeful about the prospects for equal rights for black Americans? Give specific examples and reasons he mentions to support your answer.
• What is King's response to the clergymen's approval of how the police kept order during the demonstrations?

For a visual image of a police response to nonviolent resistance, described in King's letter, have students access online the famous Charles Moore photograph of a water hydrant being turned against Birmingham demonstrators. This photograph can be found at a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed " American Studies of the University of Virginia ." (To view additional photographs in the Charles Moore collection, scroll down to Section VIII, Extending the Lesson, and click on the link provided there.)

Finally, have students read Joseph H. Jackson's "Annual Address to the National Baptist Convention" (September 10, 1964) and answer the questions that follow ( available on pages 17–18 of the Text Document ). A link to the full text of Jackson's "Annual Address to the National Baptist Convention " can be found at Teaching American History . For a shorter version (about half the length), print out and distribute an excerpted version on pages 13–16 of the Text Document .

• Why does Jackson think "street marches, boycotts, and picket lines" on behalf of civil rights are counterproductive? How does his view of America, and especially the role of black Americans in its development, inform his reaction to the mass protest movement?
• Why does Jackson disagree with civil disobedience, which he calls "open opposition to the laws of the land"?
• How do his references to Thurgood Marshall's victory in the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 strengthen his argument? Note: Students can find helpful background on the 1954 Brown decision at " Teaching With Documents: Documents Related to Brown v. Board of Education " at the EDSITEment-reviewed National Archives Education site. For a brief explanation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, students can read " Congress and the Civil Rights Act " at the EDSITEment-reviewed National Archives site.
• What recommendations does he make to black Americans for securing equal rights?
• Why does he think that direct confrontation is not likely to be successful?

For a visual image of the pursuit of civil rights by following principles of law and order, have students access online a Charles Moore photograph of the registering of black voters in Mississippi. This photograph can be found at Powerful Days in Black and White , linked from the EDSITEment-reviewed " American Studies of the University of Virginia ." (To view additional photographs in the Charles Moore collection, scroll down to Extending the Lesson, and click on the link provided there.)

Activity 2. Student Debate: "Law and Order" or "Nonviolent Resistance"?

Divide students into two teams for a debate based on the sources they studied in the previous activity. One team will represent King's nonviolent resistance and the other team will represent the clergymen's and Jackson's "law and order" position. Inform students at the outset that they will be given participation points for listening, helping to develop team arguments, and questioning/dialoguing with the opposing side.

Arrange desks so that each team faces the other. Each team chooses three speakers, one to make the main points of the argument (principal speaker), one to focus attention on one or two key points (second speaker), and one to summarize the argument (summarizer).

Armed with their answers to the questions from Activity 1, each side should spend one 45-minute class period developing arguments and preparing speakers. If the class is too large to make this feasible, have each side divide into three groups, with one speaker in each group. Each small group will then help its speaker to develop his or her argument.

During the following class session give the principal speaker for each side an allotted amount of time to make his or her speech. Do the same for the second speakers (usually less time than the first). Then throw the debate open so that team members from each side can question or make comments to the other side. Alternate this process back and forth several times, as interest requires or time permits, so that each side has an equal chance to state its views. The summarizer concludes the debate by making the team's best case, using the earlier input from his team and the strongest points of the team's two speakers and the open debate.

Allow students additional discussion time, if needed and time permits. Tell them that they will be making a decision about which side of the debate they found more persuasive. Point out that it is quite possible to argue from one perspective in the debate, but to actually hold the opposing view as a matter of preference, principle, or belief.

Assessment 1. To Obey the Laws of the Land or To Resist Them Peacefully—That Is Your Question!

Instruct students to put themselves in the position of someone who must decide which course of action to take: the path of following "law and order" or the path of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience.

• Have students evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments of each side. This can be done in paragraph form, or by filling the worksheet located on pages 19–20 of the Text Document . You may want to have students fill out this form before and during the debate in Section VI, Activity 2.
• Ask students to make a decision: Which route will they take? Obedience to the laws of the land (through the courts and the legislature), or nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience? Ask for a one- or two-paragraph essay giving reasons for their choice. They should justify their decision in light of their understanding of the issue.

Assessment 2. Evaluate, Reflect, Predict

Instruct students to give a one- or two-paragraph answer to each of the following questions:

• Give your evaluation of the strongest argument of each viewpoint and justify your choice.
• Do you think evidence shows that King's viewpoint carried the day? Why or why not?
• Predict what might have happened in the struggle for civil rights if Jackson's "law and order" argument had prevailed, and create a scenario of possible events. If time permits, ask for volunteers to read their answers to this question to spark class discussion of their answers.

Photographs

The Civil Rights Movement was widely photographed by photojournalists, and these photos, printed in the media, in turn acted as a catalyst to propel the Movement forward and give it more favorable reception in the realm of public opinion. One such group of photographs is the Charles Moor Collection, located at " Powerful Days in Black and White ," linked from the EDSITEment-reviewed American Studies at the University of Virginia site. Students may view additional photographs capturing images of segregated public places at the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Photographers site, linked from the EDSITEment-reviewed American Memory site at the Library of Congress.

More Information on Birmingham and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Students may learn more about Martin Luther King, Jr., and the site of the 1963 Birmingham protest, by visiting the following EDSITEment-reviewed National Park Service sites:

• Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site , Georgia
• West Park (Kelly Ingram Park) , Birmingham, Alabama

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• Photographs of Signs Enforcing Racial Discrimination —Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information
• American Studies at the University of Virginia
• Charles Moore Photographs
• Birmingham's Racial Segregation Ordinances
• Letter from Birmingham Jail
• Documents Related to Brown v. Board of Education
• Congress and the Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Congress and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (description)
• Martin Luther King, Jr. , National Historic Site, Georgia
• West Park (Kelly Ingram Park), Birmingham, Alabama
• Joseph H. Jackson, Annual Address to the National Baptist Convention (September 10, 1964)
• Martin Luther King Jr., Commitment Card (1963)
• Letter to Martin Luther King (April 12, 1963)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project : This NEH supported project brings together speeches, letters, curriculum, and other resources about the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Materials & Media

Martin luther king, jr. and nonviolent resistance: worksheet 1, related on edsitement, lesson 2: black separatism or the beloved community malcolm x and martin luther king, jr., dr. king's dream, i have a dream: the vision of martin luther king, jr., "sí, se puede": chávez, huerta, and the ufw.

The Early Beginnings of Martin Luther King Jr.

This essay is about the early life of Martin Luther King Jr., focusing on his childhood in Atlanta, Georgia. Born on January 15, 1929, King grew up in a supportive family and community, with his father serving as a prominent pastor and his mother as an educator. His early experiences with racism, such as losing a white friend due to segregation, and his exposure to social justice discussions at home, profoundly influenced him. Education and religious teachings also played crucial roles in shaping his character and values. These formative experiences laid the foundation for King’s future work in the civil rights movement and his philosophy of nonviolent resistance.

How it works

The life of Martin Luther King Jr. is often examined through the lens of his monumental achievements in the civil rights movement, but his early beginnings as a baby in Atlanta, Georgia, are equally significant in understanding his later impact on society. Born on January 15, 1929, Michael King Jr. (his name would later be changed to Martin) came into a world that was deeply segregated and fraught with racial tensions. His family environment, community, and the socio-political context of the time played crucial roles in shaping the man who would become a beacon for justice and equality.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born to Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. His father was a prominent figure in the African-American community, serving as the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, a position that Martin Jr. would eventually hold. From a young age, King was exposed to the teachings of the Bible and the principles of faith, which would later become cornerstones of his philosophy of nonviolent resistance. His mother, Alberta, was an accomplished musician and a graduate of Spelman College, and she instilled in him the values of education and social responsibility.

