Annually on the third Monday of January in the USA, the Day of the black fighter for the civil rights Martin Luther King is celebrated. This holiday is confined to the birthday of King on January 15. The preacher Martin Luther King headed the Movement for the rights of black Americans. This movement was devoted to fighting against racism and discrimination. At the same time, King supported only nonviolent methods of the fight. In 1964, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to him, and in 2004 the American authorities have posthumously appropriated him the Congressional Gold Medal which is considered the highest state award in the country.
Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929, in the city of Atlanta (the southern State of Georgia) in a family of the priest of Baptist church. In spite of the fact that then in America the Great depression has begun and 65% of the color population of Atlanta have been forced to go on the dole, economic difficulties haven't mentioned quite provided, a bourgeois family of the father priest. Martin has lived a childhood quite comfortably.
King Sr. profession has to a large extent defined the son's life. Since small years, Martin visited the church which was closer than school and where his father served as the assistant to the pastor. The boy passionately and with inspiration executed psalms, making an impression on parishioners who specially for the sake of it invited him to religious meetings.
The first collision with injustice of racism has happened in six years when Martin went to school. Among his friends there were two white friends who though lived on the opposite side of the street, began to go to other educational institution. King Jr. hasn't paid attention to this fact, however the mother of this wight kids began to send him back. Eventually she has told him straight that black and white shouldn't play together. The boy has complained to the mother, and she – for the first time – has explained him about that system of racial relationship which has developed in America.
At school, Martin studied well. He has passed of examinations for the 9th and 12th classes without attending lectures and in fifteen years, in 1944, he has been enlisted to Morehouse College where King Sr was a member of the board of trustees. The profession of the priest wasn't attractive to the teenager and studying of divinity didn't seem to him valuable; he chose between medicine and law.
Later, already closer to the end of the study in college, King Jr. has understood that it will be difficult for him to leave from the priest's field, and began to feel the calling. In addition, teachers of college began to influence his choice. They began to convince him that speeches of the real Christian preacher give food for the mind and lift serious public problems. Martin has understood that the pastor has to be intellectually developed, and his service has to be devoted not to search for an otherworldly spiritual shelter, but the momentary fight of good against the evil.
In 1948, Martin Luther King has enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary. Studying there was marked for King Jr. by spiritual searches. The lecture by the Doctor Mordesaya Johnson has made the special impression on him. He went across America with the story about activity and philosophy of the great Indian politician, a follower of the idea of nonresistance to the evil by violence Mahatma Gandhi. Up to this point, King treated the great Indian with a big share of skepticism – as to the idealist who was far from life. Having listened to Johnson's lecture, King has changed the opinion and started read avidly books about Gandhi. The example of the fighter for the independence of India from Britain will strongly influence the political activity of King.
In 1951, Martin became the bachelor of divinity and have been charged to read the farewell speech on prom. In addition, he has got a grant in 1200 dollars, which allowed him to finish training at any university of the country. In Atlanta, the father and acquaintances persuaded him to become at last a preacher, but he has chosen the Boston University.
This period of life has been connected not only with the academic activity. Once he has asked the friend Mary Powell to acquaint him with the girl from the South as he considered the Boston girls to be prudish. Powell has proposed two candidacies, one of which he already knew. The second was Coretta Scott. She studied in the conservatory. Their acquaintance has developed into the relations at once. Coretta Scott long considered whether to marry King or not as the marriage – especially on the priest – had to as she guessed, to put eventually a cross on her future career of the singer. However she has agreed; in 1953 they married.
When Martin Luther has graduated from the Boston university, the married couple has moved to the city of Montgomery in the State of Alabama. King has been appointed to be the pastor of the church which was opposite to the local Capitol. Its parishioners – about 300 people – were elite of the black population of the city. That fact has concentrated huge force in the priest's hands.
Martin Luther has begun the rough activity, in particular, has created committees on the help to the poor and support of graduates of high school. In addition, he has entered the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) – large public organization of the USA, which fights for the civil rights of the black population to this day.
In 1955 King for the first time became the witness and the direct organizer of a protest action. It has been connected with an ordinary case for America of that time – the bus conflict: the sitting black had to give their seats to white; some black refused to fulfill this requirement. On December 1, 1955, the seamstress Rosa Perks has got on a bus after work and has taken place behind the first row, which has been reserved for white. White passengers have come into the salon at a stop, and the driver has demanded that black – in particular, Perks – have given way to entered. Three black, having heard requirements, have risen from the place, however, Perks – she was hurt by legs for fatigue – has refused. The driver has called the police officer who has brought "lawbreaker" to a police-station, has made the protocol, and bailed her ordering to be in court in four days.
