Martin Luther King Jr.
Have you ever faced the dogs, the racist police and heavy criticism for trying to get equal rights that other people have? Well that’s what Martin Luther King Jr. faced after he led numerous protests and marches against white racist people in the USA. He wanted equal rights for African-Americans living in the US.
Martin Luther King Junior was born in Atlanta on 15th January 1929. His parents were Reverend Martin Luther King Senior and Alberta Williams King. His interests were bringing together all of the races and theology. While he was young, he learned from his parents that African-Americans did not have equal rights as white people. He grew up to fight the racist laws with friend Ralph Abernathy and later wards Rosa Parks. He gave many speeches including the world famous ‘I Have a Dream’ on August 28 1963. It drew quarter of a million people to the Lincoln Memorial where Martin gave the speech in Central Washington.
Martin pursued his dreams about theology which is about religious beliefs and God, becoming a Baptist minister in 1948 after he finished Booker T Washington High School and Morehouse College. He married Coretta Scott in 1953.
Martin won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for all of his protests and marches against discrimination of African-Americans in the USA.
On the 4th of April 1968, Martin was standing on the balcony of a hotel in Memphis Tennessee waiting for Ralph when he was shot in the head by supposedly convicted criminal Earl James Ray. He was driven to St Josephs Hospital in an ambulance but died on the operating table at 7:05pm. The response by the USA was riots throughout the country. Martin changed the future of the USA forever.
At his funeral a eulogy was given by Dr. Benjamin, his old tutor. He said:
“Martin Luther faced the dogs, the police, heavy criticism, and finally death; yet he never carried a gun, not even a knife to defend himself. He only had his faith to rely on.”
Martin once said to his wife Coretta that he wouldn’t reach 40. That eventually became true, as he died at the age of 39. Martin’s family later said that James have nothing to do with the murder. Loyd Jowers was found to have had a part in the murder. Loyd said that Lt. Earl Clark from Memphis Police Department made the shot, but this claim has not been proven.
By Garyu
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