Growing up in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood of Atlanta, King was surrounded by a community that, despite the pervasive segregation, was vibrant and nurturing. This environment provided him with a strong sense of identity and purpose. The King’s home was often a hub of activity, frequented by leaders and activists who would discuss the pressing issues of the day. These interactions undoubtedly influenced young Martin, giving him a front-row seat to the struggles and aspirations of the African-American community.

One of the defining moments of King’s early life occurred when he was just six years old. He lost his closest friend because the friend’s parents would no longer allow their white son to play with a black child. This painful experience exposed King to the harsh realities of racism and segregation, leaving a lasting impression on him. It was one of the first times he confronted the profound injustice that would later drive his lifelong quest for equality.

Education played a critical role in King’s development from an early age. He attended the Yonge Street Elementary School in Atlanta, where he quickly demonstrated his intellectual capabilities. His parents encouraged a love for learning, and his father’s position in the church provided him with numerous opportunities to engage with educational and religious materials. This early academic foundation was crucial in shaping his analytical skills and his ability to articulate complex ideas, which would become vital tools in his activism.

In addition to his intellectual upbringing, King’s early life was marked by a strong sense of moral and ethical guidance. His father, often referred to as “Daddy King,” was a powerful advocate for social justice and equality. He led by example, participating in civil rights activities and speaking out against injustices from the pulpit. These actions provided a blueprint for young Martin, who absorbed these lessons and would later apply them on a national stage.

King’s early exposure to the principles of Christianity also deeply influenced his approach to social change. The teachings of Jesus Christ, particularly the emphasis on love, compassion, and forgiveness, resonated with him and became integral to his philosophy of nonviolent resistance. This religious foundation, coupled with his personal experiences of discrimination, fueled his passion for civil rights and his unwavering commitment to justice.

As we reflect on the early years of Martin Luther King Jr., it becomes clear that his childhood experiences, family background, and community environment were instrumental in shaping his character and values. The combination of intellectual stimulation, moral guidance, and firsthand experiences with racial injustice equipped him with the tools and the determination to lead a movement that would transform the fabric of American society. Understanding these early influences allows us to appreciate more fully the depth of King’s vision and the enduring legacy he left behind.

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James Lawson Jr., civil rights leader who advocated for nonviolent protest, dies at 95

LOS ANGELES — The Rev. James Lawson Jr., an apostle of nonviolent protest who schooled activists to withstand brutal reactions from white authorities as the Civil Rights Movement gained traction, has died, his family said Monday. He was 95.

His family said Lawson died on Sunday after a short illness in Los Angeles, where he spent decades working as a pastor, labor movement organizer and university professor.

Lawson was a close adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who called him “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.”

Lawson met King in 1957, after spending three years in India soaking up knowledge about Mohandas K. Gandhi’s independence movement. King would travel to India himself two years later, but at the time, he had only read about Gandhi in books.

The two Black pastors — both 28 years old — quickly bonded over their enthusiasm for the Indian leader’s ideas, and King urged Lawson to put them into action in the American South.

Lawson soon led workshops in church basements in Nashville, Tennessee , that prepared John Lewis, Diane Nash, Bernard Lafayette, Marion Barry, the Freedom Riders and many others to peacefully withstand vicious responses to their challenges of racist laws and policies.

Lawson’s lessons led Nashville to become the first major city in the South to desegregate its downtown, on May 10, 1960, after hundreds of well-organized students staged lunch-counter sit-ins and boycotts of discriminatory businesses.

Lawson’s particular contribution was to introduce Gandhian principles to people more familiar with biblical teachings, showing how direct action could expose the immorality and fragility of racist white power structures.

Gandhi said “that we persons have the power to resist the racism in our own lives and souls,” Lawson told the AP. “We have the power to make choices and to say no to that wrong. That’s also Jesus.”

Years later, in 1968, it was Lawson who organized the sanitation workers strike that fatefully drew King to Memphis. Lawson said he was at first paralyzed and forever saddened by King’s assassination.

“I thought I would not live beyond 40, myself,” Lawson said. “The imminence of death was a part of the discipline we lived with, but no one as much as King.”

Still, Lawson made it his life’s mission to preach the power of nonviolent direct action.

“I’m still anxious and frustrated,” Lawson said as he marked the 50th anniversary of King’s death with a march in Memphis. “The task is unfinished.”

James Morris Lawson Jr., was born on Sept. 22, 1928, the son and grandson of ministers, and grew up in Massillon, Ohio, where he became ordained himself as a high school senior.

He told The Tennessean that his commitment to nonviolence began in elementary school, when he told his mother that he had slapped a boy who had used a racial slur against him.

“What good did that do, Jimmy?” his mother asked.

That simple question forever changed his life, Lawson said. He became a pacifist, refusing to serve when drafted for the Korean War, and spent a year in prison as a conscientious objector. The Fellowship of Reconciliation, a pacifist group, sponsored his trip to India after he finished a sociology degree.

Gandhi had been assassinated by then, but Lawson met people who had worked with him and explained Gandhi’s concept of “satyagraha,” a relentless pursuit of Truth, which encouraged Indians to peacefully reject British rule. Lawson then saw how the Christian concept of turning the other cheek could be applied in collective actions to challenge morally indefensible laws.

Lawson was a divinity student at Oberlin College in Ohio when King spoke on campus about the Montgomery bus boycott. King told him, “You can’t wait, you need to come on South now,‘” Lawson recalled in an Associated Press interview.

Lawson soon enrolled in theology classes at Vanderbilt University, while leading younger activists through mock protests in which they practiced taking insults without reacting.

The technique swiftly proved its power at lunch counters and movie theaters in Nashville, where on May 10, 1960, businesses agreed to take down the “No Colored” signs that enforced white supremacy.

“It was the first major successful campaign to pull the signs down,” and it created a template for the sit-ins that began spreading across the South, Lawson said.

Lawson was called on to organize what became the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which sought to organize the spontaneous efforts of tens of thousands of students who began challenging Jim Crow laws across the South.

Angry segregationists got Lawson expelled from Vanderbilt, but he said he never harbored hard feelings about the university, where he returned as a distinguished visiting professor in 2006, and eventually donated a significant portion of his papers.

Lawson earned that theology degree at Boston University and became a Methodist pastor in Memphis, where his wife Dorothy Wood Lawson worked as an NAACP organizer. They moved several years later to Los Angeles, where Lawson led the Holman United Methodist Church and taught at California State University, Northridge and the University of California. They raised three sons, John, Morris and Seth.

Lawson remained active into his 90s, urging younger generations to leverage their power. Eulogizing the late Rep. John Lewis last year, he recalled how the young man he trained in Nashville grew lonely marches into multitudes, paving the way for major civil rights legislation.

“If we would honor and celebrate John Lewis’ life, let us then re-commit our souls, our hearts, our minds, our bodies and our strength to the continuing journey to dismantle the wrong in our midst,” Lawson said.

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The Supreme Court Ruling in the Starbucks Case Proves the Law Won’t Save Labor

By Jaz Brisack

Jaz Brisack is a co-founder of Starbucks Workers United and is currently in residence at the Berkeley Labor Center.

