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Martin Luther King Research Paper

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Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was a man that inspired people to do what they thought was right. He fought for equality. King was one of the greatest leaders in the fight for Civil Rights. Throughout the years of his leadership he made a huge impact on the way people of different races interact with one another. When he chose to become an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement, he understood the perils that lay ahead. However, he had faith in God and believed that justice would prevail. Religion played a major role in the life and activism of Martin Luther King Jr. Michael King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 to Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. He was raised in a family of Baptists. His grandfather on his mother’s side and his …show more content…

There, he learned the teachings of Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi encouraged nonviolence. Like Gandhi, King believed that violence was not a part of the path to righteous (Dasa). In 1954, after his education, King became the preacher at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Nearly a year later, King’s leadership skills and faith were tested when the creators of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) insisted that King be the leader of the new group. The MIA formed after the incident of Rosa Parks in December 1955. Rosa Parks, a woman of color, refused to give up her seat to a white man and was arrested on site. The MIA thought that King was the perfect candidate for leadership because he was young and generally respected by the community (Carson). As the voice of the MIA, King used all the skills he acquired through his religious and academic training. He combined the idea of nonviolence, as taught by Gandhi, and the teachings of the Christian gospel to create an effective way of protesting. After the success of his first protest, King decided to teach this new method to everyone fighting oppression in the South ("About Dr. King"). Realizing that they needed a great amount of people in order to achieve their ultimate goal of eliminating discrimination, King joined forces with over sixty ministers and civil rights activists to create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Through the work of the SCLC, King gave many speeches to other religious leaders and activists about multiple segregation issues. In 1959, he had the pleasure of visiting Gandhi’s home town in India. There, it was made certain that nonviolence was the best and most effective response towards discrimination

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was a strong leader of racial injustice movements, inspired by Gandhi. At first, he began as a follower and took part in lunch counter sit-ins at a department store. That group wanted to show the racial injustices in Atlanta, and make changes for the better for both blacks and whites (Doc 2.) He convinced his followers they wouldn’t need weapons to retaliate, only the conviction that they were right (Doc 5.) King’s followers were eager to get arrested and some were even disappointed when they were not on the list because they were so proud to be arrested for the cause of freedom (Doc 8.)

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He was an minister, philosopher, and social activist. The America's most significant civil rights leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King's philosophy of nonviolent direct action and his vision for a mass movement based upon the Christian tenets of love and understanding guided the activities of the SCLC. This nonviolent direct action became a major

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1810 Words | 8 Pages

As part of a community organization known as the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), King (along with his colleague Ralph Abernathy) were instrumental in organizing the Montgomery Bus Boycott which resulted in the 1956 Supreme Court ruling that segregated busing was unconstitutional. It was after this King became the face of the Civil Rights Movement. Again with Abernathy, he formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization dedicated to fighting Jim Crow segregation through organized peaceful and nonviolent means (Ushistory.org). It was with these ideals that King continued to fight for freedom by way of strikes, boycotts, and protest

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When Lennie discovered the puppy had died, he was devastated and confused. He didn't intend to kill it, but he was being too rough with it. Curly wife is lonely and wants to talk to someone. She enters the barn and approaches Lennie, who is alone. Lennie is drawn in by her, but he is unaware of the danger in the situation he's in.

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3143 Words | 13 Pages

Martin Luther King, Jr. was raised in a deeply religious household where he was greatly influenced by his father who was a Baptist minister. King went to college to study religion to pursue a career as a pastor, and as a leader of the church, and this is where he gained his popularity and following as a civil rights leader. Many of his philosophies and speeches lean on the Christian teachings that he references. King emphasized the principles in the Bible such as love, justice, nonviolence, and forgiveness which he integrates into his push for civil rights. King’s popularity as a civil rights activist became catalyzed after the Montgomery Bus Boycott in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks.

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514 Words | 3 Pages

In addition, he joined movements. He “joined Dr. Martin Luther King’s nonviolent campaign in Birmingham in 1963”(Simon). Dr King was also an advocate for civil rights, he had a series of campaigns promoting equality. During some of the campaigns, people had gotten arrested. It takes courage to join a movement, especially one where you can get arrested.

