...Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, ‘“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter’” (Luther and Melvin). Martin Luther King Jr., the man with a dream, fought through discrimination to enable United States citizens to live more peacefully. Due to his work during the Civil Rights Movement and his tragic death, Martin Luther King, Jr. left a legacy of equality in America. As a child Martin Luther King, Jr. experienced racial discrimination first hand. Due to his skin color, King’s “friends” refused to play with him at a young age (Dubovoy). King stood emotionally wounded for the rest of his life, when his own best friends betrayed him. King did not want his children or anyone to feel discriminated against due to their...
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...Instructor: Wendy Rusnock Twentieth Century Thinkers Beginning in the early 1900’s at the turn of the century, was a time of change, brilliance, dedication, and new-found technology. From quill pens to ink pens, horse and carriages to the earliest motor vehicles, the segregation of Blacks and Whites to the Civil Rights movement, handwriting important information on tablets to storing important information in a computers; the Twentieth Century saw a tremendous amount of positive contributions to society. Some contributions made in the last century are often over-looked and taken for granted. North Americans in particular have become a bit spoiled with all that is “just there.” What we have forgotten, and often needs reiterated is that without the integrity and dedication found in the creative minds of the Twentieth Century, the United States would be living as if it were still 1901 rather than 2011. This for many today would be considered the dark ages. There are various individuals that are responsible for the growth during this time period. Two of the most influential, though each had separate goals, were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bill Gates. Both individuals contributed a great amount and may have gone down in history as having changed the way the world thinks and worked personally, socially, and politically. Martin Luther King Jr. was arguably one of the most influential civil rights activists and speakers of the century. According one Newsday article, King’s mission...
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...with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s thesis statement and his supporting ideas. Summary: In his speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers a powerful message on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. I have a dream is a speech in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. cultivates the powerful force of peace in people to act out in love towards racism. He is trying to reach the good in people and believes that love will be more effective than hate. TS: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. effectively conveys his message of equality and non-violence by making an emotional appeal to Americans. EM: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech brought change to America, Americans were unified, and caused people to view others differently. I. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech brought change to America. A. People were moved by his emotions. B. It inspired equality in Americans. C. America yielded to peace. II. Americans were unified. B. Racism was reduced. C. Peace prevailed over violence. III. Caused people to view others differently. A. People changed their perspective. B. Race became less significant C. Humanity was changed by love. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Speech I have a dream I have a dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is recognized as one of the greatest speeches ever presented. Over 50 years ago, in August of 1963, Dr. King captivated America with his significant I have a dream speech powerfully given on the steps of the Lincoln memorial. What was Dr. King’s...
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...Coretta; The Story of Coretta Scott King Octavia Vivian Coretta Scott King is widely recognized as the wife of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But in her own right she was a civil rights activist, vocalist and mother of four children. The struggles that she faced in her life were insurmountable. At a young age, she lost the love of her life and raised four children alone. But the grounding factor through all of her trials and tribulations was her strong belief and love of God. Growing up in Alabama in the 1930’s was difficult for an African American woman. Her family struggled even though they owned land and multiple businesses during the depression. Coretta attended a local elementary school and was always at the top of her class. She moved on to Lincoln High School, which was semi-private. Her parents were paying tuition plus room and board and didn’t see her but only on the weekends. Her mother got so frustrated with the whole situation that she bused all of the African American kids to and from school every day. Coretta’s parents told her that she was going to college no matter what. After graduating as valedictorian of her class, she received some assistance from scholarships and attended Antioch College in Ohio. She majored in elementary education with a minor in music. Coretta was a very talented vocalist and singing was her passion. After graduating from Antioch, Coretta was accepted to the New England Conservatory in Boston. Coretta had...
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...from Birmingham Jail Influential leader of the Civil Rights Movement and active agitator for justice, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. in his letter, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, argues passionately that injustice anywhere automatically creates the timely situation for organized retaliation in seeking freedom for the oppressed. King was arrested and placed in Birmingham Jail after a peaceful protest in downtown Birmingham. King was “the foremost civil rights leader in America in the 1950s and 1960s” (Kirszner and Mandell 799). “An ordained minister who held a doctorate in theology, King was the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference” (799). “King and his followers met opposition not only from white moderates but also from some African-American clergymen who thought King was a troublemaker.” King’s opposition labeled his demonstrations and acts against segregation as “untimely”, “unwise”, and...