In Starbucks Corp. v. McKinney, the Supreme Court ordered lower courts to apply a stricter test when deciding whether to grant the National Labor Relations Board’s petitions for emergency relief, like ordering the reinstatement of seven fired Starbucks workers in Memphis.

The outcome is predictable: The most conservative Supreme Court in decades eroded another legal protection of workers’ right to organize. In response, the labor movement must re-evaluate the source of our power; the law will not save us.

U.S. labor law contains no penalties for firing workers in retaliation for organizing — only remedies. If the courts rule that workers were unlawfully fired, they are entitled to reinstatement and back pay, minus their interim earnings. In practice, the court process can take years, and workers frequently receive significantly reduced back pay.

By making it harder for the N.L.R.B. to obtain 10(j) injunctions, which are emergency legal measures intended to stop the harm that extreme union-busting actions cause to organizing campaigns, the Supreme Court underestimates the damage that retaliatory firings cause. Even before the decision, 10(j) injunctions were rare, totaling fewer than 20 in 2023. The Supreme Court’s action exposes how little relief workers can expect to receive.

As a union organizer and Starbucks worker, I’ve seen the effects of corporate retaliation up close. In December 2020, I took a job at the Elmwood Avenue Starbucks in Buffalo, with the goal of unionizing my workplace. A year later, our store voted to become the first unionized corporate Starbucks location in the United States, sparking a wave of organizing across the company . In response to our union campaign, Starbucks unleashed a union-busting effort that began with managers and executives swarming our stores in Buffalo and escalated to firings (including mine), store closings and the withholding of new benefits, like seniority pay and credit card tipping, from unionized stores nationwide.

The workers at the heart of the Supreme Court case, who became known as the Memphis Seven , started their campaign on Jan. 17, 2022 — Martin Luther King’s Birthday. Nikki, a shift supervisor at the Tennessee store, called me that day. She told me she had caught Covid at work and brought it home to her daughter. Unionizing would allow her to advocate better health and safety conditions, as we did earlier that month at the Buffalo store where I worked, going on strike in order to be able to self-isolate after exposure to the virus .

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Martin Luther King Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on martin luter king.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an African-American leader in the U.S. He lost his life while performing a peaceful protest for the betterment of blacks in America. His real name was Michael King Jr. He completed his studies and attained a Ph.D. After that, he joined the American Civil Right Movement. He was among one of the great men who dedicated their life for the community.

Reason for Martin Luther King to be famous

There are two reasons for someone to be famous either he is a good man or a very bad person. Martin Luther King was among the good one who dedicated his life to the community. Martin Luther King was also known as MLK Jr. He gained popularity after he became the leader and spokesperson of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

Martin Luther King was an American activist, minister, and humanitarian. Also, he had worked for several other causes and actively participated in many protests and boycotts. He was a peaceful man that has faith in Christian beliefs and non-violence. Also, his inspiration for them was the work of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. For his work in the field of civil rights, the Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize.

He was a great speaker that motivated the blacks to protest using non-violence. Also, he uses peaceful strategies like a boycott, protest march , and sit-ins, etc. for protests against the government.

Impact of King

King is one of the renowned leaders of the African-American who worked for the welfare of his community throughout his life. He was very famous among the community and is the strongest voice of the community. King and his fellow companies and peaceful protesters forced the government several times to bend their laws. Also, kings’ life made a seismic impact on life and thinking of the blacks. He was among one of the great leaders of the era.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Humanitarian and civil rights work

As we know that King was a civic leader . Also, he has taken part in many civil right campaigns and boycotts like the Bus Boycott, Voting Rights and the most famous March on Washington. In this march along with more than 200,000 people, he marched towards Washington for human right. Also, it’s the largest human right campaign in U.S.A. history. During the protest, he gave a speech named “I Have a Dream” which is history’s one of the renowned speeches.

Death and memorial

During his life working as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement he makes many enemies. Also, the government and plans do everything to hurt his reputation. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968. Every year the US celebrates his anniversary as Martin Luther King Jr. day in the US. Also, they honored kings’ memory by naming school and building after him and a Memorial at Independence Mall.

Martin Luther King was a great man who dedicated his whole life for his community. Also, he was an active leader and a great spokesperson that not only served his people but also humanity. It was due to his contribution that the African-American got their civil rights.

Essay Topics on Famous Leaders

• Mahatma Gandhi
• APJ Abdul Kalam
• Jawaharlal Nehru
• Swami Vivekananda
• Mother Teresa
• Rabindranath Tagore
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
• Subhash Chandra Bose
• Abraham Lincoln
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Martin Luther King Jr.

By: History.com Editors

Updated: January 25, 2024 | Original: November 9, 2009

Martin Luther King Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. King sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest. He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington , which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act . King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day , a U.S. federal holiday since 1986.

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia , the second child of Martin Luther King Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher.

Along with his older sister Christine and younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams, he grew up in the city’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood, then home to some of the most prominent and prosperous African Americans in the country.

Did you know? The final section of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech is believed to have been largely improvised.

A gifted student, King attended segregated public schools and at the age of 15 was admitted to Morehouse College , the alma mater of both his father and maternal grandfather, where he studied medicine and law.

Although he had not intended to follow in his father’s footsteps by joining the ministry, he changed his mind under the mentorship of Morehouse’s president, Dr. Benjamin Mays, an influential theologian and outspoken advocate for racial equality. After graduating in 1948, King entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree, won a prestigious fellowship and was elected president of his predominantly white senior class.

King then enrolled in a graduate program at Boston University, completing his coursework in 1953 and earning a doctorate in systematic theology two years later. While in Boston he met Coretta Scott, a young singer from Alabama who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music . The couple wed in 1953 and settled in Montgomery, Alabama, where King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church .

The Kings had four children: Yolanda Denise King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King and Bernice Albertine King.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The King family had been living in Montgomery for less than a year when the highly segregated city became the epicenter of the burgeoning struggle for civil rights in America, galvanized by the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks , secretary of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ), refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus and was arrested. Activists coordinated a bus boycott that would continue for 381 days. The Montgomery Bus Boycott placed a severe economic strain on the public transit system and downtown business owners. They chose Martin Luther King Jr. as the protest’s leader and official spokesman.

By the time the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating on public buses unconstitutional in November 1956, King—heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and the activist Bayard Rustin —had entered the national spotlight as an inspirational proponent of organized, nonviolent resistance.

King had also become a target for white supremacists, who firebombed his family home that January.

On September 20, 1958, Izola Ware Curry walked into a Harlem department store where King was signing books and asked, “Are you Martin Luther King?” When he replied “yes,” she stabbed him in the chest with a knife. King survived, and the attempted assassination only reinforced his dedication to nonviolence: “The experience of these last few days has deepened my faith in the relevance of the spirit of nonviolence if necessary social change is peacefully to take place.”

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Emboldened by the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in 1957 he and other civil rights activists—most of them fellow ministers—founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a group committed to achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest.

The SCLC motto was “Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed.” King would remain at the helm of this influential organization until his death.

In his role as SCLC president, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled across the country and around the world, giving lectures on nonviolent protest and civil rights as well as meeting with religious figures, activists and political leaders.

During a month-long trip to India in 1959, he had the opportunity to meet family members and followers of Gandhi, the man he described in his autobiography as “the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change.” King also authored several books and articles during this time.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

In 1960 King and his family moved to Atlanta, his native city, where he joined his father as co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church . This new position did not stop King and his SCLC colleagues from becoming key players in many of the most significant civil rights battles of the 1960s.

Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a particularly severe test during the Birmingham campaign of 1963, in which activists used a boycott, sit-ins and marches to protest segregation, unfair hiring practices and other injustices in one of America’s most racially divided cities.

Arrested for his involvement on April 12, King penned the civil rights manifesto known as the “ Letter from Birmingham Jail ,” an eloquent defense of civil disobedience addressed to a group of white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.

March on Washington

Later that year, Martin Luther King Jr. worked with a number of civil rights and religious groups to organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful political rally designed to shed light on the injustices Black Americans continued to face across the country.

Held on August 28 and attended by some 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the event is widely regarded as a watershed moment in the history of the American civil rights movement and a factor in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

"I Have a Dream" Speech

The March on Washington culminated in King’s most famous address, known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, a spirited call for peace and equality that many consider a masterpiece of rhetoric.

Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial —a monument to the president who a century earlier had brought down the institution of slavery in the United States—he shared his vision of a future in which “this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'”

The speech and march cemented King’s reputation at home and abroad; later that year he was named “Man of the Year” by TIME magazine and in 1964 became, at the time, the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize .

In the spring of 1965, King’s elevated profile drew international attention to the violence that erupted between white segregationists and peaceful demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, where the SCLC and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had organized a voter registration campaign.

Captured on television, the brutal scene outraged many Americans and inspired supporters from across the country to gather in Alabama and take part in the Selma to Montgomery march led by King and supported by President Lyndon B. Johnson , who sent in federal troops to keep the peace.

That August, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act , which guaranteed the right to vote—first awarded by the 15th Amendment—to all African Americans.

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The events in Selma deepened a growing rift between Martin Luther King Jr. and young radicals who repudiated his nonviolent methods and commitment to working within the established political framework.

As more militant Black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism to address issues such as the Vietnam War and poverty among Americans of all races. In 1967, King and the SCLC embarked on an ambitious program known as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to include a massive march on the capital.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated . He was fatally shot while standing on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, where King had traveled to support a sanitation workers’ strike. In the wake of his death, a wave of riots swept major cities across the country, while President Johnson declared a national day of mourning.

James Earl Ray , an escaped convict and known racist, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He later recanted his confession and gained some unlikely advocates, including members of the King family, before his death in 1998.

After years of campaigning by activists, members of Congress and Coretta Scott King, among others, in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a U.S. federal holiday in honor of King.

Observed on the third Monday of January, Martin Luther King Day was first celebrated in 1986.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

While his “I Have a Dream” speech is the most well-known piece of his writing, Martin Luther King Jr. was the author of multiple books, include “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength to Love,” “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” and the posthumously published “Trumpet of Conscience” with a foreword by Coretta Scott King. Here are some of the most famous Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?’”

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An Experiment in Love: Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Six Pillars of Nonviolent Resistance and the Ancient Greek Notion of ‘Agape’

By maria popova.

Nowhere does he transmute spiritual ideas from various traditions into secular principles more masterfully than in his extraordinary 1958 essay “An Experiment in Love,” in which he examines the six essential principles of his philosophy of nonviolence, debunks popular misconceptions about it, and considers how these basic tenets can be used in guiding any successful movement of nonviolent resistance. Penned five years before his famous Letter from Birmingham City Jail and exactly a decade before his assassination, the essay was eventually included in the indispensable A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. ( public library ) — required reading for every human being with a clicking mind and a ticking heart.

In the first of the six basic philosophies, Dr. King addresses the tendency to mistake nonviolence for passivity, pointing out that it is a form not of cowardice but of courage:

It must be emphasized that nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards; it does resist. If one uses this method because he is afraid or merely because he lacks the instruments of violence, he is not truly nonviolent. This is why Gandhi often said that if cowardice is the only alternative to violence, it is better to fight… The way of nonviolent resistance … is ultimately the way of the strong man. It is not a method of stagnant passivity… For while the nonviolent resister is passive in the sense that he is not physically aggressive toward his opponent, his mind and his emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade his opponent that he is wrong. The method is passive physically but strongly active spiritually. It is not passive non-resistance to evil, it is active nonviolent resistance to evil.

He turns to the second tenet of nonviolence:

Nonviolence … does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding. The nonviolent resister must often express his protest through noncooperation or boycotts, but he realizes that these are not ends themselves; they are merely means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent. The end is redemption and reconciliation. The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.

In considering the third characteristic of nonviolence, Dr. King appeals to the conscientious recognition that those who perpetrate violence are often victims themselves:

The attack is directed against forces of evil rather than against persons who happen to be doing the evil. It is the evil that the nonviolent resister seeks to defeat, not the persons victimized by the evil. If he is opposing racial injustice, the nonviolent resister has the vision to see that the basic tension is not between the races… The tension is, at bottom, between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness…. We are out to defeat injustice and not white persons who may be unjust.

Out of this recognition flows the fourth tenet:

Nonviolent resistance [requires] a willingness to accept suffering without retaliation, to accept blows from the opponent without striking back… The nonviolent resister is willing to accept violence if necessary, but never to inflict it. He does not seek to dodge jail. If going to jail is necessary, he enters it “as a bridegroom enters the bride’s chamber.”

That, in fact, is precisely how Dr. King himself entered jail five years later . To those skeptical of the value of turning the other cheek, he offers:

Unearned suffering is redemptive. Suffering, the nonviolent resister realizes, has tremendous educational and transforming possibilities.

The fifth basic philosophy turns the fourth inward and arrives at the most central point of the essay — the noblest use of what we call “love”:

Nonviolent resistance … avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but he also refuses to hate him. At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. The nonviolent resister would contend that in the struggle for human dignity, the oppressed people of the world must not succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter or indulging in hate campaigns. To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of our lives.

Here, Dr. King turns to Ancient Greek philosophy, pointing out that the love he speaks of is not the sentimental or affectionate kind — “it would be nonsense to urge men to love their oppressors in an affectionate sense,” he readily acknowledges — but love in the sense of understanding and redemptive goodwill. The Greeks called this agape — a love distinctly different from the eros , reserved for our lovers, or philia , with which we love our friends and family. Dr. King explains:

Agape means understanding, redeeming good will for all men. It is an overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless, and creative. It is not set in motion by any quality or function of its object… Agape is disinterested love. It is a love in which the individual seeks not his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people, or any qualities people possess. It begins by loving others for their sakes . It is an entirely “neighbor-regarding concern for others,” which discovers the neighbor in every man it meets. Therefore, agape makes no distinction between friends and enemy; it is directed toward both. If one loves an individual merely on account of his friendliness, he loves him for the sake of the benefits to be gained from the friendship, rather than for the friend’s own sake. Consequently, the best way to assure oneself that love is disinterested is to have love for the enemy-neighbor from whom you can expect no good in return, but only hostility and persecution.

This notion is nearly identical to one of Buddhism’s four brahmaviharas , or divine attitudes — the concept of Metta , often translated as lovingkindness or benevolence. The parallel speaks not only to Dr. King’s extraordinarily diverse intellectual toolkit of influences and inspirations — a high form of combinatorial creativity necessary for any meaningful contribution to humanity’s common record — but also to the core commonalities between the world’s major spiritual and philosophical traditions.

