Martin Luther King

A non violent protester who is probably number one on the 'people who made a difference' list, an inspirational speaker, a human rights activist and a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.



" I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood"

Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, USA on 15 January 1929 to the name Michael but later on he changed it to Martin in honor of Martin Luther, a German Protestant religious leader. Martin had one older sister, and a younger brother. The 3 children grew up in a secure and loving environment, his family was engaged in the African-American baptist church, his father along with his grandfather were both pastors. He fought for racial equality in the USA. He graduated from Morehouse College in his hometown Atlanta, then went to Boston University where he came to realize the vast inequality between white and black people in America. Later on in his twenties, 24 to be specific, he married Coretta Scott, and became a priest, following the family's road, at a church in Montgomery, Alabama.


On 5 December 1955, Rosa Parks another human rights activist, started an Alabama Bus Boycott and King promoted and organised a strike where colored people stopped using the city buses.. At that time, the priority in those buses was for the whites, black people had to go sit at the back of the bus.

A picture of both Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks together, source Wikimedia Commons


After that incident, Martin Luther King became an inspirational speaker, influenced by Gandhi's non violent movements.. he, too, wanted to make a change. He had the capacity to move and change the mentality of his listener, he was always respectful and on point. King also was one of the founders of (SCLC), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. His speeches were mainly about living respectfully hand in hand, the Time Magazine even named him the man of the year in 1963, and a year after that (at the age of thirty-five) he was given the Nobel Peace Prize of $54,123 for his hard work for the racial equality and social justice cause, along with other honors. King gave lectures all over the United States on race-related problems.


He is well known for his 'I have a dream speech' by which we started this blog (King made that speech on a March on Washington which he organised in 1963), and his 'I've been to the mountain top' speech. In fact, that was his last one, Martin Luther King was assassinated the day after that while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4th 1968. King is a national icon in the history of American progressivism. King had an immense impact on race relations in the United States, a memorial statue on the National Mall was opened to the public in 2011.