I feel with today being Martin Luther King day, it is fitting to start a new series of blogs; Tributes to Great Revolutionaries... A revolutionary is someone who has impacted history with a major social change.. whether it's the way we look at race, religion, science, war, art, politics, etc! these people are inspirations in the advancement of peace and humanity! so who better to start with than the voice of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King!
As a kid, I thought of him merely as a potential day off of school... As a smart, preaching, doctor who marched on Washington DC, and gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech... Sure, I recognized his significance in the African-American community, yet never thought of him as a real historical figure, in the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Ben Franklin, or George Washington... Well now I have completely changed that perspective, and believe that MLK's significance is just as important if not more than the American presidents and leaders we studied in school.
To understand MLK and what he stood for, one must really grab a sense of the time... Following the abolition of slavery, blacks were still harshly treated due to the Jim Crow laws, which basically regulated racial discrimination. These laws kept strict segregations of the races... These segregations continued all the way until the 1950s and 1960s... until MLK, along with other big names such as Rosa Parks and Malcolm X, spoke out and challenged the established system! MLK became the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, with it's soul purpose to end racial discrimination! After years of protest and marching he led the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. This marked a pivotal moment in not only the history of African-Americans yet the history of America as a country. It led to the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed racial segregation. Even after this important event, MLK continued to work as an activist in hopes that one day people could look beyond color and instead at the content of their character. His assassination in 1968 marked for a terrible loss to the progression of humanity. Yet his voice of change has been long remembered and continues to echo through history!
Martin Luther King Jr, "I have a dream" August 28, 1963 at Lincoln Memorial
"And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the Old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
As a kid, I thought of him merely as a potential day off of school... As a smart, preaching, doctor who marched on Washington DC, and gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech... Sure, I recognized his significance in the African-American community, yet never thought of him as a real historical figure, in the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Ben Franklin, or George Washington... Well now I have completely changed that perspective, and believe that MLK's significance is just as important if not more than the American presidents and leaders we studied in school.To understand MLK and what he stood for, one must really grab a sense of the time... Following the abolition of slavery, blacks were still harshly treated due to the Jim Crow laws, which basically regulated racial discrimination. These laws kept strict segregations of the races... These segregations continued all the way until the 1950s and 1960s... until MLK, along with other big names such as Rosa Parks and Malcolm X, spoke out and challenged the established system! MLK became the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, with it's soul purpose to end racial discrimination! After years of protest and marching he led the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. This marked a pivotal moment in not only the history of African-Americans yet the history of America as a country. It led to the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed racial segregation. Even after this important event, MLK continued to work as an activist in hopes that one day people could look beyond color and instead at the content of their character. His assassination in 1968 marked for a terrible loss to the progression of humanity. Yet his voice of change has been long remembered and continues to echo through history!
Martin Luther King Jr, "I have a dream" August 28, 1963 at Lincoln Memorial"And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the Old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
1 comment:
Stephen, that was awesome!He really was a great man, the only thing i guess we can do is hope that we are all still living by that dream
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