Martin Luther King Jr., lived a pretty happy, secure life as a child. His parents showed their children lots of love but they were also strict with them. They stressed pride, dignity and learning.

Martin Sr., as I shall call him for short, believed that he was as good as any other man, black or white. He refused to lower his head when they were around white people and he wouldn't flinch and move out of the way when he passed white people on the street. His wife was afraid that his pride and dignity would get him into trouble but he believed that 'one should never fear to do what was right'. Due to this, Martin Jr. grew up with the words; "You are as good as anybody else" fixed into his head.

His father would take him to downtown Atlanta where the large community of whites dwelled. The white people treated the black people harshly and cruelly. He wanted t

Dr. King knew he was going to be assassinated; yet he accepted death and was not afraid of it. He was often threatened and lived with a shadow of danger. He spoke of his death without fear or self-pity and said, "A man who won't die for something is not fit to live." King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 by a sniper in Memphis. Here are some of his words that were played on a tape during his memorial service. "If any of you are around when I have to meet my day I don't want a long speech, I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life for others. I'd like somebody to say that day, that M.L.K. Jr., tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be like and to walk with them. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. Then my living will not be in vain."

All through his life he had helped the different movements leading towards human civil rights, freedom and equality for the black people. From the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, St. Augustine Campaign, Mississippi Freedom Summer, Selma Campaign, Student sit-ins and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to the March on Washington and the Freedom Riders, he showed courage compassion, pride and a deep passionate belief which he expressed in words but more so in his actions. With the March on Washington he had created a new form of protesting and that is the mass demonstration. In that Washington March (the largest Civil Rights demonstration in history) he was introduced as the moral leader of the nation. It was there that he gave his famous speech "I have a dream." In all these different movements, his actions and in his speeches he preached about the philosophy of nonviolence and that love stood as the regulating ideal. By this we could see how much he was affected by Gandhi's life and his nonviolent direct action techniques and also with Jesus Christ and the gospel of love. He learnt that love was a potent instrument for social and collective transformation. He preached the gospel of nonviolent action, not only against racial injustice but also against all injustice. In spite of all the violence, harsh attacks and threats, King persevered in his nonviolent philosophy. After one of the horrendous murders of four young black girls he said, "God still has a way of wringing good out of evil." Another thing he said was, " We will wear them down by our capacity to suffer." He worked very hard at convincing the many persecuted and angry black people of responding to the violence with love, pride and quiet dignity. This, many times, infuriated the extreme white racists. This proved his point that you can achieve results with nonviolent procedures.

In 1953 King married a woman called Coretta Scott whom

Some common words found in the essay are:
King Jr, Dr King, Jesus Christ, Rights Act, Martin Jr, King Freedom, Civil Rights, Martin Sr, MLK Jr, King December, luther king, martin luther, martin luther king, king jr, luther king jr, black people, dr king, civil rights, white people, black people shop, fight freedom, rights act, king assassinated, luther king sr, civil rights freedom,
Approximate Word count = 1953
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)