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The impact of Martin Luther King Jr
The impact of Martin Luther King Jr
Gandhi's nonviolent resistance movement
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In our country, Dr. Martin Luther King embraced the tenets of non-violence in his leadership within the Civil Rights Movement and enduring philosophy for bringing about social change. Dr. King wrote about those who inspired his philosophy of nonviolent social change and Gandhi was a significant influence. According to Pal, Dr. King took a month-long trip to India in 1959 to visit the country of his inspiration. The King Center is dedicated to preserving his legacy and providing support for social change. Based on Dr. King's teachings, The King Center published, “Six Steps of Nonviolent Social Change”. These six steps are: information gathering, education, personal commitment, negotiation, direct action, and reconciliation.
History has encountered many different individuals whom have each impacted the 21 in one way or another; two important men whom have revolted against the government in order to achieve justice are Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. Both men impacted numerous individuals with their powerful words, their words carried the ability to inspire both men and women to do right by their morality and not follow unjust laws. “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” by David Henry Thoreau along with King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, allow the audience to understand what it means to protest for what is moral.
Dr. King, Jr. Was a Baptist minister and social activist who played a key role in the American civil rights movement in the mid 1950's. Drawing inspirations from both Christianity and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. During King's movement African Americans achieved more progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years. King's method involved the six principles of non-violence: information gathering, education, personal commitment, discussion/negotiation, direct action, and reconciliation. Information gathering," you must become an expert on your opponent's position." Education, "it is essential to inform other, this minimize misunderstandings". Personal commitment, "daily check affirm your faith in the philosophy and methods of
The text consists of six well-illustrated sections, and epilogue, and a record of King’s arrests, and each of those sections shows a stage in King’s life. These sections show both sides of King, and are well-rounded in coving King’s inner motivations and his external impact. He developed a person of global renown, the author says about King, “It was in relation to him or in opposition to him that men defined themselves and their racial postures” (197). He also goes into detail about the motivations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and he shows how the ups and downs of King’s experiences in the civil rights movement affected King on a personal level. Bennett discusses how activists like Gandhi shaped King’s own goals as a leader as he evolved into the leader he was over the course of his life. The biography illustrates ho...
applies the principles of civil disobedience in his procedure of a nonviolent campaign. According to him, “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action” (King 262). The first step, which is “collection of the facts,” clarify whether the matter requires civil disobedience from the society (King 262). The second step, “negotiation,” is the step where civil disobedience is practiced in a formal way; to change an unjust law, both sides come to an agreement that respects each other’s demand, (King 262). Should the second step fail, comes the “self-purification,” in which the nonconformists question their willingness to endure the consequences without any retaliation that follow enactment of civil disobedience (King 262). The fourth and the last step, “direct action,” is to execute it; coordinated actions such as protests or strikes to pressure no one, but the inexpedient government to conform to them, and advocate their movement, and thus persuade others to promote the same belief (King 262). This procedure along with principles of civil disobedience is one justifiable campaign that systematically attains its objective. King not only presents, but inspires one of the most peaceful ways to void unjust
MLK Jr. Apostle of Militant Nonviolence. Everyone that has been through the American school system within the past 20 years knows exactly who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is, and exactly what he did to help shape the United States to what it is today. In the beginning of the book, Martin Luther King Jr. Apostle of Militant Nonviolence, by James A. Colaiaco, he states that “this book is not a biography of King, [but] a study of King’s contribution to the black freedom struggle through an analysis and assessment of his nonviolent protest campaigns” (2). Colaiaco discusses the successful protests, rallies, and marches that King put together. .
Martin Luther King, Jr. defines “civil disobedience” as a way to show others what to do when a law is unjust and unreasonable. As King stated in the letter from Birmingham, “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.” When Negros were being treated unfairly, Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped in to show people how to peacefully protest and not be violent. The dictionary definition of civil disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest (Webster Dictionary). That is what Martin Luther King, Jr. did when nothing was changing in the town after the law for public school to be non-segregated. In Antigone, Creon created an edict that states that nobody could bury Polynices’s body because he was a traitor to Thebes and his family. Under Martin Luther King’s definition of an unjust and a just law, Creon’s edict is unjust and degrades Polynices’ right to be buried because of lack of information and favoritism of one brother.
Non-violent direct action and respectful disagreement are a form of civil disobedience. Martin Luther King, Jr. defines “civil disobedience” as a way to show others what to do when a law is unjust and unreasonable. King is most famous for his role in leading the African American Civil Rights Movement and using non-violent civil disobedience to promote his beliefs. King also firmly believed that civil disobedience was the way to defeat racial segregation against African Americans. While leading a protest march on the streets, King was arrested and sent to jail. In response to his imprisonment and an article he read while there, King wrote Letter from Birmingham Jail, explaining that an injustice affects everyone and listed his own criteria for
In 1962, after a trip to India he gained a deeper understanding of what he could achieve by using the nonviolence approach. Upon his return to the United States of America, he focused his attention to Birmingham, Alabama the most segregated city in America, there he achieved two things, one was to demonstrate nonviolent marches, and protests can work to and also by using children, he could teach them that the nonviolent was the way forward. The protest in Birmingham, Alabama shock...
