Thursday, April 21, 2016

Martin Luther King Jr.

For my final speech tomorrow, I am comparing and contrasting the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi.  I though I would dedicate a couple blog to talk a little bit about these great men.  Martin Luther King Jr. is a very well known civil rights leader who dedicated his life to working for equality between blacks and whites.  Martin Luther King Jr. was actually born as Michael King, but followed in his father's footsteps as he changed his name when he became pastor of their church.  Martin Luther King Jr. was extremely bright in regards to school.  He actually skipped 9th and 11th grades and entered college when he was only 15 years old.  He was not always extremely religious although he came from a very religious family.  His attitudes changed during his junior year of college, when he decided to enter the seminary.  Martin Luther King Jr. was influential in so many movements, but he is probably best remembered for his "I Have a Dream" speech.  King truly believed inequality, an he made it his life's work to make other see what he already knew.  King was a leader of the Montgomery bus boycott, and because of his work, the court declared the segregated bus laws were unconstitutional.  King was also the youngest man to receive a Nobel Peace Prize at age 35.  He donated the monetary prize that came along with the award back to fund the civil rights movement.  Another interesting fact that I never realized is that Martin Luther King Jr. is the only non-president to have a national holiday dedicated in his honor.  Martin Luther King Jr. was a great man and left behind a great legacy.  Although racism does still exist, we have come a long way since the time of Martin Luther King Jr.  Hopefully, our country can continue to improve and work toward equality to bring about the goals of Martin Luther King Jr.

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