Martin Luther King

By Illa Vij

MARTIN Luther King, one of the greatest men ever to walk this earth, started the defence force with which the American Blacks got their rights and gained freedom from the distressing racial discrimination. The fact that Blacks lived in a state of economic instability, barred from normal social and educational opportunities, disturbed Martin Luther, a clergyman, who believed in equality of man.

Martin was born on January 15, 1929. His family lived on the outskirts of Atlanta. The prevailing racial discrimination disturbed Martin since early childhood. The fact that he could not play with White children, or that he had to offer a seat in the bus to a White, disturbed him. When he was eight years old, his father, a Baptist pastor, told the family a sad story: Bessie Smith, a great singer, met with an accident. An ambulance rushed her to the nearest hospital, but she was not admitted because she was a Black. The ambulance took her from one hospital to another, but she could not find a place for herself because these hospitals were only for the Whites. She died for want of blood. From that day, Martin Luther King dreamt of becoming a liberator of the Blacks.

At the age of 15, he read Henry David Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience and was greatly influenced by it. He completed his studies at More House College, and then earned a doctor’s degree in theology at Boston University. In 1955, King married Albama Soprano Coretta Scott. That very year he became a pastor and preached his first sermon in the Baptist Church of Atlanta.

As a young man, he was greatly impressed by Mahatma Gandhi’s success in the political field and the power of ahimsa. King decided to follow the path of non-violence and get millions of Blacks their due. He wanted them to share the privileges given to the Whites. He felt that Blacks had immensely contributed towards the building of America, and there was no reason why they should not be treated with respect.

King drew national attention in 1956. Since the Blacks were not permitted to sit in the same buses as the Whites, he led a boycott of public buses in Montogomery. A year later, after many arrests and threats, the US Supreme Court gave a ruling that racial segregation in public transport was unlawful. This victory taught the Blacks the power of non-violence. After 1957, King began visiting various places to deliver lectures. Soon he became a powerful orator, drawing the attention of people the world over. In 1963, he delivered the most captivating speech of his life, drawing a crowd of 2,50,000 Americans.

King continued the fight, a peaceful fight, demanding the rights of the Blacks. In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. His peaceful methods had been appreciated all over the world. At 35 , he was the youngest recipient of this award. In 1967, King led many peaceful demonstrations against the Vietnam war, and the following year, he declared a Poor People’s Campaign. On April 4 of that very year, while planning a demonstration of striking sanitation workers, he was shot dead by an assassin. The assassin had killed a man who had dreams that were yet to be fulfilled — dreams for the downtrodden, dreams for the poor, dreams for the suffering mankind.