MLK Jr. – a National Hero essay
Martin Luther King Jr. is well known as one of the civil rights activists who promoted racial equality for all people in the world. As an African-American leader, he made a lot of contributions to the African-American society in the USA. Today it is impossible to imagine the history of African Americans in the USA without the name of such an outstanding person. MLK Jr. is often used in the literary and historical materials as an abbreviation for Martin Luther King Jr. Once he said, “Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.” (Frady 59) As Martin Luther King was a Baptist minister, most of his ideas were based on the God’s word. He told that all people are equal before God and God “loves everyone in this world without qualification.” (Burrow) Although Martin Luther King was an ordinary man, he managed to change the minds of many people in this world.
Martin Luther King is well known for his famous speech “I Have a Dream” which was given in the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 1863. There were about 250,000 people who listened to it. The outstanding activist called for the end of racial discrimination. He told, “There are no gradations in the image of God. Every man from a treble White to a bass Black is significant on God’s keyboard, precisely because every man is made in the image of God… We will know one day that God made us to live together as brothers and to respect the dignity and worth of every man.” (Burrow) It is known that Martin Luther King was taken to prison many times, but his desire to restore justice in this world was overwhelming. It is also known that he recited his ideas concerning new life in America from prison. The most famous documentation is his Birmingham Letter. Moreover, it is known that the Civil Rights Act issued in 1964 was due to the huge protects made by Martin Luther King. The Civil Rights Act gave legal protection from unfair treatment to African Americans and other ethnic groups in the USA. (Yakoubek & Shuker 18)
Today Martin Luther King is greatly honored in the USA. In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his struggle against racial discrimination and prejudices in the American society. Unfortunately, the national hero was killed by his enemies during one of the protests against unequal working conditions of the African American workers. (Frady 32)
To sum up, the name of such prominent national hero as MLK Jr. will always live in the hearts of all American citizens who hate racial discrimination, violence and social inequalities. Martin Luther King Day is an annual holiday that is celebrated on the third Monday of January in the USA. This MLK day honors the name of the person who devoted his life to the struggle against racism, violence and social inequalities. It is undoubtedly, MLK’s contributions had enormous impact on the whole world.
