My Hero: Martin Luther King Jr. “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” The ending of Martin Luther King’s speech is just as powerful as the rest. Martin had a dream, a dream that one day we could all live in peace together. Martin was a Baptist minister and a social activist who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. He seeks equality for African Americans in multiple nonviolence protests. Unfortunately, Martin wasn’t treated with the same respect he gave. Martin Luther King Jr is my phenomenal hero because he showed resilience throughout his education years, his fight for justice, and after his assassination. Born as Michael King Jr., in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929, Martin childhood was a normal happy upbringing at home. One of King’s first episodes with the Jim Crow law, racial segregation laws, was when the family was in a shoe store, and they were told to leave out the back because the storeowner didn’t allow blacks in the store. Skipping both the ninth and …show more content…
This event was widely known as a watershed moment in the history of the American civil rights movement, it also contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was the march that Martin delivered his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. Martin won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 at the age of 35. After the Civil Rights Act, which made it illegal to discriminate against blacks or other minorities, was passed, the Voting Rights Act, which allowed voting for African Americans, was passed in 1965. The next three years, Martin shifted his attention towards economic justice, but his leadership was abruptly and tragically ended on April 4, 1968, when he was assassinated. His wife, Coretta, continued his work and also got a bill sign to create a U.S federal holiday In honor of King, called Martin Luther King Jr.