Notable Ones: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr!!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been an extraordinary figure and contributor to the civic rights and opportunities that African - Americans now have today. In history classes all over America, he is most recognized (in a general sense), for his "March on Washington", "I Have A Dream Speech" and being a civil rights "leader/speaker" so to speak.

But Martin Luther King Jr's life could never be summarized into a page and half of a history book. This man's credentials and list of accomplishments span way beyond that. Martin Luther King is a figure who was vast, full of vigor, variety and hope.

Dr. King represents the things that I have grown to live for and aspire to be. Dr. King represents a union of people with similar ideals and the drive, the action and determination that it takes to change things, within society. Dr. King represents a way of thinking and a leadership ability that I wish was still present in the world of today, the "New Millenium"

I would like to highlight some of Dr. King's milestones and accomplishments that I feel are important:

• Graduated from high school at the age of fifteen
• Received a B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College (making him a 3rd generation male graduate, as his father and grandfather graduated from there as well)
• Studied three years of theology at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and was elected president of a predominantly white senior class and was awarded the B.D. in 1951
• Enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and received the degree in 1955

• Was a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
• Led the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott which lasted 382 days. Because of the boycott, on December 21, 1956, the Supreme Court of the United States declared the laws requiring segregation on buses unconstitutional, and Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals.
• During the boycott days, Dr. King, was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank

• In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Dr. King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action
• Martin Luther King wrote five books as well as numerous articles
  
  
• He led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience.
• He wrote a "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution
• He planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters
• He directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "I Have a Dream"
• He conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson
• He was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times
• He was awarded five honorary degrees
• He was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963

• At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize.
• He gave the Nobel prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, was a man of strength, a loving soul who was determined to stand up for what was right for a people, a people that believed in the same things, but may have just needed someone to speak for them. Dr. King was that man. A spokesman and role model for African-Americans and all races that disagree with oppression and segregation, but believed in equal rights for ALL! For more on Dr. King click here.

I See The Promised Land Speech
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Im Sorry Sir You Don't Know Me Speech

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Source: Nobelprize.org and MLKonline.net