Student's Times 2014-2018 2016/17/02 Páté číslo | Page 16

MARTIN LUTHER KING,

the way to freedom
Both American and European history have
some milestones in common, for example the
World Wars or the Cold War. However, there
are some differences such as slavery, which
was a great problem in the USA. This issue
remained throughout many periods in
American history even though it was
forbidden
by
Lincoln’s
Emancipation
Proclamation which was declared after the
Civil War. Nonetheless, the top of these
significant issues was reached during the 50’s
and 60’s because a country as powerful as
the USA could not tolerate the oppression of
one race anymore. It was when a brilliant
orator Martin Luther King started the African–
American Civil Rights Movement.
This leader was born on 15th January 1929 in
Atlanta, Georgia. Later, he graduated from
the Morehouse College and then he
continued studying when attending the
Crozer Theological Seminary and his doctoral
studies were finished at the Boston
University. After his studies he worked as a
Baptist minister and he took care of his wife
and four children.
Martin Luther King became famous for his
interest in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in
1955 which was held after an affair with Rosa
Parks. Not long after the boycott he helped to
found the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC) which is still an African–
American civil rights organisation. Moreover,
he became the first president of SCLC.

King was also well-known for his nonviolent
protests and strikes which followed the
boycott, for example the Albany Movement
(1962), protest in Birmingham, Alabama
(1963), March on Washington where his most
famous speech beginning with the words ‘I
have a dream…’ was told. During the year of
1965, three marches from Selma to
Montgomery were organised as a part of the
Voting Rights Movement. Unfortunately, the
marchers were beaten and that is the reason
why the event is called as the Bloody Sunday
nowadays. In recent time a film named
‘Selma’ has been released.
Finally, he achieved his goals, resulting in
abolition of segregation. The African–
American gained the right to vote and other
important laws between the years 1964 and
1965. King became the Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate as a reward for his great effort. In
spite of his humanitarian deeds, which
enriched the lives of many people, he was
assassinated on 4th April 1968.
All of this leads to a conclusion that Martin
Luther King was a great leader who was
‘fighting’ to defeat racist intolerance and
segregation. Undoubtedly he helped to make
better lives for much of the African–American
population.

T. Dorňáková, OK