MARTIN LUTHER KING A GREAT MAN By Jordi Canalda

The united states in the 50’s… 1954-Rosa Parks, a respectful black seamstress, refused to give her seat to a white man on a bus in Alabama. She was sent to jail for that offence. Six-year-old black girl Ruby Bridges was intimidated and spat on by a white mob in New Orleans simply because she wanted to go to the same school as white children. 14-year-old black boy Emmett Till was killed by a Mississippi gang simply because he had supposedly made suggestive remarks to a white woman.

Blacks (both educated and uneducated) were denied the right to vote or serve on juries. They could not eat at lunch counters, register in motels or use whites-only rest rooms. They could not buy or rent a home wherever they chose. They had to get off the sidewalk when a white person walked by. (…)(…)

How did Martin Luther King help change that status quo? He lead a movement that struggled for black equality. He refused to use violence. He believed in achieving equality through peace. He helped put an end to segregation.

What he did… Lead a movement against racism. Freed blacks from segregation. Helped extend freedom all over the world. Helped modernise the United States.

testament Still regarded as the black leader of a movement against racism. He is a symbol for many human-rights fighters and still a dream for many oppresed people. Helped shape a country that was to wave the Flag of Freedom all over the world.

biography Born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Attended segregated public schools in Georgia. He married Coretta Scott on June 18, They had four children: Yolanda Denise (born 1955), Martin Luther III (born 1957), Dexter Scott (born 1961) and Bernice Albertine (born 1963). Studied and received his doctorate in theology in Helped mobilise the black boycott of the Montgomery bus system in 1955, after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man.

In 1963 led mass protests against discrimination in Birmingham, Alabama where the white population were violently resisting desegregation. King was arrested and jailed for his part in the protests. Named Man of the Year by Time magazine in Participated in the enormous civil rights march on Washington in August 1963, and delivered his famous 'I have a dream' speech, predicting a day when the promise of freedom and equality for all would become a reality in America. In 1964, at the age of 35, he received the Nobel Peace Prize. He donated the prize money of $54,123 to the civil rights movement. He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 during a visit to Memphis, Tennessee.

Consider: How would the world have been different if it had not been deprived of such a charismatic figure as King’s? Martin Luther King advocated non-violent direct action as a way to fight discrimination. Would he had been equally successful if he had used violent methods?