In a sentiment that Margaret Mead and James Baldwin would echo twelve years later in their spectacular conversation on race — “In any oppressive situation both groups suffer, the oppressors and the oppressed,” Mead observed, asserting that the oppressors suffer morally with the recognition of what they’re committing, which Baldwin noted is “a worse kind of suffering” — Dr. King adds:

Another basic point about agape is that it springs from the need of the other person — his need for belonging to the best in the human family… Since the white man’s personality is greatly distorted by segregation, and his soul is greatly scarred, he needs the love of the Negro. The Negro must love the white man, because the white man needs his love to remove his tensions, insecurities, and fears.

At the heart of agape , he argues, is the notion of forgiveness — something Mead and Baldwin also explored with great intellectual elegance . Dr. King writes:

Agape is not a weak, passive love. It is love in action… Agape is a willingness to go to any length to restore community… It is a willingness to forgive, not seven times, but seventy times seven to restore community…. If I respond to hate with a reciprocal hate I do nothing but intensify the cleavage in broken community. I can only close the gap in broken community by meeting hate with love.

With this, he turns to the sixth and final principle of nonviolence as a force of justice, undergirded by the nonreligious form of spirituality that Dani Shapiro elegantly termed “an animating presence” and Alan Lightman described as the transcendence of “this strange and shimmering world.” Dr. King writes:

Nonviolent resistance … is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. Consequently, the believer in nonviolence has deep faith in the future. This faith is another reason why the nonviolent resister can accept suffering without retaliation. For he knows that in his struggle for justice he has cosmic companionship. It is true that there are devout believers in nonviolence who find it difficult to believe in a personal God. But even these persons believe in the existence of some creative force that works for universal wholeness. Whether we call it an unconscious process, an impersonal Brahman, or a Personal Being of matchless power of infinite love, there is a creative force in this universe that works to bring the disconnected aspects of reality into a harmonious whole.

A Testament of Hope is an absolutely essential read in its totality. Complement it with Dr. King on the two types of law , Albert Einstein’s little-known correspondence with W.E.B. Du Bois on racial justice , and Tolstoy and Gandhi’s equally forgotten but immensely timely correspondence on why we hurt each other .

— Published July 1, 2015 — https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/07/01/martin-luther-king-jr-an-experiment-in-love/ —

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Martin Luther King Essay | Essay on Martin Luther King for Students and Children in English

February 12, 2024 by Prasanna

Martin Luther King Essay: Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the pioneers who fought for the black people’s civil rights movement in America. He was a national figure and a brilliant orator who knew what to say to make any person understand his heart.

He stayed true to his morals and values throughout his activism. King set the foundation for racial equality from the 1950s till his death in 1968 that continues even today. His leadership and work were the reason for the end of legal segregation across America. In all that he did, he followed non-violence as his fundamental base. This was something that was an influence of Mahatma Gandhi and his role in the independence of India. He is well known for his speech ‘I have a dream,’ and a year after this speech, the law prohibiting racial discrimination was passed by President Johnson in 1964.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long and Short Essays on Martin Luther King for Students and Kids in English

We provide children and students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the topic “Martin Luther King” for reference.

Short Essay on Martin Luther King 250 Words in English

Short Essay on Martin Luther King is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Martin Luther King Jr. made a statement about how sometimes people must make decisions because it is right, regardless of whether it is safe. This is a testament to the work that he did and the legacy he left behind. He was born Michael King Jr. on the 15th of January 1929, in Georgia to Reverend Michael King Sr. and Alberta King. He began his activism in the 1950s after his education and marriage.

The incident that launched him as a national figure and spokesman for the civil rights movement was the Montgomery bus boycott that lasted for 385 days. He followed the Gandhian principles of non-violence in his work and leadership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work for the rights of the Afro-American population.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an activist that fought for the rights of the Afro-American population. He was also a Baptist minister, an influence that came from his father, Reverend Michael King Sr. He fought for an America where all peoples, regardless of color and race, would live together in harmony.

He took part in and organized various non-violent protests, sit-ins, marches for the sake of his cause. He challenged people to think and fight for equality instead of submitting to the racial discrimination and humiliation that was legal. His work was rewarded with the legal revoking of the segregation and racial discrimination prevalent across the country. He was also the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

But while King’s work saw the fruit, he was also met with strong and intense opposition, not only from those that were racist but from the government itself. He was accused of being a communist and was placed under the constant surveillance of the FBI. He lost the President’s favor due to his stance on what was happening in Vietnam. He worked fiercely for 13 years until his assassination in 1968. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Peace Prize in 1964.

Introduction

Martin Luther King is the first person that comes to mind when we talk about the fight for racial equality in America. He lived from 1929-1968 and spent 13 years fighting against racial segregation and discrimination. His father was the source of his Baptist ideals, and his activism as Reverend Michal King Sr. was also a civil rights activist.

King grew up facing racial discrimination, and instead of swallowing his anger, he set about to make a change in a system that legally made space for segregation. He urged people to do the same and led movements, protests, marches, and sit-ins to this effect. He led the Montgomery bus boycott that ended racial segregation in Montgomery. He continued his work and leadership, and while he saw success, there were consequences. He was often imprisoned for his work and even survived a knife attack. None of these things could stop him and continued working, keeping the non-violent principles as the basis for his work. He found inspiration in the lives and work of leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. His famous speech ‘I have a dream,’ was at a march to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The very next year, the law prohibiting racial discrimination was passed by President Johnson in 1964.

King’s work ended prematurely in 1968 as James Earl Ray assassinated him. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was passed soon after King’s assassination, and his legacy lives on even today.

Martin Luther King Essay 400 Words in English

Martin Luther King Jr. made a statement about how sometimes people must make decisions because it is right, regardless of if it is safe or not. This is a testament to the work that he did and the legacy he left behind. He was born Michael King Jr. on the 15th of January 1929, in Georgia. He was one of the three children that Reverend Michael King Sr. and Alberta King had. He grew up with a strong Christian influence as a child from his family. He was also co-pastor with his father until his death at the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Childhood and Education

King spent all his childhood in a segregated neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia, that was the south. But when he came to Morehouse for his freshman year and had an opportunity to see equality and something radically different from home – the lack of segregation. He graduated in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts from Morehouse.

Life and Activism

Martin Luther King is well known for his leadership and participation in fighting for black people’s right to vote, and desegregation among other fundamental rights. King was a leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference till his death and came to the forefront with the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

In 1955, Claudette Corvin and Rosa Parks refused to give up their seats for white people on the bus in separate incidents. This sparked off the Montgomery bus boycott that King led. It lasted for 385 days, and this incident resulted in removing segregation on public buses in Montgomery. This boycott launched King into a national figure and spokesman for the movement against racial discrimination.

Death and Memorial

In 1968, King was in Tennessee in support of sanitation workers on strike. He was assassinated before he was able to complete what he had planned for this rally. James Earl Ray shot him on the 4th of April, causing a wound that turned to be fatal. Over time memorials were made in his honor in America and across the world, recognizing his work.

King is today known as a pioneer for civil rights, and the fight that he began is a fight that continues to date. While his dream has yet to come true, many are working tirelessly and carrying the mantle he left behind.

Long Essay on Martin Luther King 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Martin Luther King is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Martin Luther King Jr. in one of his letters from Birmingham prison said that through painful experience alone we can know that freedom is not something that is freely given. The ones who do not have it, must demand it. It shows his grit and perseverance even in the face of opposition. King was a civil rights activist for the Afro-American people. Never forgetting his ideals and principles of non-violence, he fought for the freedom of his people. His leadership was pivotal in legally putting an end to racial segregation in America.

