bonitajennyfer

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 Martin Luther King Jr. By Jennyfer Castaneda    =====

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http://faithjustice.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/martin_luther_king_jr.jpg**
Martin Luther King Jr was a spirited and political leader of the Civil Rights movement. Born on January 15,1929, in Atlanta,Georgia.He played an important position in the black community. He was a minister. Growing up, like that of many black children, he was scarred by prejudice. As Martin got older he learned that segregation was a fact of life in the South. Martin began college when he was 15, three years earlier than most students. He went to Morehouse College in Atlanta, one of the best black colleges in the country. While at Morehouse, Martin decided that he wanted to become a minister like his father. Then in 1948, Martin enrolled at the Crozer Seminary in Pennsylvania. He worked hard and in his spare time he read the work of famous theologians. One philosopher who impressed him was Mohandes "Mahatma" Ghandi. One day, a friend introduced Martin to a young singer named Coretta Scott. She came from the South like Martin and had grown in up in a black farming family. A scholarship had allowed her to study at the New England Conservatory. Their love quickly grew.On June 18,1953, they were married by Martin's father at Coretta's home in Marion, Alabama. In the spring of 1955, Martin finished his studies and was awarded a doctorate in theology. From then on, he was known as either "Doctor King " or "Reverend King." There was another cause for celebration that spring. Coretta was pregnant with their first child,daughter Yolanda.

But things had not improved for black people in Montgomery in the years since the young King had been forced to give up his seat to a white man on a bus. The bus companies were the perfect example of segregation.The city would not be allowed to hire black bus drivers. Black seating in the back of the bus was strictly enforced. After the Rosa Parks incident, black leaders decided it would be a great time to boycott the bus services. This means that no black person would travel on any bus. Not only would this attract the attention of segregation to everyone in America but it would also remove the bus companies of a great deal of money.The boycott plan would start on Monday so that way they could tell the people at the Sunday services what they are going to do. Martin got up early the morning of December 5,1955, the first day of the boycott. The bus, which was normally crammed with black passengers, rolled by. But it was completely empty.The black people of Montgomery had in fact stayed off the bus. Black people either walked, hitchhiked, or shared rides. They did anything but getting on the buses. Then in 1963, there was a march in Washington. Martin was anxious that if few people showed up then no one would believe in the importance of the campain for the civil rights movement. But when he and his wife got there, their hearts stopped.There was 250,000 people there. Both black and white and no sign of violence. Then in front of Lincoln Memorial, on August 28,1963, he gave his well known speech," I Have A Dream. "



Martin was a passionate speaker whose sermons and speeches were his most powerful weapons as a leader. He strongly believed that blacks should adopt the methods of nonviolence acts. He was one in six blacks that actually got in Crozer Seminary in Pennsylvania. Freedom was his major theme in his speeches, song and signs. He was determined to make peace happen between blacks and whites.What made him so special was all that he did for this nation. Even though racism still lives, he started the peace between them and got freedom for everyone. He got people on track by taking away all the "Whites Only " sign and letting everyone get along. He wanted everyone to be friends and not let color get in the way of friendship. He wsa a very loving man. He loved his family and friends and was very caring and considerate of others. He was best known for leading the civil rights movement and using nonviolent protest against segregation and descrimination.

Some facts that Martin did to contribute to the civil rights movement is that he organized a mass march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, that created national support for federal voting rights legislation. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. From 1955-1956 he led a successful effort to desegregate Montgomery,Alabama, buses. In 1957, he helped found and served as the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, (SCLC). In 1958, he published //__Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story__//. Martin's nonviolent policy was strongly influenced by Mohandes Ghandi. But sadly, in 1968, he was assasinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. On August ,1963,in a speech to civil rights supporters at the March in Washington he said this quote,'**I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.'**

The part of Martin Luther King's life that I admire most is what he was trying to accomplish to help America and segregation. He was trying to stop segregation and let everyone have freedom. He has accomplished that goal because now everybody in America has the right to vote. Even though there are people that still discriminate against each other because of color, he was the first to actually make a difference in that. I admired that a lot. Now here in America we actually have the first black president. His name is Barack Obama. A lot of people were happy that he won this year election. This really made a difference and it was a really happy moment. This shows a lot because back then there was no black president and now there is.



I think this book gives an honest account on Martin Luther King Jr. because all the facts and everything it said in the book were honest. You could also find the same information using other sources and it even had some quotes that Martin said. I think that this book explained his life well because all of the information in the book was accurate and the dates were the same as you would find using other sources. I think that this book did a good job in explaining Martin Luther King Jr.'s life.