Who is the greatest person in world history? With that in mind, the name of Rev. King, Martin Luther King, Jr., cannot be missed.
Named Martin Luther
Rev. King was born in Georgia in 1929.
Georgia, also known as the Deep South, was one of the most black-discriminatory regions in the United States.
In the latter half of the 19th century, the United States, led by Lincoln, declared the Emancipation Proclamation, defeating the Confederate States of America in the south and uniting the United States. However, black discrimination was deep-rooted within the former Allied territory, and it was said that racial discrimination groups such as the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) were gaining support.
Rev. King's father, Michael, was also a minister. He gave his son the same name and later renamed him Martin Luther with his son. It is the name of the person who caused religious reform in the middle of the 16th century. If you read Martin Luther in English, you become Martin Luther. Luther will reform his religion, and Rev. King will also be a revolutionary figure in the United States.
Anger against racism
Rev. King had a white friend when he was young. He was playing with him until he was six, but at one point his friend's mother declared:
"My child can't play with blacks"
It was the first discrimination that Rev. King suffered.
Discrimination against Rev. King increased with age.
Eventually, Rev. King entered Morehouse College in Georgia, where he studied theology as much as he could to become a minister, just like his father. In the process, he was exposed to Mahatma Gandhi's nonviolence and was greatly influenced by his ideas.
Rev. King is a very talented person, eventually leading to his PhD from the prestigious Boston University.
Around this time, he met his lifelong companion, Colletta, and because Boston was in the north, he witnessed the arrest of a white man who had a discriminatory attitude towards himself, and discrimination is not natural. To learn.
Since the United States has adopted a federal system and laws are set in each state, laws prohibiting black discrimination were stipulated one after another in the north, while racial discrimination called the Jim Crow law was established in the south. The legislation was taken for granted.
Bus Boycott Incident
The historic Rosa Parks incident took place in Montgomery, Alabama, one of the southern states.
This was a case in which a woman named Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus to a white man, embodying discrimination against blacks.
King, who was a minister at the church in Montgomery at the time, protested violently. He called on a black man living in Montgomery to boycott the bus.
At that time, the majority of bus users were black, and the movement was very successful.
Following the boycott movement, a federal court in the United States ruled that the racial segregation policy on the bus was unconstitutional.
Civil Rights Movement and March on Washington
The times have reached a great swell.
The events in Montgomery greatly encouraged blacks living in the United States, and the swells spread throughout the country.
Rev. King went around the southern states to protest. He was arrested and nearly assassinated in the process, but Rev. King was not frightened.
Gandhi-influenced King never used violence and did not resist no matter how violent he was.
The appearance of King was reported daily in the mass media and had a great influence on the public opinion of the United States.
This protest, led by Rev. King, later became known as the civil rights movement.
And on August 28, 1963, just 100 years after President Lincoln's declaration of liberation of slaves, the blacks headed for Washington.
As many as 250,000 people gathered in Washington on that day. Some white people such as Bob Dylan and Marlon Brando were also seen.
The United States has begun to move towards eliminating discrimination.
And to his audience, Rev. King said:
"I have a dream"
King continued.
"One day, on the red hills of Georgia, the child of the slave and the child of the slave will arrive at the same table."
President Lyndon Johnson, who heard the speech, finally enacted the Civil Rights Act, a law to eliminate discrimination against blacks.
In 1964, Rev. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
And to assassination
On April 4, 1968, Rev. King was assassinated by a white man named James Earl Ray.
The day before his assassination, Rev. King made the following speech:
Like you, I want to live longer.
It's not bad to live long, but it doesn't matter to me now.
I just want to realize the will of God.
God allowed me to climb the mountain,
I saw the promised land from the top.
I may not be able to go with you, but
as a people, we will surely reach the promised land.
Rev. King may have known his death.
How many people can stick to their beliefs without fear of their own death?
Rev. King's life is no longer there, but his soul resides inside many later humans.