Racism was something that he was acutely aware of as he grew up. Right from the age of six, his friendship with a white boy was taken away when his parents decided that they did not want their son to associate with a black boy. His father played a significant role in educating King about the long history of oppression and racism that his people had faced in America for years. His father was also someone who took a stand against segregation and discrimination when he could. Something that King watched that left a deep impression upon him.

Adolescence

Growing older, King began to hate the whites for the racism he had seen and gone through. He also began to stray from what he had learned in his Baptist upbringing. The oratory skills that King would later be famous for began to bloom around his adolescence. The very first speech that he gave was in his junior year. He said that the black Americans still wear chains, though slavery was abolished years ago. Even a highly esteemed black man is still inferior to the cruelest white man. On his ride home with his teacher on the bus, he was ordered by the driver to stand to let the white passengers sit down. He refused to until his teacher said that he should do what was told, as he would be breaking the law otherwise. When he wrote of the bus ride, he recorded that it was the angriest he had ever been.

King spent all his childhood in a segregated neighborhood and had a chance to see the opposite in Connecticut. He came to Morehouse here for his freshman year and had an opportunity to see things from a new perspective. Here was also where King reconciled with his Baptist upbringing. He graduated in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts from Morehouse.

Marriage and Ministry

In 1953, he married Coretta Scott and were parents to four children, Yolanda King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King, and Bernice King. It was also in the 1950s that his activism began, which he continued till his death.

King became the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Alabama in 1954. He was also a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People.

In 1955, Claudette Corvin and Rosa Parks refused to give up their seats for white people on the bus in separate incidents. This sparked off the Montgomery bus boycott that King led. It lasted for 385, during which King’s house was bombed. He was arrested as well, but this incident resulted in removing segregation on public buses in Montgomery. This boycott launched King into a national figure and spokesman for the movement against racial discrimination.

With other civil rights activists, King came together and founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. Among other purposes, this group was to organize non-violent protests and movements in their pursuit of ensuring civil rights for all, regardless of race. King was a leader of the SCLC till his death.

Governmental Opposition

While he found favor in some officials’ eyes, he put himself squarely in opposition to the President when he spoke against the war in Vietnam. King not only fought for his people but spoke out against all injustice whenever he could. He was also branded a communist by the FBI and was under constant surveillance. So much so that when he was assassinated, it was speculated whether it was the work of just one man or King’s death was a part of a bigger conspiracy.

James Earl Ray was the man who ended King’s long fight against racial discrimination. King was fatally shot, and not even surgery could save him. His death caused nationwide rioting, which took great effort to put an end to.

Essay on Martin Luther King Conclusion

King was one of a kind. He refused to watch oppression take place and do nothing about it. He did his best to change the system to bring about equality and justice to all. His words and ideas are still today held as significant and radical. He changed not only his nation but the whole world.

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National Historical Publications & Records Commission

The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Stanford University

Additional information:   https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/publications/king-papers

A comprehensive edition of the papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 –1968) clergyman, activist, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. King has become a national icon in the history of American progressivism. A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, in 1962, and organized nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama, that attracted national attention following television news coverage of the brutal police response. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. This edition of speeches, sermons, correspondence, and other papers of America’s foremost leader of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The project was initiated by the King Center in Atlanta before moving to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford.

Seven completed volumes of a planned 14-volume edition

Martin Luther King, Jr. addresses the crowd at the Civil Rights March, August 28, 1963. National Archives.

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Three Essays on Religion

Author:  King, Martin Luther, Jr.

Date:  September 1, 1948 to May 31, 1951 ?

Location:  Chester, Pa. ?

Genre:  Essay

Topic:  Martin Luther King, Jr. - Education

In the following three essays, King wrestles with the role of religion in modern society. In the first assignment, he calls science and religion “different though converging truths” that both “spring from the same seeds of vital human needs.” King emphasizes an awareness of God’s presence in the second document, noting that religion’s purpose “is not to perpetuate a dogma or a theology; but to produce living witnesses and testimonies to the power of God in human experience.” In the final handwritten essay King acknowledges the life-affirming nature of Christianity, observing that its adherents have consistently “looked forward for a time to come when the law of love becomes the law of life.”

"Science and Religion"

There is widespread belief in the minds of many that there is a conflict between science and religion. But there is no fundamental issue between the two. While the conflict has been waged long and furiously, it has been on issues utterly unrelated either to religion or to science. The conflict has been largely one of trespassing, and as soon as religion and science discover their legitimate spheres the conflict ceases.

Religion, of course, has been very slow and loath to surrender its claim to sovereignty in all departments of human life; and science overjoyed with recent victories, has been quick to lay claim to a similar sovereignty. Hence the conflict.

But there was never a conflict between religion and science as such. There cannot be. Their respective worlds are different. Their methods are dissimilar and their immediate objectives are not the same. The method of science is observation, that of religion contemplation. Science investigates. Religion interprets. One seeks causes, the other ends. Science thinks in terms of history, religion in terms of teleology. One is a survey, the other an outlook.

The conflict was always between superstition disguised as religion and materialism disguised as science, between pseudo-science and pseudo-religion.

Religion and science are two hemispheres of human thought. They are different though converging truths. Both science and religion spring from the same seeds of vital human needs.

Science is the response to the human need of knowledge and power. Religion is the response to the human need for hope and certitude. One is an outreaching for mastery, the other for perfection. Both are man-made, and like man himself, are hedged about with limitations. Neither science nor religion, by itself, is sufficient for man. Science is not civilization. Science is organized knowledge; but civilization which is the art of noble and progressive communal living requires much more than knowledge. It needs beauty which is art, and faith and moral aspiration which are religion. It needs artistic and spiritual values along with the intellectual.

Man cannot live by facts alone. What we know is little enough. What we are likely to know will always be little in comparison with what there is to know. But man has a wish-life which must build inverted pyramids upon the apexes of known facts. This is not logical. It is, however, psychological.

Science and religion are not rivals. It is only when one attempts to be the oracle at the others shrine that confusion arises. Whan the scientist from his laboratory, on the basis of alleged scientific knowledge presumes to issue pronouncements on God, on the origin and destiny of life, and on man's place in the scheme of things he is [ passing? ] out worthless checks. When the religionist delivers ultimatums to the scientist on the basis of certain cosomologies embedded in the sacred text then he is a sorry spectacle indeed.

When religion, however, on the strength of its own postulates, speaks to men of God and the moral order of the universe, when it utters its prophetic burden of justice and love and holiness and peace, then its voice is the voice of the eternal spiritual truth, irrefutable and invincible.,

"The Purpose of Religion"

What is the purpose of religion? 1  Is it to perpetuate an idea about God? Is it totally dependent upon revelation? What part does psychological experience play? Is religion synonymous with theology?

Harry Emerson Fosdick says that the most hopeful thing about any system of theology is that it will not last. 2  This statement will shock some. But is the purpose of religion the perpetuation of theological ideas? Religion is not validated by ideas, but by experience.

This automatically raises the question of salvation. Is the basis for salvation in creeds and dogmas or in experience. Catholics would have us believe the former. For them, the church, its creeds, its popes and bishops have recited the essence of religion and that is all there is to it. On the other hand we say that each soul must make its own reconciliation to God; that no creed can take the place of that personal experience. This was expressed by Paul Tillich when he said, “There is natural religion which belongs to man by nature. But there is also a revealed religion which man receives from a supernatural reality.” 3 Relevant religion therefore, comes through revelation from God, on the one hand; and through repentance and acceptance of salvation on the other hand. 4  Dogma as an agent in salvation has no essential place.

