Essay on Martin Luther King

Submitted By wmitchell50
Words: 755
Pages: 4

Martin Luther King Jr. I picked Martin Luther King Jr. because he was a preacher, a strong speaker and motivator, he was a true Christian. When he spoke he always had faith and he spoke about us having faith. I really liked his forthrightness with which he called out the source of his courage. He once said, “I am many things to many people, but in the quiet recesses of my heart, I am fundamentally a clergyman, a Baptist preacher. This is my being and my heritage, for I am also the son of a Baptist preacher, the grandson of a Baptist preacher and the great-grandson of a Baptist preacher.” Yes, I am also a preacher, the son of a Baptist preacher, the grandson of a Baptist preacher, and this is why I picked Martin Luther King Jr. to write about. “I have a Dream!” Dr. King uttered these words to an expansive crowd gathered together at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Today, just as it did 50 years ago, these words captivates the hearers, and it still eloquent exposition detailing a day of human brotherhood-a day when each man, woman, boy and girl would be judged not by their skin, but be judged on or by “ the content of their character.” Racism was an major obstacle that Dr. King wanted the people and himself to overcome. Dr. King overcame this obstacle by replacing wishes of hate, with the dreams of love. He said, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, we hold these truths to be self- evident; that all men are created equal. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of formers slaves and the sons of formers slavers owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. 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. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls, will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made painless, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” (Washington 1991, pg.217, emphasis added). But this comfort in his dream, alone could not fully protect Martin from the pain of racism. Even his family found it hard to protect him from the oppression of segregation. King Sr. could not protect him from the ugly