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617 Words | 3 Pages

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the most powerful preachers of the sixties. Not only was he a civil rights activist but he was a preacher of the gospel, called by God. He was a voice crying in the wilderness like John the Baptist with a message of jobs, freedom, and an end of racism in the United States. He was prolific in using words that grabbed the attention of his audience. His manner in which he put words together gave even more meaning to what he was attempting to say.

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He was a man of great faith, an ordained minister, and he desired for progress beyond progress. He took the pain and torment of a whole national community and united it into an effective and peaceful movement which brought about change in not only social customs, but also social thinking. He was greatly influenced by the work of Mahatma Gandhi, another man who achieved political and social change through the use of peaceful protest. King’s first peaceful protest was pure simplicity. Following Rosa Park’s arrest after

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Martin Luther King Jr. was a freedom fighter who spoke for equality. He faced racism and oppression. King was also a prominent leader during the civil rights movement, and inspired many people throughout the 1960’s. King believed everyone should be treated equally, and took many measures to fight for equality. He had this belief because he faced oppression himself, his parents did, and his family and close friends were also facing racism and loss of rights.

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King was a Baptist minister and founder and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he organized many boycotts and non-violent demonstrations. His belief in peaceful resistance and his call for equality for all resonated with African Americans as well as many white

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1300 Words | 6 Pages

This is the time that King became aware of Mohandas Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence. King graduated in 1951 with a bachelor of divinity degree. King later attended Boston University and

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872 Words | 4 Pages

From becoming a Minister to helping in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for now burgeoning civil rights movement. (“Martin Luther King Jr.”) In his journey of being a spokesperson the King would appear anywhere that a protest would take place. Martin Luther King Jr. would travel all over the southern states just to bring justice and hope to those who believed in him.

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1217 Words | 5 Pages

In answering this question, I believe that King would mention Mahatma Gandhi as the one who had the most influential role in causing him to truly be sold on the idea that a nonviolence strategy would actually be more applicable and effective in this movement than a violent strategy would be.3 I believe this because in "Violence, Nonviolence, and the Civil Rights Movement" it says that "Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy sparked King’s interest because of his efficacy. "4 In divinity school, King was actually against the idea of a nonviolent movement and thought that it would take a revolt in order to make a difference, but through talking with others and studying Gandhi's work his mind was changed on this subject and he began leading this movement.5 To the second part of the question, Martin Luther King's most likely response would be that the main pitfall of this strategy was that it caused many of the demonstrators in the movement to be harmed and even killed and King felt responsible for this happening when he was the one leading.6 Along with Martin Luther King Jr. feeling guilty already, other ministers and people in his community criticized and blamed King for the violence taking place at these demonstrations and for the people that were being hurt.7  Another question that I would like to ask Martin Luther King Jr., is how he managed to maintain his Christian views and demeanor while all of this hate and violence was being played out around and against him? King would probably start out his response to this question by saying "I am a troubled soul,"8 to show that although he is looked at as this great example and that he made a huge impact on society that he stumbled too, but then say that through it all he tried to humble himself with a limited salary and materials and a life

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1604 Words | 7 Pages

When King adopted non-violence as the method to use to pursue justice for the Negroes, it was meant to ignite some interest from the government and hopefully make the two parties come into a consensus, or form the basis for negotiations. He also believed that a good leader is that who moulds a good consensus, which is a form of agreement. The organizations he served-MIA and SCLC were at times racked by divisions and differing opinions amongst the different officials, Martin Luther King Jr strived to bring some consensus over issues. King was a leader who strongly believed in negotiations and could go to any extent to see to it that two sides that are warring are brought together at the table of negotiation. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, King points towards consensus building and negotiations since from the non-violent protests, the authorities were expected to call the Negros for a

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439 Words | 2 Pages

Martin was one of the first passengers to board an integrated bus. The bus boycott made him a black protester. A few years later, he met the U.S. President Eisenhower, he spoke alongside other national black protesters/leaders, and was a host of foreign dignitaries. In August 1957, Martin became president of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) ,an organization comprising political, religious, and civil affiliate groups, they initially focus on supporting bus boycotts and register black

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