There are a lot of memorable names throughout history that, no matter how many times you hear about them, you immediately think of what an impact that person had on history. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of these names. A man who stood up tall for his people and fought for their freedom. With all the odds against him, however, one has to ask; what motivated him to make such radical movements? Looking into MLKs life you quickly understand the reasoning behind all of his hard work and dedication.
America had many problems during the time period after WWII, but, for some reason, more worried with external affairs rather than ones right in their back yard. In keeping his faith, strong determination, and kindheartedness, MLK became one of the most motivated and revered men in American history. In order to understand the bitterness and injustices towards black people at this time, one must go back and first discuss where this ridiculous bias started. Around 1620 Dutch and British ships began to sail along the western coast of Africa. Their original plan was to sail along Africa and eventually make it to Asia for its spices and other foreign commodities. These commodities were in high demand throughout the rest of the world. Eventually, these ships started to land on the Coast of Africa to make claim to certain parts of Africa. In doing this, they encountered native tribes who were willing to trade with the Europeans. What the European’s wanted the most, however, was slaves which were being sold as workers. These native tribes captured people of other tribes and in turn used them as merchandise to trade with the white men. As we all know, the slaves were eventually gathered, either by being bought or by force, to load onto ships and set sail for the Americas. This is where the stereotype for black people was formed. They were referred to as Negros and by every aspect looked down upon as if they weren’t even human. They were beat and cursed at in auctions and sold like cattle to the highest bidder. Most
Were separated from their families and would never see them again. They were immediately taught duties which included “…two activities: love of master-right or wrong, good or bad-and and loyalty to work” (Parr, 8). From here, white people kept their bitterness and aggression toward the slaves long after the end of the Civil War. Though it was said that the black people of America had their freedoms after the Civil War, this was by far a lie. They continued to be treated like animals and had almost no respect from anyone other than other blacks. Some were basically enslaved, but were given the title of sharecropper to cover it up. The United States was a racial mess and there wasn’t much being done about it. Who could have ever thought that one man would soon be the f ace of change needing to come to this great country.January 15th 1929, Martin Luther King Jr was born. His parents were Alberta King and Martin Luther King Sr. MLK Sr. was often referred to as “Daddy King”. Daddy King was a sharecropper most of his life and thought to be illiterate.
Eventually, though, he went on to get a degree in Theology where he became a preacher (Parr, 2018). MLK Sr. may have been right with the Lord and may have taught his children everything he thought was felt to be good, but he still couldn’t hide his kids from the turmoil and suffering of black people that occurred on an everyday basis. Unfortunately, his children had no choice but to be raised in the middle of this turmoil. Growing up, Jr was influenced by the thoughts of Wilt Borders who “believed in empowerment through education” (Parr 10). MLK Jr. would eventually adopt the same train of thought and he soon came to understand that most people who had a voice in the country were only credited and listened to when they had an education. After high school, MLK Jr eventually went on to attend Morehouse College to learn Ministry but majored in Sociology. To pay for his tuition he worked in tobacco fields where he made a measly 5-7 dollars a day. After college, MLK frequently visited the north and even though he was from the south, he enjoyed be.
