Martin Luther King Jr.

Posted: March 26th, 2020

Martin Luther King Jr.

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Martin Luther King Jr.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States of America underwent a tumultuous period that was based on racial tensions across its society. This was primarily due to the drastic provisions asserted by the implementation of the Jim Crow laws, which succeeded in advancing racial segregation at a nationwide level. During the respective period, African Americans were treated as second-class citizens despite attaining the right to vote after the era of Reconstruction. Accordingly, African Americans were incapable of accessing quality public and social amenities, which were often provided to the white majority, especially in areas within the South. However, the laws and the resultant aspect of racial segregation would eventually undergo significant opposition because of the efforts asserted by the African American Civil Rights Movement. Despite the involvement of many key personalities in the respective movement, none of them could compare to Martin Luther King Jr., and the contributions that he made at the time.

Martin Luther King Jr. imposed a rather considerable impact on contemporary American society by making numerous achievements within the civil rights movement. Apart from assuming the role of a religious leader, King engaged in various responsibilities that further amplified the impact of the movement in question. Such roles comprised humanitarianism, activism, and involvement in the improvement of movements aimed at addressing the rights of women and children across the United States apart from those that belonged to African Americans (Kirk, 2013). Based on the intensive campaigns that he carried out, especially after the occurrence of the Montgomery Bus arrest of Rosa Parks, King was capable of uniting a divided African American population from both Northern and Southern regions into a nationwide movement that would eventually succeed in the eradication of racial segregation (Kirk, 2013).

King was best noted for his efforts in civil rights movements, which were entirely rooted in non-violence. Similar to the peaceful protests asserted by Mahatma Gandhi during the colonization of India by the British, King’s inclination to non-violence was highlighted as a notable form of protest that managed to elicit more responses from the African American public and the nation in general (Ward & Badger, 2006). Despite criticisms asserted by antagonistic protesters such as the Black Panthers and other groups that routinely used violence as a protest mechanism, King continued to engage in non-violent protests such as the Poor Peoples March on Washington and other gatherings of numerous African Americans (Ward & Badger, 2006). These efforts eventually managed to dissuade the American society towards the plight asserted by African Americans across the country, in specific respect to racial segregation and the Jim Crow laws.

Sadly, even though King utilized non-violence as a form of protest, he was subject to numerous acts of violence with assassination being the last resort that would lead to his death in 1968 in Memphis (Kirk, 2013). While the death of King came as a shock to many hopefuls, both black and white, who had already ingrained his message of unity and peace, King continued to exert a considerable influence that is still felt today in movements such as the Million Man March and the Black Lives Matter movement, which continue to address issues of racism and bigotry in modern America. The society remembers King particularly via the recitation of the “I Have A Dream” speech, which was a personal reflection that admittedly envisioned the future of an American community that lived without the influences of racial segregation. Lastly, every year on January 15, the life of Martin Luther King Jr. is celebrated nationwide.

References

Kirk, J. A. (2013). Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Ward, B., & Badger, A. J. (2006). The making of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. Washington Square, N.Y: New York University Press.