Someone I Admire or Despise

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Numerous factors are considered in determining whether an individual is worthy of admiration and respect. Some individuals are deemed to be great because they have a unique gift or talent. For example, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Picasso, and Van Gogh are well-renowned due to their universally recognized artistic and musical abilities. Other individuals achieve long-term recognition by making invaluable contributions to individuals and society. For example, Cesar Chavez, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks have attained enduring praise because of the contributions they made to individuals and society. This paper examines the life of Martin Luther King Jr. And the impact he made on society.

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.'S LASTING IMPACT

It is nearly impossible to understand the full extent and nature of Martin Luther King Jr.'s accomplishments without examining the history underlying the civil rights movement. The United States Supreme Court made a landmark decision in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education which struck down educational segregation, one of the last and most long-lasting effects of slavery. Prior to Brown v. Board of Education, blacks and other minorities were frequently subjected to emotional and physical harassment in the form of taunts, threats, lynchings, murders, rapes, and numerous other deplorable and inexcusable acts. In addition, blacks and other minorities were routinely forced to surrender their seats on buses so that whites could sit down. Blacks or minorities like Rosa Parks could be imprisoned and fined simply because they refused to give up their seats. Likewise, blacks and other minorities were prohibited from dining at lunch counters, checking into motels, using whites-only restrooms, or buying or renting a home wherever they chose. In short, relations between blacks and other minorities and whites were only slightly better than they had been in the days when slavery was commonly accepted.

Several characteristics distinguish Martin Luther King Jr. from other civil rights leaders. First, Martin Luther King Jr. was able to effectively use his background and training as a Baptist minister to establish a support base within the church and to reach the masses of disenfranchised blacks. Next, Martin Luther King Jr. firmly believed that change could and would be accomplished without the use of physical force or violence. The fact that Martin Luther King Jr. remarkable considering that from 1955, when he mobilized the black community during the 382-day Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, to his death in 1968, he faced hundreds of death threats.

Another remarkable characteristic of Martin Luther King Jr. was his determination, intellect, and perseverance. In 1957, Martin Luther King Jr. summoned together numerous black leaders and cemented the groundwork for what later became the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As president of SCLC, Martin Luther King, Jr. sought to assist other communities in organizing protests against discrimination and registering black voters. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. spearheaded a mass protest in Birmingham, Alabama which resulted in the desegregation of department store facilities, the establishment of a biracial committee, and fair hiring practices. The gravity of police brutality used against Martin Luther King Jr. And the other protesters dramatized the severity of the plight of blacks and resulted in Martin Luther King Jr. writing his classic "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."