Taylor Davis Friday, September 26th, 2014 Created in the Image of God Someone I think personified what it means to live in God’s image is Martin Luther King Jr. He understood that we are all equal under God’s image and worked hard emphasize that. King lived in a time where segregation was very much present and his goal was to eliminate the division of the races and become one community. To do this, he encouraged the African American community to fight for their rights through non-violent protests and peace rallies, this included his infamous “I Have a Dream” speech where he said “I have a dream that one day… little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” MLK understood the way God intended us to live, loving one another as equals and he knew that racism and segregation was not a part of God’s image and he took responsibility and acted, which is why I think he is such a great example of living the way God intended us to. …show more content…
was also aware of the messages in the Gospel. He lived in a time of hostility, racism, discrimination and segregation. He was once stabbed by an angry woman in NYC for protesting and police officers tried to choke him with his own tie. MLK was living in circumstances where it was completely understandable to be angry and have hatred towards people but he did not which is what made him a good leader. King told his daughter “The more they mistreat us and abuse us, the more we must love them and forgive them because hatred is very much alive.” After all that he’d been through Martin Luther King Jr. still found it in his heart to forgive, which is what the gospel teaches us, to love and forgive one
Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights leader who grew up in a middle class family and was well educated. King was always against violence, even thru his entire ministry. He believed in an integrated society between blacks and whites in one American society based upon the promises of the founding fathers of American that all men were created equal and had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Even though, he was physically and verbally attacked he always stood his ground and never fought with violence. While in jail for 8 days Martin Luther King Jr. compose “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The letter was evidently a response to a letter that recently ran in the local newspapers by the Birmingham Clergy. Which had claimed that the protesters were “unwise and untimely”. However, Dr. King chose to express himself in writing instead of violence, by replying “Seldom, ...
In order to better understand why King and X took the course of action each took, one must take into account a little bit of their background. Martin Luther King jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia into a middle-class family. The church was his source of leadership development and it helped provide him with moral values. Home and church were the most important influences in the early life of King. In both contexts, he was introduced to the integrationist values of protest, accommodations, self-help and optimism as they were related to the religious themes of justice, love and hope. He was introduced to the value of education as a potent way of helping him assert his self-worth to become a church and community leader and to fight racism in the larger society. “King’s basis for his campaign of nonviolence originated in the highest type of love - love for people who hate you. King preached that the combination of agape (spiritual love) with nonviolent action would elicit change”(Walton 78).
Compare and Contrast: To my understanding the letter that Martin Luther King Jr. composed while confined in the Birmingham Jail, is as one with the appeal that was given by David Walker. Both the letter and the appeal were pleas, pleas to the African American race. Not only to African Americans, but to my surprise and yours it was also written to all races suffering from the same injustice. These pleas were strong and very urgent.
"You may well ask, Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.? Isn't negotiation a better path?' You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. I just referred to the creation of tension as a part of the work of the nonviolent resister. This may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must see the need of having nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men to rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. So the purpose of the direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. We, therefore, concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in the tragic attempt to live in a monologue rather than a dialogue" (King 474-475)
Martin Luther King Jr. expressed himself very politely in his Letter from Birmingham City Jail. He used the Bible as a reference to what he was doing. In his letter he was referring to the clergymen, these were men of God; Martin Luther King Jr. used the Bible to defend his fight against injustice because his audience saw it as the holder of truth. With this he showed the clergymen that he was also a man of God and that his cause was a just and good cause. Adding the reference to the Bible gave him a connection with the clergymen and showed that his work was related to the Bible and that the disapproval of his cause was like disapproving the Bible. The clergymen had called him an extremist and at first he says how disappointed he was by being called an extremist but then he quoted Jesus and called him an extremist of love "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (p.4), by doing this he agreed in being an extremist and that he was being and extremist for a good reason.
On August 28, 1963 more than 250,000 civil-rights supporters attended the March on Washington. Addressing the protesters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. Profoundly, he proclaimed for a free nation of equality where all race would join together in the effort to achieve common ground. King stated his yearning for all colors to unite and be judged by character, not by race. African Americans would not be satisfied until their desire for freedom from persecution, bitterness, and hatred prevailed. Not only were the points in his speech powerful, but also the delivery he gave was so persuading and real that it changed the hearts of many people across America. By using four artificial proofs, mythos, logos, ethos, and pathos, Martin Luther King was able to open the eyes of people who were blinded by the color of skin.
