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Short biography of Martin Luther King
Martin luther king analysis
Martin luther king jr autobiography essay
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The protagonist in this self titled autobiography Martin Luther King, Jr. is Martin Luther King Jr. himself. In this scene Mr. King was at a book signing in a Harlem department store. As he was autographing a copy of his book about the Montgomery bus boycott titled “ Stride toward Freedom” he was approached by the antagonist of this scene; an obviously demented black woman later to be judged as legally insane, Mrs. Izola Ware Curry. On Saturday September 20, 1958 Mrs. Curry approached Mr. King and asked, “Are you Martin Luther King?” Mr. King replied “Yes”, and she commenced to stab him in the chest with a razor sharp letter opener.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was rushed to Harlem Hospital by ambulance where he would lay for four hours while he was being prepped for the removal of the keen-edged knife. Days after surgery Dr. Maynard, the chief of the surgeons, informed Mr. King that the razor tip of the letter opener was touching his aorta requiring them to open his chest to remove it. With this comment to follow, “ If you had sneezed during all those hours of waiting your aorta would have been punctured and you would have drowned in your own blood.” said Dr. Maynard.
If this had actually been the one of Dr. King’s last days; it would have meant that the world would have been deprived of a ten year, non-violent campaign that did in fact change society for the better. A little less than a year after his near fatal stabbing he and his family would embark upon a journey to India accompanied by Dr. D.L. Reddick. There he meet Ghandi himself giving him newfangled prospective on non-violent campaigns.
On a Humid Saturday Afternoon on September 20, 1958, Dr. King sat in a Harlem Department store signing copies of his book on the Montgomery bus boycott entitled “Stride Toward Freedom”. Amidst all the smiles and support of the crowd derived an obviously deranged woman. She approached Dr. King and inquired,”Are you Martin Luther King?” As Dr. King Replied, ”Yes“ She stabbed him in the chest with a letter opener. Dr. King was rushed to the Harlem hospital by ambulance where he was immediately prepped and admitted to the surgery ward. After hours on the operating table the head surgeon Dr. Maynard, had the saturnine duty of telling the King family that the totality of effort shown by he an his team were only able to slow Dr.
In his "Letter," Martin Luther King Jr.'s ability to effectively use pathos, or to appeal to the emotions of his audiences, is evident in a variety of places. More particularly in paragraph fourteen, King demonstrates his ability to inspire his fellow civil rights activists, invoke empathy in the hearts of white moderates, and create compassion in the minds of the eight clergyman to which the "Letter" is directed.
also exemplifies a compassionate leader, but another leadership quality of King’s was his unmatched trustworthiness amongst the black people of the 1950’s and 60’s. Martin Luther King Jr. lived during a time of severe segregation and hate toward the African-American people of the United States. Many African-American civil rights activists- such as Reverend George Lee, Lamar Smith, and NAACP State Director Medgar Evers- were victims of gruesome murders due to their efforts in the Civil Rights Movement (Austin, 2002). Martin Luther King Jr. too was killed as a result of his efforts as one of the leaders of the movement, and every time that King organized a demonstration, his followers also risked their lives by participating. Their trust in Martin Luther King Jr.’s non-violent demonstrations was eventually rewarded, as now the African-American people comprise an important part of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested on April 12, 1963, in Birmingham, for having a protest without a proper permit. On the exact day King was arrested, eight clergymen from Alabama wrote a letter called “A Call for Unity.” The letter called for termination of civil activities and demonstrations and designated King an “outsider” and saying that outsiders were the problems in Birmingham and not the blacks that are from there. On April 16 King wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, which was his responds to his fellow clergymen. He wrote the letter as a means to convince the clergymen and the white moderate that the nonviolent demonstrations that had got him arrested, were a necessity and to enlighten them on why the segregation laws in the southern states needed to be changed. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King uses logos, pathos, and ethos to persuade the clergymen and convince them in assisting him in putting an end to segregation laws of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama.
Martin Luther King, Jr. is known to be a civil rights activist, humanitarian, a father, and a clergyman. He is well known for fighting for the equal rights of colored people and ending discrimination. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail is an important part of history that showed King’s opinion of a letter that he happened to read in the newspaper written by a group of clergyman. In this letter, the group of clergyman report that colored people, also known as black people, are being violent towards Birmingham City. Also, the clergymen believed the time that will allow segregation to be diminished was not happening anytime soon because it is not convenient. King refuted the clergymen’s argument in a variety of ways using tactics of argumentation and persuasion like appeal to emotion through real life examples, appeal to logic, and even articulating certain phrases through metaphors and word choice. Many of these different tactics of argumentation and persuasion made his letter very effective and is now seen as a great piece that is looked upon highly today.
Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, was well known for his nonviolent movement to bring justice and to an end to the segregation of the people in the United States back in the 1950s. With King being the leader of a peaceful protest, it failed to bring equally to the colored people. Martin Luther King, Jr. was labeled as an “outsider” who was “hatred and violence” and that his actions were “unwise and untimely” from the Public Statement by Eight Alabama Clergymen (clergymen). In response, on the day of April 16, 1963, he wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail to declare and defense his movement was not “unwise and untimely” at all. To analyze his points, King used the powerful literary devices of pathos- use of an emotional appeal.ethos-
Martin Luther King Jr was born on the 15th of January, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, known as Michael Luther King Jr and was than assassinated on the 4th of April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The world renowned Baptist minister and social activist had a massive impact on the American civil rights movement from the mid 1950’s until his assassination in 1968. Martin Luther King Jr’s up bringing was fairly pleasant and he was brought up with a great education. However, he had his couple of prejudices and traumatic experience through out his life. One of these including one of his friends who was a fair skinned boy who was told to tell King that he was no longer allowed to play with him because the children were now attending
Martin Luther King Jr. came from a middle class home with two loving and supportive parents. He was born in Georgia, January 15, 1929. Dr. King Jr. was one of three children. The impact he had on black and white audiences changed the way they viewed segregation and unity. He was such a revolutionary orator that he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Martin Luther King Jr. was the living definition of a prototypical nonconformist, which is a person who does not change their initial thoughts or actions based off of what others do. The reason prototypical nonconformist defines him so well is because his speeches were written to inspire all races, especially young African Americans to use non-violence to resolve any issues and to never lose sight of their dreams. His most famous “I Have a Dream” speech spoke about uplifting one another to help achieve each other’s goals with the absence of hatred and violence. He also brought forth the knowledge that God does not see any race more superior than an...
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the leader of a peaceful movement to end segregation in the United States this mission led him in 1963 to Birmingham, Alabama where officials and leaders in the community actively fought against desegregation. While performing sit-ins, marches and other nonviolent protests, King was imprisoned by authorities for violating the strict segregation laws. While imprisoned King wrote a letter entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, in which he expresses his disappointment in the clergy, officials, and people of Birmingham. This letter employed pathos to argue that the leaders and ‘heroes’ in Birmingham during the struggle were at fault or went against their beliefs.
In King's Letter, he clearly states his views and beliefs to not only stand up for himself, but also to stand up for equality and justice for all. His actions also show his commitment to his belief. King later goes on to tell how he was going to achieve his goal. He states that he will be doing it in a non-violent manner which was influenced by Mahatma Ghandi. He also says that this will be done in a well-thought-out, civilized manner. Next, he begins to show them some of the actions that the police force took, such as letting dogs loose on the people and their harsh treatment of the people. Dr. King states that he saw the dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. They refused the give them food because they wanted to sing
“Martin Luther King, Jr...” Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2013. .
Tragically, at the young age of thirty-nine years old, a great man was murdered by a known racist who was a career criminal. Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. was a well-known civil rights leader who had come to Memphis, Tennessee to support a sanitation workers’ strike and gave his last speech on the night of April 3, 1968, at Mason Temple Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Unfortunately, the next day at 6:00 p.m. Doctor Martin Luther would be murdered by a single shot on the balcony of his hotel room ("Martin Luther King Jr Assassination - Black History - HISTORY.com", 2010). James Earl Ray was serving time for armed robbery when he escaped from the Missouri State Prison a year before the assassination. On April 3, 1968, James Earl Ray arrived in Memphis, Tennessee.
It was a glorious April 4th evening as Martin Luther King and hundreds of followers were gathering for a civil rights march. Many cheered on as the civil rights leader graciously out step on the second floor balcony of the Motel Lorraine. Roaring cheers rose from the crowd rose up as Martin Luther King stand there waving his arm with his heart warming smile waiting for the uprising taper off so he can continue with his speech. When suddenly a piercing blast broke the noise and the crowd’s cheerful spirit died. A cold chill went through all who were present fore in the back of their minds there was no doubt that their King had just been shot.
Gandhi was known first for his nonviolence behavior and would condemn his own party opposing violence. Gandhi made use of nonviolent and passive resistance through non-cooperation as his weapon of choice in the conflict against the British. The butchery of civilians by British military personnel resulted in increased public anger and acts of violence. Mahatma Gandhi criticized both the activities of British Government and the revenge of the butchery from the Indians. He extended consolation to the British victims and denounced the riots. Initially his party was opposed to his declaration. Later, however, they accepted Gandhi’s principal stating that any retaliation or violence was hurtful and could not be justified. Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi success with nonviolent activism, Martin Luther King Jr. pushed forward his Civil Rights Movement with nonviolent activism as well. Although the two have personally never had contact, Dr. King learned of Gandhi 's discipline while in the seminary. His first application of the nonviolent campaign came in 1955 during the Montgomery bus boycott. Here, he had a witnessed firsthand the power of a peaceful
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...
Kirk, J. (2007). Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement: controversies and debates. Basingstoke New York: Palgrave Macmillan.