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...------------------------------------------------- I Have a Dream From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the Martin Luther King Jr. speech. For other uses, see I Have a Dream (disambiguation). Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering "I Have a Dream" at the 1963 Washington D.C. Civil Rights March. | "I Have a Dream"30-second sample from "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. | Problems listening to this file? See media help. | "I Have a Dream" is a public speech by American activist Martin Luther King, Jr.. It was delivered by King on August 28, 1963, in which he called for an end to racism in the United States. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the speech was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.[1] Beginning with a reference to the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed millions of slaves in 1863,[2] King examines that: "one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free".[3] At the end of the speech, King departed from his prepared text for a partly improvised peroration on the theme of "I have a dream", possibly prompted by Mahalia Jackson's cry: "Tell them about the dream, Martin!"[4] In this part of the speech, which most excited the listeners and has now become the most famous, King described his dreams of freedom and equality arising from a land of slavery and hatred.[5] The speech was ranked the top American speech...
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...Martin Luther King, leadership, transformation, change. The research finds that Dr. King personified the four characteristics of transformational leadership. It also illustrates King’s leadership legacy through modern works on leadership. Few individuals have made such a significant contribution to the advancement of modern society as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Born into a family of Baptist ministers in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929, Martin Luther King also became a Baptist minister and rose to national prominence through the organization of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and as leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid- 1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964, his leadership was fundamental to that movement's success in ending the legal segregation of African Americans in the southern states, and other parts, of the United States. Inspired by Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence, King promoted non-violent tactics for social change such as the massive March on Washington (1963), although he never witnessed his dream of a United States in which all Americans would have racial and economic justice. King’s vision of racial justice and love, provided hope and opportunity to African Americans beset by daily hardship and injustice and the impetus to initiate far-reaching social and political change. His ability to transform the struggle for racial equality into a vision with understandable, concrete...
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...Laney English III 10 April 2014 “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” Research Paper Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” is considered to be one of his most powerful and effective speeches, considering that it gave not only the black community of Memphis, TN, but all supporters of the nation, the courage to continue a long journey for freedom. His figure as a speaker and a leader had a positive impacting effect on the nation as a whole. On February 1, 1968, during a heavy rainstorm in Memphis, two black sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death by a faulty garbage truck compactor to stay out of the rain (“Martin Luther King Jr”). The City of Memphis, under Mayor Henry Loeb, in order to preserve money in the economy, had continued to use this old and outdated machinery in the Public Works Department when it should have been discarded (Honey). “The city paid most of its 1,300 sanitation workers a minimum wage of one dollar and sixty cents per hour; they worked until their routes were done, often putting in sixty hours a week at forty hours of pay” (Honey). The wages of these workers were so low that they were forced to live on welfare as well as food stamps to simply live day to day and feed their families (“Sanitation Workers Strike”). The city provided unskilled black workers with no job benefits, no access to supervisory jobs, no rights or respect and minimal health coverage. The families of both Cole and Walker received...
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...reasons why Mr. Douglas believes that the Fourth of July does not apply to him or any slaves. Mr. Douglas was an escaped slave who did not receive a formal education but was self-taught. During his time he was to slavery what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were to the Civil Rights movement. The voice of reason and hope, he was invited to speak before different audience where he expressed the true feelings of the slaves and called into question and convicted the beliefs of the slave owners. Mr. Douglas believed that the Fourth of July did not apply to the slaves or himself because; 1) It is more important to the white people, but a mockery to the black people 2) It gives a conflicting feeling because slaves had no freedom. 3) The slave is acknowledged as a man by the government in only in the punishments given for their crimes 4) The wrongfulness of slavery is so strong that if any man be asked if it is wrong, he would say yes 5) The Fourth of July is hypocritical because it is a celebration of freedom, but there is still the evil and inequality of slavery The lingering attitudes are still present today; we have a Declaration of Independence that is founded on principles of slavery that still does not apply to us. The U. S. Constitution while it has amendments that provide provisions for African-Americans as well as other minority is still not applied equally. For example how we are treated by the criminal justice system, police brutality, high...
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...Civil Rights Movement Marilyn Hemingway History 300 May 08, 2013 Dr. Goldstein African Americans have experienced racial discrimination in virtually every single area of their lives. America has come a long way since the 1800’s when slavery was common, but that road certainly hasn’t been easy or short for Black American. Not long after the Civil War ended, African Americans experienced a form of racial segregation called Jim Crow. The name "Jim Crow" originated from a character in an early nineteenth-century minstrel show song. A white minstrel blackened his face and jigged around while singing. The "Jim Crow" character regularly appeared in minstrel shows touring the South. Eventually, Jim Crow became the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively, in southern and Border States. These laws legalized segregation from the 1860’s through 1967. The most widespread laws mandated racial segregation in schools and public places such as railroads, restaurants, and streetcars. Since segregation laws typically excluded African Americans from services, Jim Crow laws began as an attempt to move forward by providing separate services for blacks. These laws were adopted earliest in most southern towns and municipalities where diverse crowds lived. These communities passed vagrancy laws that controlled the influx of black homeless migrants. Many southern states during the...
