The True Hero
Essay by Financs • February 5, 2014 • Essay • 2,281 Words (10 Pages) • 1,438 Views
Henrietta Eghan
History 115
Dr. Angeshom
Group F
November 2, 2013
"The True Hero"
When in your life have you given a hand to the helpless? When in your life did you give your voice to the voiceless? When did you sacrifice your life so that others may enjoy freedom? Many leaders have walked the surface of this earth, but one leader, whose influence is marked on my heart and that of many others, is Martin Luther King Jr. He gave hope where there was no hope; he gave strength to the weak; he fought not with his weapons but with his speech and intelligence so that we may enjoy freedom today. He was a father, a preacher, an iconic for civil rights movement, one of the greatest speakers to walk on this planet, an advocate and a humanitarian.
From www.biography.com, Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929 as Michael King Jr. to Michael King Sr and Alberta Williams King in Atlanta Georgia.p
Economic equality is one of the greatest element that Martin Luther King Jr fought for all especially for African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr saw that there is the need to fight for equality for his fellow African Americans. In the article, "1968: The year that shook the World-Martin Luther King's last fight" by Brian Jones, King agreed that, "Black people had legal equality, and yet racism persisted. Black people still had not won economic equality. "The Negro" he said, "still lives in the basement of the Great Society." As a victim of racial discrimination in his early childhood, Martin Luther King Jr saw the biggest problem facing the progress of the black people as well as their community was racial discrimination Martin Luther King Jr under his leadership led African Americans into in civil rights movement to fight for their rights. .From the biography of Martin Luther, King Jr declared in his first speech as the group's president, "We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice". From this speech, Martin Luther King Jr led African Americans in the Montgomery bus boycott and March on Washington to seek for their rights as part of the great American society. King Jr as the leader in civil rights struggle such as Montgomery bus boycott and the 1963 March on Washington broke the pains and intimidations that African Americans have suffered for long. Also, these civil rights movements led to the enactment of Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Civil Rights Act of 1968 that gave African Americans the right to voting, equal employment, and equal housing.
Another important thing Martin .L. King Jr did was to address issues such as poverty among Americans of all races. Martin Luther King Jr embarked on an adage like "What good is it to be allowed to eat in a restaurant, if you can't afford a hamburger?" to eradicate poverty in the American society. Luther King Jr used the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the "Poor People's Campaign" as a platform to help the poor and less fortunate Americans. From the "The Unfinished Business of the Poor People's Campaign", King encouraged his aides that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference would pressure Congress to enact Economic Bill of Rights in a nonviolence means for anti-poverty package that involves full employment, a secured guaranteed income measure and low-income housing for the nation's poor. Also, King Jr called for attention and the need to solve poverty in the great society through the Vietnam War by insinuating it to how Americans focus more to "slaughter, men ,women and children" in Vietnam than the federal government them to fight for "war against poverty" in the great society. All these great works improved the development of America.
In conclusion. Martin Luther King Jr was an emblem of patriotism through is nonviolence motto. King Jr based on his integrity, but not words only fought to achieve economic justice for both African Americans as well as other people of all races.
Work Cited
Hine, William C., and Stanley Harrold. "BLACK NATIONALISM, BLACK POWER, BLACK ARTS." THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN ODYSSEY. By Darlene ClarkK Hine. 5th ed. Vol. 2. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 606-39. Print.
Jones, Brian. "Martin Luther King's Last Fight." N.p., Mar.-Apr. 2008. Web.
"Martin Luther King Jr." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Nov 16 2013, 12:33 http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086.
Henrietta Eghan
History 115
Dr. Angeshom
Group F
November 2, 2013
"The True Hero"
When in your life have you given a hand to the helpless? When in your life did you give your voice to the voiceless? When did you sacrifice your life so that others may enjoy freedom? Many leaders have walked the surface of this earth, but one leader, whose influence is marked on my heart and that of many others, is Martin Luther King Jr. He gave hope where there was no hope; he gave strength to the weak; he fought not with his weapons but with his speech and intelligence so that we may enjoy freedom today. He was a father, a preacher, an iconic for civil rights movement, one of the greatest speakers to walk on this planet, an advocate and a humanitarian.
From www.biography.com, Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929 as Michael King Jr. to Michael King Sr and Alberta Williams King in Atlanta Georgia.p
Economic equality is one of the greatest element that Martin Luther King Jr fought for all especially for African Americans. Martin Luther King Jr saw that there is the need to fight for equality for his fellow African Americans. In the article, "1968: The year that shook the World-Martin Luther King's last fight" by Brian Jones, King agreed that, "Black people had legal equality, and yet racism persisted. Black people still had not won economic equality. "The Negro" he said, "still lives in the basement of the Great Society." As a victim of racial discrimination in his early childhood, Martin Luther King Jr saw the biggest problem facing the progress
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