Martin Luther King Jr was a man who fought for freedom for everyone, regardless of the color of their skin. Think today about how much this man has impacted your life, gone but never forgotten;
Martin Luther King Jr Day.
Martin Luther King Jr was born on 15th January 1929, although the American holiday falls on the 3rd Monday of each year which means it could be celebrated between the 15th and 21st of January. He is the only person other than George Washington to have an American national holiday, even though he isn't a President.
But anyway lets get into his life
Martin, then known as Michael King Jr, was raised in Georgia. His father, Michael King Sr was a pastor who eventually changed his and his sons name to 'Martin' and added 'Luther' to it.
As a child, Martin jr experianced a lot of racism, the first incedent being when he was 6 years old and was unable to attend the same school as his white childhood frind. He also frequently had to give up his seat to white people on buses and even had to be served at the back of a shoe shop, just for being different.
Martin jr was very intelligent and managed to get into college at 15, then he later studied at a seminary and learned about Mahatma Gandhi, an indian human rights activist who fought using peaceful protest (speeches and non-violent demonstrations, etc.), which really inspired Martin Jr in his own work.
After Martin Jr graduated from high school and college, he founded the Civil Rights Movement in 1955, with the first action he took being planning the bus boycott of 1955 in Alabama, which, although resulting in his arrest, meant people were no longer segregated on city buses. Over the next 12 years, he made over 2500 speeches and was imprisoned 30 times, but he never gave up.
In 1963, he delivered his most famous speech, "I have a dream," to an audience of 250,000 outside the White House. Shortly after that, the Civil Rights act was passed, making racial discrimination illegal in America. In 1964 he recieved the Nobel Peace Prize for his peaceful effort to achieve equality.
While it did promote equality, his work was frowned upon by most. J. Edgar Hoover, Head of the FBI at the time, investigated Martin due to his left-wing sentiment and suspected he had communist ties. Hoover ordered he be spied on and Martin was even sent an anonymous letter from one of these agents, he figured out that they were trying to push him off the edge, so he ignored it.
His dream of equality was and is very close to being achieved, but sadly, in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. He died at only 39 years old on the ninth of April 1968
His strong will persisted after his death, even through far right america at the time. His well-known "I Had a Dream" speech moved a lot of people and continues to have an impact today.
Without him, people of colour would face a lot more prejudice and discrimination than they do today, so we should all be thankful for the incredible work he did to make his dream a reality and continue to fight against racism.
Quotes
These are just a few quotes from Martin Jr that I wanted to include
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that"
"If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl- but by all means keep moving"
Regardless of anyone's personal beliefs, MLK was an extraordinary individual who focused on equality and always believed that everyone deserved a chance in the world, no matter their skin color, race, ethnicity, or sexuality.
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you're just super funny