This is the secret of our religion. This is what makes the saints move on in spite of problems and perplexities of life that they must face. This religion of experience by which man is aware of God seeking him and saving him helps him to see the hands of God moving through history.

Religion has to be interpreted for each age; stated in terms that that age can understand. But the essential purpose of religion remains the same. It is not to perpetuate a dogma or theology; but to produce living witnesses and testimonies to the power of God in human experience.

[ signed ] M. L. King Jr. 5

"The Philosophy of Life Undergirding Christianity and the Christian Ministry"

Basically Christianity is a value philosophy. It insists that there are eternal values of intrinsic, self-evidencing validity and worth, embracing the true and the beautiful and consummated in the Good. This value content is embodied in the life of Christ. So that Christian philosophy is first and foremost Christocentric. It begins and ends with the assumption that Christ is the revelation of God. 6

We might ask what are some of the specific values that Christianity seeks to conserve? First Christianity speaks of the value of the world. In its conception of the world, it is not negative; it stands over against the asceticisms, world denials, and world flights, for example, of the religions of India, and is world-affirming, life affirming, life creating. Gautama bids us flee from the world, but Jesus would have us use it, because God has made it for our sustenance, our discipline, and our happiness. 7  So that the Christian view of the world can be summed up by saying that it is a place in which God is fitting men and women for the Kingdom of God.

Christianity also insists on the value of persons. All human personality is supremely worthful. This is something of what Schweitzer has called “reverence for life.” 8  Hunan being must always be used as ends; never as means. I realize that there have been times that Christianity has short at this point. There have been periods in Christians history that persons have been dealt with as if they were means rather than ends. But Christianity at its highest and best has always insisted that persons are intrinsically valuable. And so it is the job of the Christian to love every man because God love love. We must not love men merely because of their social or economic position or because of their cultural contribution, but we are to love them because  God  they are of value to God.

Christianity is also concerned about the value of life itself. Christianity is concerned about the good life for every  child,  man,  and  woman and child. This concern for the good life and the value of life is no where better expressed than in the words of Jesus in the gospel of John: “I came that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.” 9  This emphasis has run throughout the Christian tradition. Christianity has always had a concern for the elimination of disease and pestilence. This is seen in the great interest that it has taken in the hospital movement.

Christianity is concerned about increasing value. The whole concept of the kingdom of God on earth expressing a concern for increasing value. We need not go into a dicussion of the nature and meaning of the Kingdom of God, only to say that Christians throughout the ages have held tenaciouly to this concept. They have looked forward for a time to come when the law of love becomes the law of life.

In the light of all that we have said about Christianity as a value philosophy, where does the ministry come into the picture? 10

1.  King may have also considered the purpose of religion in a Morehouse paper that is no longer extant, as he began a third Morehouse paper, “Last week we attempted to discuss the purpose of religion” (King, “The Purpose of Education,” September 1946-February 1947, in  Papers  1:122).

2.  “Harry Emerson Fosdick” in  American Spiritual Autobiographies: Fifteen Self-Portraits,  ed. Louis Finkelstein (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948), p. 114: “The theology of any generation cannot be understood, apart from the conditioning social matrix in which it is formulated. All systems of theology are as transient as the cultures they are patterned from.”

3.  King further developed this theme in his dissertation: “[Tillich] finds a basis for God's transcendence in the conception of God as abyss. There is a basic inconsistency in Tillich's thought at this point. On the one hand he speaks as a religious naturalist making God wholly immanent in nature. On the other hand he speaks as an extreme supernaturalist making God almost comparable to the Barthian ‘wholly other’” (King, “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman,” 15 April 1955, in  Papers  2:535).

4.  Commas were added after the words “religion” and “salvation.”

5.  King folded this assignment lengthwise and signed his name on the verso of the last page.

6.  King also penned a brief outline with this title (King, “The Philosophy of Life Undergirding Christianity and the Christian Ministry,” Outline, September 1948-May 1951). In the outline, King included the reference “see Enc. Of Religion p. 162.” This entry in  An Encyclopedia of Religion,  ed. Vergilius Ferm (New York: Philosophical Library, 1946) contains a definition of Christianity as “Christo-centric” and as consisting “of eternal values of intrinsic, self-evidencing validity and worth, embracing the true and the beautiful and consummated in the Good.” King kept this book in his personal library.

7.  Siddhartha Gautama (ca. 563-ca. 483 BCE) was the historical Buddha.

8.  For an example of Schweitzer's use of the phrase “reverence for life,” see Albert Schweitzer, “The Ethics of Reverence for Life,”  Christendom  1 (1936): 225-239.

9.  John 10:10.

10.  In his outline for this paper, King elaborated: “The Ministry provides leadership in helping men to recognize and accept the eternal values in the Xty religion. a. The necessity of a call b. The necessity for disinterested love c. The [ necessity ] for moral uprightness” (King, “Philosophy of Life,” Outline, September 1948-May 1951).

Source:  CSKC-INP, Coretta Scott King Collection, In Private Hands, Sermon file.

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The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Division of research programs.

Martin Luther King Jr, 1964.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

This definitive edition of Dr. King’s most significant speeches, sermons, correspondence, public statements, published writings and unpublished manuscripts documents King’s family roots, his rise to prominence, and influence as a national spokesperson for civil rights.

Martin Luther King Junior Essay

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I have a dream

Time to break silence, works cited.

Among the many speeches given by Martin Luther King Junior, this was his most quoted speech all over the world. This speech was given in the year 1963 during the reign of President Jeff Kennedy with it main theme freedom of the black Americans. The audience of this speech were the more than two hundred thousand supporters of civil rights. Martin Luther demanded for an end to racial segregation and discrimination.

His aim was to inform and make it known to the whole of America that the time of freedom had come. From the literature point of view, this speech is rhetoric in its own special way. This is because Martin Luther king uses many forms of styles of literature so as to effectively deliver a speech that will be of great impact.

Among the styles the King uses are metaphors, ethos and logos, repetition, quotations from written publications among other styles of literature. Some of his references of the quotations on his speech include; the bible, emancipation proclamation, the United States constitution as well as the United States Declaration of Independence.

To begin with is the use of anaphora to put emphasis on the theme and aim of the speech by making it easy for people to memorize hence the message of the speech is driven home. The clause “I have a dream” is repeated up to eight times in different sentences of the speech (Hansen 177). Other clauses repeated in the speech include;

‘Now is the time’ found in the sixth paragraph of the speech, where Martin was emphasizing that the time of freedom had come (Hansen 177).

‘Let freedom ring’ is another clause used severally from the 27 th paragraph running through the 41 st paragraph of the speech (Hansen 177).

Other clauses repeated in the speech are ‘we must’, ‘Go back to’ and ‘with this faith’ among others (Hansen 177).

Another form of rhetoric is the frequency of words used in the speech. The repetition is also used to put emphasis on the main objectives that Martin Luther had when delivering the speech. For example the word freedom is used up to twenty times so as to put emphasis on the theme of the speech. This word has the highest frequency in the whole speech. This is to mean that Martin Luther just wanted freedom for his fellow black Americans.

The word dream is repeated about eleven times in this speech. This meant that, despite the fact that many people thought freedom was a dream it would come to be a reality at one point in time. According to Martin Luther King himself, he had foreseen freedom that is why he talked of having a dream. Other repeated words of the speech include; justice-eight times, our-seventeen times and nation-ten times.

