Martin Luther King - Engelska

Nedanstående innehåll är skapat av Mimers Brunns besökare. Kommentera arbete

College days

Martin had started college when he was fifteen, three years earlier than the other. He went to Morehouse College in Atlanta, one of the best black colleges inte the country, where open discussion of racial maters was encouraged. He knew just how lucky he was compared to so many black youngsters, and he made the most of his chances. His father had set his heart on Martin´s following him into the church, but Martin himself thought he might like to become a doctor or a lawyer, professions he felt would be of more use to his people.

So Martin told his father that, he would become a minister. His father organized a trial sermon for Martin at his own church, the ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. And a large crowds arrived that sunday to hear the seventeen years old preach. He was very nervous because he did not want to let his father down in front of their own people, but he did well. Later that same year he was ordained and made assistant minister to his father. But his education was far from over. He wanted to continue his studies at a college in the North.

"Martin Luther King Belived very strongly that American black should adopt the methods of non-violence advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Indian independence. Non-violent protest did not mean being passive.
It meant total, organized, noncooperation with evil, a willingness to suffer for what is right, a willingness to pack the jails and, if necessary, a willingness to die for the cause."


Grown up in the church

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born 15 january, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, a city in the deep South of the US. He was named after his father, and the family, which was made up of his parents, a doting grandmother and a brother and sister, called him ML for short - a nickname that stuck throughtout his childhood. Because he was minister, a preacher, ML´s father, "Daddy King," han an importat position in the black community. The Church played a vital role in the life of blacks in the American South. It was the heart of the black community. the source of inspiration and comfort for people whose lives were hard the other six days of the week. Young ML was a clever boy. At five, he was memorizing passages from the Bible. At six, he would sing the Gospel songs for the congregation. And all the time he was learning. One day, after that he were hearing a guest minister give an impressive sermon, Martin Luther told his parents "Some day, I´m goiing to get me some big words like that!"


Lessons from Daddy King

Besides being a minister, Reverend King was a shrewd businessman, and the family lived well. But being a minister and reasonably well-to-do meant nothing to the local white commnuity; to them this gentle man was just another "nigger". But Martin´s father knew how to respond to insults. When a policeman stopped him on the road one day and said
-"Boy, let me see your license?"
The Reverend King ppointed to his son and said "See that child there? That is a boy, I am a man".
He ran a great risk of being called "uppity," but his son admired his courage and his dignity. He would always remember what his father said about racism: I don´t care how long I have to live with the system. I am never going to accept it. I´ll fight it till I die.


Martin meets Coretta

Martin graduated at the top of his class from Crozer and went on to contine his studies at Boston University. He began working for his doctorate, or Ph.D. degree, and enrolled in an advanced course in the philosophy of religion, studying Hinduism, Shintoism and Islam, as well as Christianity. As serious as he was about his studies, Martin still found time to enjoy himself. He was a charming young man and had plenty of girlfriends. But the fun of going out with so many different girls began to a little boring. He wished he could find someone special, someone who could share his life and his hopes. Then a friend introduced him to a young singer named Coretta Scott. She came from the South, like Martin, having grown up in a black farming family in Alabama. A scholarship had allowed her to study music at the New England Conservatory, and she was working part-time to pay her living expenses. The very last thing se wanted was to be swept off her feet and give up her career. Marriage and children were things she hoped to have - but after she had established herselft in music.


The right woman

But all her sensible plans went out of the window. At first, Martin seemed to her to be too short. He was five foot seven, but more time se spent with him the more she liked him. Martin himself was bowled over by her beauty and intelligence, her vivid personality, her strenght of character. He told her so! The more they saw each other, the more they felt for each other, and on June 18, 1953, they were married by Martin´s father at Coretta´s home in Marion. Back in Boston later that year, Martin and Coretta finished their last year of studies, and Martin began looking for a job. He was happy in the academic life and wanted to teach theology at a college or university, but thought he should work as a minister for a few years first.