Times were looking up for African Americans, their new freedom gave them the option to go down a road of either criminal actions or to make something out of themselves. But the presence of racism and hatred was still very much so alive, Klu Klux Klan, although not as strong as they were after the Civil War was still present. Laws like Jim Crow laws and “separate but equal” came into play and continued to show how racism was alive. Besides these actors of racism, blacks still started gaining a major roll in American society.
Gandhi once said “An eye for an eye and the whole world is blind.” This is true in most circumstances but there are exceptions. By comparing acts of nonviolent civil disobedience with acts of violent civil disobedience it is apparent that force or violence is only necessary to combat violence but never if it effects the lives of the innocent. A recurrent theme in each of these examples is that there is a genuine desire to achieve equality and liberty. However, one cannot take away the liberties of others in order to gain their own. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that political change would come faster through nonviolent methods and one can not argue his results as many of the Jim Crow laws were repealed. Similarly, through nonviolent resistance Gandhi was able to eventually free India from the rule of Britain. It is true that sometimes the only way to fight violence is through violence, but as is apparent, much can be said of peaceful demonstrations in order to enact change. Thus, it is the responsibility of we as individuals to understand that nonviolence is often a more viable means to an end than violence.
It was there King meet Mordecai Wyatt Johnson (1891 – 1976) an American educator and pastor. He served as the first black president of Howard University, from 1926 until 1960. Johnson has been considered one of the leading African-American preachers of the early 20th-century. Johnson would traveled 25,000 miles a year throughout the country speaking principally on topics such as racism, segregation, and discrimination and his word become a source of great influence for the young Martin L. King. Year later both men spoke alongside each other on the subject of social justice. King was an gifted reader and was introduce to the works of great social reformers that include the work of Mohandas K. Gandhi. King identified with the philosophy of nonviolence resistance, which Gandhi had used effectively to make positive change in India. King was impressed with his research and saw how these ideas were not inconstant with his Christian
(Ansbro, 231) instead of promoting love and violence among all races. King’s purpose in promoting nonviolence direct action was to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiations. He felt that practicing nonviolence would portray his followers as moral beings while making apparent the brutality of the segregationists. King’s preaching of nonviolence was monumental in succeeding in demonstrations such as the Montgomery bus boycott and the desegregation of public schools. King’s reaching of nonviolent direct action furthers the arguments that King is the most influential person of the twentieth century.
Despite the belief that fighting with violence is effective, civil disobedience has been tried throughout history and been successful. Fighting violence with violence leaves no oppertunity for peace to work. By refusing to fight back violently, Martin Luther King Jr. took a race of people, taught them the value of their voice, and they earned the right to vote. Henry David Thoreau presented his doctrine that no man should cooperate with laws that are unjust, but, he must be willing to accept the punishment society sets for breaking those laws, and hundreds of years later, people are still inspired by his words. Mohandas K. Gandhi lead an entire country to its freedom, using only his morals and faith to guide him, as well as those who followed him, proving that one man can make a difference. Civil disobedience is the single tool that any person can use to fight for what they want, and they will be heard. After centuries of questioning it, it appears that the pen truly is mightier than the sword.
However, Gandhi puts emphasis on a need for personal suffering in the practice of nonviolence, a stance that is somewhat less aggressive than King’s need to suffer for the sake of his cause. Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister, humanitarian, activist, and leader in the African-American civil rights campaign. His main goal was to guarantee the progress of civil rights in America, and he has become a human rights figure. King led protests, held boycotts, and organized the southerly Christian Leadership Conference, serving as its first chairperson. Gandhi was known first for his nonviolent behavior and would condemn his own party for opposing violence.
Throughout his education, Martin Luther King Jr. tried to find a way to demonstrate his belief of racial equality with the most effective means possible. He quickly realized that the best strategy to end segregation was to use nonviolent forms of protest. At Crozer, Morehouse and Boston University, he studied the teaching of Mohandas Gandhi, who used nonviolent methods to help India claim its independence from Britain. King read several books on the ideas of Gandhi, and eventually became convinced that his methods could be employed by African Americans to obtain equality in America. King knew that any violence on the part of African Americans would lead to violent responses from segregationists, which would lead to injury or maybe even death for his followers. He had to teach his followers not to respond violently to cruel attacks from segregationists. King decided to sponsor workshops to train African Americans in nonviolent beh...