Martin Luther King Jr: Risked Life for Civil Rights Movement | Biography

i have a dream that one day this nation will  rise up live out the true meaning of its creed   we hold these truths to be self-evident that  all men are created martin luther king jr was   born on january 15 1929 and graduated as the  valedictorian of crozier theological seminary   in 1951 king became pastor of a baptist church  in montgomery alabama and later completed his phd   martin luther king was a religious man he was  a pastor he looked at racism and all of the the   so-called separate but equal laws and the terrible  treatment of people of color in the united states   that he said this is absolutely wrong this is  against god's will this is not recognizing the   dignity of peoples and he made us all face that  in very powerful ways on the eve of rosa parks   refusal to move to the back of a city bus in 1955  king was chosen to lead a city-wide bus boycott   two years later king and a group of civil rights  activists formed the southern christian leadership   conference to conduct non-violent protests for  civil rights when martin luther king led the   alabama boycott that was a major turning point in  the fight for civil rights what you saw was people   who had been fractionized coming together as one  walking together with others joining the fight   this was when people america the world stood  up and said whoa what are we looking at here   an amazing time inspired by gandhi's activism  king worked with the sclc to organize black   voters and civil rights protests in 1963  king was arrested at a march in alabama   during his prison time king wrote a rebuttal  to an article denouncing his methods his long   hand notes on the margins of the newspaper  became known as letter from birmingham jail   and was famously republished and studied in  colleges across the country martin luther   king was a man of god who believed that that  calling necessitated social change in the present   and he put his life on the line for that calling  free at last free at last thank god almighty on august 28 1963 king led more than 20 000  people in a massive demonstration at the   lincoln memorial where his speech i have a dream  became a defining moment in civil rights history   through his work king helped  pass the civil rights act of 1964   and received the nobel peace prize that same  year martin luther king according to time in 1963   personified the civil rights movement he took  on one of the greatest challenges of his time   and was one of the people that most influenced  this very transformative time in american history   although king faced criticism for more militant  black leaders he continued his peaceful efforts   toward both racial and economic justice after  delivering his i've been to the mountaintop speech   at a rally in memphis king was assassinated the  next day on april 4th 1968 while standing at the   balcony of his motel room king's assassination  was i think devastating for many people but   there is also a rising level of organization and  many people king's assassination galvanizes them   into many kind of black power movements across  the country many anti-poverty movements so it's   both a moment of despair but also a moment  of political flowering posthumously king was   awarded the presidential medal of freedom in 1977  and a congressional gold medal in 2004. today the   martin luther king jr national holiday continues  to be honored on the third monday of every january you

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Id: waxW-R_fFSQ

Length: 4min 28sec (268 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 12 2021