The first rainy day

The bus boycott was well under way, and Reverend King and other black leaders arranged to meet city officials to discuss the dispute. But right away it became clear that neither the city nor the bus company had any intention of desegregating the buses. The Mayor said smugly, "Comes the first rainy day and the Negroes will be back on the Buses". How wrong he was. The Black people had found the road to freedom, and no downpour was going to break theierspirit. But they realized this was to be no quick victory; there was a long fight ahead. The police soon put an end to the 10-cent taxi service, but the Montgomery Improvement Association had arranged a city-wide motor pool. Car owners took people to and from work, and black churches served as pick-up points. The system ran like clockwork, although many people still walked to work. The protest was visible what people cal "high profile". All those black people trudging to and from work, whatever the weather, became a clear symbol of their new-found dignity. No one could ignore this protest against injustice.

One old lady, "Old Mother Pollard," walked with as much determination as the rest. One day after the service, Dr. King asked her if she wasn´t getting tired of walking. "My feet is tired", she replied, "but my soul is rested".


A victory for non-violence

As Martin Luther sad "We will match your capacity to inlict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering". Those scenes in Birmingham shocked the world. And still the marchers refused to gice in. Every day the demostrators returned to the streets, knowing full well what they faced. The marched up to the waiting police, the dogs, the high pressure hoses, singing their songs of freedom. And then on May 5, 1963 something strange and wonderful happened. Black preach were leading a public march to Birmingham Jail, singing hymns as they went, when the demostrators came at last to the police lines that barred their path. Quietly they all stopped and knelt to pray for a few moments. Then they moved forward. Connor was there.

"Turn on the water," he yelled. "Damn you, turn on the water".
But the police and firemen made no move. They looked at the quiet faces before them, the harmless gentle people who had done nothing to merit abuse. The police moved back and let the company of protesters through.
Connor stood stunned and powerless. His troops had abandoned him.
Martin Luther King´s faith in the fundamental goodness to be found in most men had been jusified. Non-violence had triumphed, though at a high cost in suffering. Over 3000 demosrators had been arrested during the protest.


Awards

He recevied a lot of awards for his work with the Civil Right Movement, and this is just some of the awards. These may show incredibly important and influential he was during his time:
• With the age of just 28 he was selected one of the most outstanding personalities of the year by the very important and much read paper Time Maganize in 1957
• The Second Annual Achievement Award from The Guardian Association of the PoliceDepartment of New York, 1958
• Selected as one of the sixteen world leaders who had contributed most to the advancement of freedom during 1959 by Ling Maganize of New Delhi, India, in 1959
• Named "Man of the Year", by Time Maganize in 1963
• The John F. Kennedy Award, from the United Federation of Teachers. 1964
• The Nobel Peace Price, at the age of 35 he was the youngest man, the third black man and the second American to be honoured whit this prize in 1964


Publications

Trought his world travelling, his dedication to the human rights, his work for the Southern Chiristian Leadership Conference, activating others and being selfishly devoted to peace an equality between the razes and sexes, he laid a fantastic foundation for righting. Dr. Martin Luther King wrote six books and numerous articles for universities and magazines. Here are his books:
• Stride Toward Freedom, about the Montgomery Bus Boycott
• The Measure of a Man, a collection of sermons/lectures
• Why We Can´t Wait, Story of the Birmingham Campain
• Strenght to Love, a selection of sermons
• Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, his reflections on problems of the time
• The Trumpet of Conscience, the Massey Lectures/Sermons, posthumously/decease


His death

While in Memphis to help lead a protest against low salaries and bad working conditions for the cities sanitation employees, Dr. King were shot while he were standing on his balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Tennessee on the 4 of april, 1968.(Two days before my birthday)

James Earl Ray was arrested in Londo, GB on 8 June 1968, and sent back to Memphis on July 19, 1969 to be prosecuted for the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. But the day before his trial, on March 9, 1969 he signed guilty plea, a literal declaration of his guilt, and was sentenced to ninety-nine years in the Tennessee State Prison.

On April 9, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King´s
King´s funeral service were holding at Ebenezer Baptist Church and on the campus of Morehouse Collage, and the United States Presiden...