"I have a dream, that my four little children
will one day live in a nation where they will
not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character. I have
a dream today!"
After listening to this quote, we bet most
of you know who we are going to be talking
about today, right tiktakers? Michael Luther
King Jr., known as Martin Luther King, was
born in January 15 of 1929 in Atlanta. He
was an American pastor and activist who fought
for the civil rights of African-Americans.
His parents were Martin Luther King Sr. and
Alberta William King. He studied in public
schools and graduated high school when he
was 15 years old. In 1945 he graduated in
Sociology from Atlanta's Morehouse College,
and in 1951 graduated in Theology from the
Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Finally, in 1955 he obtained his doctorate
in Philosophy.
While living in Boston he met Coretta Scott,
with whom he married in 1953. Together they
had 4 children: Yolanda King, Martin Luther
King III, Dexter Scott King and Bernice King.
Just like his father and grandfather he became
a baptist pastor, and in 1954 he was in charge
of a church in the city of Montgomery, Alabama.
At the same time he joined the executive committee
of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People. Just one year later, several
racist incidents led him to lead an entire
social movement. One of the most well known
incidents is the case of Rosa Parks, who refused
to give up her seat for a white person on
a bus, and ended up in jail. As a response
to this, Martin Luther King led a boycott
against the public buses in Montgomery.
That protest continued for more than a year,
until the Supreme Court of the United States
declared unconstitutional the law which demanded
racial segregation in Montgomery's public
transportation. But even with that victory,
the violence was extreme and the very house
of Martin Luther King was attacked.
But the fight didn't end there of course,
and Martin kept demonstrating he was determined
to achieve real equality in society. He went
to different countries, and became more and
more known. In 1957 he was chosen as the president
of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,
a Christian and pacifist organization with
the mission of actively participating in the
movement for civil rights.
After participating in several protests and
boycotts in Birmingham, Alabama, he was incarcerated
in 1963. From prison he wrote a letter explaining
the motives of the protests, and received
support from the then president of the United
States, John F. Kennedy. Martin was liberated
one week later, and the protests in Birmingham
ended in June of 1963 when public spaces were
opened for African-Americans.
On August 28 of that same year he delivered
a speech which made history: I have a dream.
That very day he also spearheaded a massive
march in Washington where more than 250.000
people participated. They demanded freedom
and employment, and a just society with no
discrimination of any kind. Once the march
was finished they were received by president
Kennedy, who committed to accelerate the implementation
of his new policies against segregation in
schools and against unemployment, which specially
affected the black community.
In 1964 Martin Luther King was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize. Unfortunately, the good
intentions of the president who was killed
months later, nor Martin's groundbreaking
speech, were enough to achieve a just society.
Violent and discriminatory acts against the
African-American population kept occurring,
and the situation was very difficult for them.
Martin, who inspired by Gandhi always defended
pacifist actions, kept participating in manifestations
and protests and was incarcerated in many
occasions. And sadly, his life had a tragic
ending, as he was killed in April 4 of 1968,
which sparked a wave of incidents in the entire
country.
Martin Luther King is a symbol of the black
community's fight for civil rights. Many years
after his death his message is still very
necessary, and there's still a long way to
go until we reach real equality. It's important
for us to make the world a better place to
live in, and it doesn't matter what the color
of your skin is tiktakers: We are all equal,
and have the same rights.