Dr. King is a man who is over flowed of nothing but creditability. Not once he pointed his finger as a child would and blame the Caucasian men for forcing the African-American to attempt to survive a horrific ordeal of history. He encouraged his brother and sisters of color not to protests with bitter and physical violence but to engage hands and peacefully demand to be treated equally. He encouraged his colored brothers and sisters to go back to where they are from with not despair in their hearts, but hope that one day there will be freedom within reach.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one the most heroic figures of our time. According to Joseph Campbell's characteristics Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has a characteristic of a hero such as, a hero is usually someone from whom something has been taken or who feels there's something lacking in the normal experience available, or permitted, to members of his society. (The Power of Myth, 1998) Dr. Martin Luther King was a man who yearned for dignity and respect from those who followed him. Mr. King was an African- American who lived in society were he wasn't appreciated. In the time in which Mr. King was raised, there was a lot of race...
Both Dr. Martin Luther King and President John F. Kennedy were the change they wished to see. They didn’t worry about the consequences or the repercussions. They were tired and fed up, but most of all they did not want their children to grow up in such a hard and harsh generation. Unlike some civil rights leaders, Dr. King was adamantly against violence. I can truly appreciate and am envious of how King kept such dignity and composure throughout the entire civil rights movement. He believed in forgiveness and sought out his commitment to non-violence while trying to educate as many Americans as he could. Reading about him being throw in jail time after time broke my heart, but nothing could hold him back from seeking out what he was so passionate about. I am forever grateful for Dr. Martin Luther King and his
When Martin Luther King, Jr. spearheaded the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, he began a long tenancy as the representative for nonviolent demonstration during the time of the Civil Rights Movement. As a Baptist minister, he was a moral leader to the community. He was one the Black community looked up to for encouragement and strength in a tie where they were oppressed and unequally treated. Dr. King was known for being approachable; compelling and being able to move a crowd with the powerful and provoking words he spoke. He had a vision of how he wanted the world to look when the racism and discrimination would be no longer and all the children of all different ethnicities and backgrounds could play openly and cohabitate peacefully together. Because of all the hard work and dedication he put into his community and the Civil rights...
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s impact on the civil rights movement was nothing short of monumental. To say anything less may be considered sacrilege in the history of the United States. King’s liberal and Christian upbringing, comfortable and educated childhood, and his theological education all played a large part in his contributions to civil rights in America.
Martin Luther King Jr. is considered the formative figure in the modern fight for the civil rights movement and fought for racial equality with something much stronger than tolerance. He fought for the equal rights for all people of every background. Being a leader of racial equality and spoke up for the wrong doing of society, but also the peoples' actions towards making America a better place and equal opportunity. The reason he is so unique is because he was non-violent in his goals. King had great moral and philosophical purposes by speaking out in the public of the conflicts that was going on during that time and finding ways to overcome those conflicts in a peaceful
Martin Luther King was one of the greatest civil right activists in American history. Martin Luther King impacted American society in many ways and one of the most important things he did for America was weakening racism in America. At the time when he was living, colored people living America were treated differently with white people. For example colored people needed a pass to go through certain places, they could not go to the same school as white people and it was much harder for colored people to get a job compare to white people. Martin Luther king thought these were wrong. He also thought these were against American dream. For him American dream meant every people having equal rights, opportunity and freedom. What was happening in America were completely against these. To fix this problem, Martin Luther King moved around the country and did nonviolent protest and organized a peaceful marching which attracted national attention showing brutality of police that were trying to stop the march. Martin Luther King also delivered a lot of speeches that inspired many people all over the world and one of his speeches include “I have a Dream.” One of the most famous speeches in America. In this speech he clearly explain his own opinion of how he think everyone should be treated
“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.” (www.brainyquote.com) Dr. King, a true inspiration, a true man, and a true hero. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an inspiration to me because he gave people freedom and equality. Without him, blacks and whites would of probably never been treated as equals. What would life be like without Dr. King in America’s history?
Martin Luther King Jr was one of the most beloved and one of the most hated men of his time. The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is embodied in these two simple words: equality and nonviolence. He believed that Gandhi’s method of nonviolent resistance was the key to overcoming evil (The Archive, 1968). King was involved in many nonviolent protests including the Montgomery bus boycott, The Albany movement, and the Birmingham campaign. He also wrote many speeches and writings that changed the way people thought about others. In one of his most famous speeches, I Have A Dream, King says, “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.” He is basically saying that anger and revenge will actually do the opposite of setting you free. The hatred in your heart will never satisfy