In his speech, Martin Luther also borrowed phrases from credible speakers and publications. Some of his references of his speech include; the bible, emancipation proclamation, the United States constitution as well as the United States Declaration of Independence.

Borrowing from the United States Declaration of Independence, he talked of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” (Hansen 58). Others of his phrases were biblical quotations, for example in the second paragraph he picks a quote from Psalm 30:5, “It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” (Hansen 58).

Martin Luther goes further and picks another biblical quote from the book of Isaiah 40:4-5 which states that “I have a dream that every valley shall be exalted”( Hansen 58). Another of his biblical quotations if from the book of Amos 5:24 which goes by “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream”( Hansen 58).

Not only were his quotations from the bible only, he also borrows from other renown writers. For example, in one of the opening lines of the speech he talks of “this sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn” (Hansen 58). This is a quote from a renowned writer Shakespeare from his book Richard III.

The use of specific examples to illustrate his theoretical and logical statements is another style of literature that Martin Luther King applied in this speech. He for example uses many geographical cites so as to evoke emotions from his audience. He mentions town like Mississippi, Georgia, New York just to mention but a few.

Last but not least, the use of metaphors to explain the contrasting circumstances is also depicted in this speech. Some of the metaphors used include; “rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice” and “sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice” (Hansen 107). This speech also makes use of pathos technique because of the issues he addresses which are so emotional that they have an impact on the audience.

This speech was given four years later after the I have a dream speech by Martin Luther King Junior in 1967(Pach 1). He delivered the speech in the city of New York with his main theme being to call for an opposition to the Vietnam War by the Americans. The audience of this speech was a crowd of around three thousand people who had gathered outside a church in New York known as Riverside.

Despite the fact that some of his talk would even be offensive he still had the urge to talk about the war and imperialism in this speech. That is why he began by telling the crowd that at time people are forced to do things so as to satisfy their own conscience.

In this speech he talks about the war that according to him was to assault the poor people making them die early. However, most people and especially the leaders of America criticized this speech saying that there was a mixture of themes. This is because despite the fact that Martin Luther was talking about the war on Vietnam, he also included the issue of civil rights in this speech. Just like in the previous speech, he continues to use ethos, logos and pathos as elements of rhetoric (Pach 1).

As he begun this speech he questioned himself by asking with what authority was he speaking on Vietnam. This was a strategy of making him comfortably address the issue. In this he applied logos technique. He also made this speech very emotional in a bid to using the pathos technique which led to many people listening and putting in mind what he said. For example Martin Luther talks of “passionate plea to my beloved nation” (Pach 1).

As a matter of fact, the issue of war and violence is very touching in the hearts of people as it involves suffering and torture of innocent people. When Martin Luther addressed the issue of war and politics yet he was a civil rights activist, he evoked many questions in the minds of people. In this he applied rhetoric by contrasting the scenario. Since people objected what he was talking about, he used pathos to distract the objections from the people in the crowd who were shouting at him as he delivered the speech.

Ethos is also found in this speech when Martin Luther King Junior addresses the government to fulfil some of his demands. At the end of this speech, he concludes with a poem. The use of poetry in this speech is a style in literature that aims at evoking the attention of the audience. His rhetoric does not end there. He ends the speech by saying “Amen” which literally means let it be (Pach 4)

Of the two speeches , I have a dream is more persuasive compared to the Time to break silence. This is because in this speech, Martin Luther was so compassionate to emphasize on the road to freedom of the black Americans. The style he used in the speech drove his point home as most of his requests and demands have been achieved up to date. However, both speeches had an exemplary use of different styles of literature which strengthened the themes that Martin Luther had.

Hansen, Daniel. The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Speech that Inspired a Nation . New York, NY: Harper Collins.2003

Pach, Chester. Martin Luther King, Jr. Beyond Vietnam A Time to Break Silence. 2011- January 26, 2011. < http://www.milestonedocuments.com/ >

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Historical significance and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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In the years after his death, King remained the most widely known African American leader of his era. His stature as a major historical figure was confirmed by the successful campaign to establish a national holiday in his honor in the United States and by the building of a King memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C. , near the Lincoln Memorial , the site of his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. Many states and municipalities have enacted King holidays, authorized public statues and paintings of him, and named streets, schools, and other entities for him. These efforts to honor King have focused more on his role as a civil rights advocate than on his controversial speeches, during his final year, condemning American intervention in Vietnam and calling for the Poor People’s Campaign .

Recent News

The King holiday campaign overcame forceful opposition, with critics citing FBI surveillance files suggesting that King was an adulterous radical influenced by communists. Although the release of these files during the 1970s under the Freedom of Information Act fueled the public debate over King’s legacy , the extensive archives that now exist document King’s life and thought and have informed numerous serious studies offering balanced and comprehensive perspectives. Two major books featuring King—David J. Garrow’s Bearing the Cross (1986) and Taylor Branch’s Parting the Waters (1988)—won Pulitzer Prizes . Subsequent books and articles reaffirmed King’s historical significance while portraying him as a complex figure: flawed, fallible, and limited in his control over the mass movements with which he was associated, yet also a visionary leader who was deeply committed to achieving social justice through nonviolent means.

Although the idea of a King national holiday did not gain significant congressional support until the late 1970s, efforts to commemorate King’s life began almost immediately after his assassination . In 1968 Rep. John Conyers of Michigan introduced a King holiday bill. The idea gradually began to attract political support once the newly formed Congressional Black Caucus included the holiday in its reform agenda. Coretta Scott King also played a central role in building popular support for the King holiday campaign while serving as founding president of the Atlanta-based Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change (later renamed the King Center), which became one of the major archives of King’s papers.

Despite the overall conservative trend in American politics in the 1980s, which might have been expected to work against recognition of the efforts of a controversial activist, King holiday advocates gained political support by portraying him as a symbol of the country’s progress in race relations. Musician Stevie Wonder contributed to the campaign by writing and recording “Happy Birthday,” a popular tribute to King. In 1983 Coretta Scott King and Stevie Wonder participated in the 20th Anniversary March on Washington , which drew a bigger crowd than the original march.

After the House and the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of the King holiday bill sponsored by Sen. Ted Kennedy , Pres. Ronald Reagan put aside his initial doubts and signed the legislation on November 3, 1983, establishing Martin Luther King, Jr., Day , to be celebrated annually on the third Monday in January. Coretta Scott King also succeeded in gaining congressional approval to establish a King Federal Holiday Commission to plan annual celebrations, beginning January 20, 1986, that would encourage “Americans to reflect on the principles of racial equality and nonviolent social change espoused by Dr. King.”

Celebration of the King national holiday did not end contention over King’s legacy, but his status as an American icon became more widely accepted over time. The revelation during the early 1990s that King had plagiarized some of his academic writings and the occasional controversies involving his heirs did little to undermine recognition of King’s enduring impact on the country. Even before the first King national holiday, members of King’s fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, had proposed a permanent memorial in Washington, D.C. By the end of the 20th century, that proposal had secured governmental approval for the site on the Tidal Basin, near the Mall. In 2000 an international design competition ended with the selection of a proposal by ROMA Design Group. To build and maintain the memorial, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation eventually raised more than $100 million. Commemorations of King’s life were also held in other countries, and in 2009 a congressional delegation traveled to India to mark the 50th anniversary of King’s pilgrimage to what he called the “Land of Gandhi.”