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...would make changes to ensure the effectiveness, growth and outcome benefits the corporation. Transformational leadership is the “style of leadership in which the leader identifies the needed change, creates a vision to guide the change through inspiration, and executes the change with the commitment of the members of the group” (Transformational Leadership, n.d.). Northouse (2007) goes further to explain transformational leadership as the process whereby a person engages others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower (p. 176). Two of the most inspirational transformational leaders of this generation have been Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy. King, with his “I have a Dream” speech inspired the Civil Rights movement. President Kennedy’s vision of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth” inspired the space race of the 1960s and 1970s (Greenberg, 2005, p. 364). These men filled the categories of transformational leaders and with their popularity, charisma and confidence; they inspired a nation to change from their old ways into a new millennium of national, social and political improvement. What is a Transformational Leader? The transformational leader has a desire and ability to raise the consciousness of others by applying powerful moral values and ideals....
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...Ivyanne London Dr. Bryan English 2010 7 December 2012 The Bhagavad- Gita: Influence on Civil Disobedience Advocates Civil disobedience can be described as the nonviolent means of bringing about social change. The Bhagavad- Gita is a philosophical poem that attempts to ask difficult questions of universal issues that deal with the topic of civil disobedience. The messages that are told throughout the poem have had major influences on civil disobedience advocates such as Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. This work offers explanations that can be applied to dilemmas that can’t be resolved with a simple form of action. According to the Theosophical Society of America, The Bhagavad- Gita, commonly known as the “Gita” has been passed back and forth between America and India through these civil disobedience activists. They each had influences on each other along with the Gita. Some reoccurring themes that may have influenced Thoreau, Gandhi, and King include questions about the right way to live, seeking higher knowledge, and how no action is still a form of action. The version of The Bhagavad- Gita that is told in The Norton Anthology of World Literature, 3rd edition, begins with the moment of crisis in Arjuna’s mind. Arjuna is the middle son of his five brothers who are apart of the Pandavas. He is apart of the warrior caste and is the most skilled and feared archer of his time. They are about to engage in war with their cousins, the Kauravas, because...
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...forever on November 4, 2008. Anyone watching a television on this important evening knew that everything had changed. Barak Hussein Obama had just been elected the 45th President of the United States of America, and he represented the first African American to ever win this office. To many the election was a fulfillment of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream for social and political equality for African Americans. Still others, including the newly elected President, reached back to Lincoln. President Obama would also, invoke the founding fathers, giving credit to the social experiment that democracy is and thus hinting to the efforts of Washington and others. The days that followed the Obama election would be filled with symbolism leading to the concert on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, and the day of service, called by the President, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the day before inauguration. The election of President Obama seemed to have brought full circle the experiment of democracy. The dreams of the founding fathers were present, the echo of Lincoln’s consequential Presidency were present, and certainly the dreams and speeches of Dr. King were front and center in this cultural moment. Yet the cultural moment represented so much more than a continuum of ideas and dreams of significant men. This moment was one of the first major societal changes in a generation. Perhaps not Ironically, the election of Barak Obama had ripple effects upon social change in the United...
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...Paper By Antwion Demps I have chosen the ultimate leader to cover on my leader ship paper Dr. Martin Luther King JR. Dr. King was an American Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs. Dr. King also had the quintessential leadership traits of undeterred focus and commitment. His goal was the next substantial effort undertaken after President Abraham Lincoln’s two momentous achievements – the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and ensuring the passage of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865 – toward making the phrase “all men are created equal,” as declared by Thomas Jefferson in the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776 true, not just in words, but in fact. No matter what Dr. King had to endure personally, including prison, overt hatred, ominous threats, and ultimately, untimely death by assassination on April 4, 1968 at the hands of James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, or what he and the civil rights movement collectively endured, including the deadly bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, the deadly and strong backlash of the resurgent Ku Klux Klan, and overt local and state-sanctioned law enforcement brutality, Dr. King never wavered in focus or commitment to making racial equality a reality. He didn’t see problems...
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...man that America has come to known Mr. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King was one of the illustrious leaders for the civil rights movements back in the 50’s and 60s. He has done things in his life that many would say was courageous. Mr. King wrote a letter stressing the issues the black community were facing in Alabama. The letter as we all know is called “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. The seven page letter give or take was a thought out and well-structured letter. The concern he stressed for the coloreds and no actions taken to resolve the issues ate away at Mr. King. All the hard work that he put into having freedom for the underdogs...
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