Rosa has addressed to the leader of NAACP in Alabama – to I. D. Nixon. Having in mind the ideas of Gandhi of a nonviolent protest, he has thought up the idea of "bus boycott". Nixon has told about this idea to the wife who has advised him to cease to dream. Nevertheless "the bus protest" has found the support of a great number of residents. The leader of NAACP in Alabama has called King, that has agreed to promote this event. In the day of boycott, Coretta has called the husband and has pointed to the bus passing by their house – it was empty. The second – too. Martin Luther has got into the car and began to go around the city, examining buses. He has counted only eight black passengers when transport has usually been jammed by them.
On January 24, 1960, the term of power of the Reverend King in Montgomery has ended, and he has decided to move on the small homeland, to Atlanta. The Same year "sit strike" have begun. The first of them have been arranged by black students, who have been refused in service. They came to public places – for example, in buffets – and have spent a long time there seating in lines. The more people were involved in these actions, the more counteractions caused. Eventually, the police have begun arrests that have strengthened the protest movement.
Martin Luther has been suggested to organize a conference of activists of "sit strike". There fifteen board members who had to form the constant organization of sedentary protesters have been elected. Meanwhile, actions gained mass character, and defenders of white superiority have decided to discredit a symbol of the protest movement – King. On February 17 two assistants to the sheriff have appeared in the church of Atlanta and have handed to King the resolution on arrest for falsification of tax declarations. The case has been considered by a jury which have pronounced the verdict of not guilty on May 28.
In March-April, 1963 King has headed mass demonstrations in Birmingham (State of Alabama). Protesters were dispersed, and King – for violation of a ban about demonstration – has been arrested for five days. Being under arrest he has written "The letter from Birmingham prison" in response to reproaches for imprudent and untimely actions. There Martin Luther has expressed the philosophy concerning God and public life, – in particular, he claimed, progress isn't connected with inevitability in any way, and is a consequence of continued efforts of the people creating God's will.
Special popularity was gained by Martin Luther King's speech "I have a dream" which he has stated during a march to Washington in 1963 at the bottom of a monument to Lincoln when the Congress of the USA discussed the legislation on the civil rights. It was the day of triumph of Martin Luther King. He was watched on TV and heard by tens of millions of Americans and millions of Europeans on radio. "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal". I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood I have a dream today!" – proclaimed King. In 1963, the "Time" magazine called him the person of the year.
50 years later the first black U.S. President Barack Obama has proclaimed the speech in the same place, as Martin Luther King.
Obama has addressed thousands of the viewers which have gathered on the square despite rainy weather having reminded that words of King belong to centuries, possessing the power and a prophecy, not having equal presently. Martin Luther King has given to millions a powerful voice of silent hope, urging to rise leaders who weren't afraid of intimidation and violence in their fight for the equal rights. The speech "I have a dream" is considered to be an oratory masterpiece. The president has thanked thousands of participants of the march who are never mentioned in historical books, that they have changed the country.
In May, 1964 King participated in the demonstrations for integration of housing stock which were carried out in St. Augustine (State of Florida). In a month the president Lyndon B. Johnson has invited him to the White House where King was present when signing the bill of dwellings which became part of the Law of 1964 on the Civil Rights. The law forbade a segregation in public places and on production, in working conditions and in a salary.
At the end of the same year Martin Luther has been awarded the Nobel Prize. He has once again expressed the principle of nonresistance to the evil by violence in the speech: "Sooner or later all the people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love", - he has told.
In the last years of life, the attention of King has been drawn not only to racism, but also to a problem of unemployment, hunger and poverty in all America, and also to the expression of a protest against the war in Vietnam. Expansion of an outlook was caused by the need to support radical circles of Black youth during disorders in Watts's ghetto, Newark, Harlem and Detroit which contradicted the principles of a non-violence. King began to understand that racial discrimination is closely connected with a poverty problem. But he hasn't managed to create the program for the matter, so this results in failure of efforts on the improvement of living conditions in slums of Chicago in 1966. However in November 1967, King declared the beginning of Campaign of poor people, which had to come to the end in April 1968 with a gathering of white and black poor people in Washington.
On March 8, 1968, King has headed a march of a protest in Memphis (State of Tennessee). Support of the striking workers was his purpose. On April 3 Martin Luther has delivered a strong speech. "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!". Next day he stood on a balcony in Memphis hotel and has been wounded by the sniper. His murderer, James Earl Ray, has received 99 years in prison. It has been recognized officially that he was loner murderer, however, disputes that King has been killed in a result of plot still don't cease.
On January 20, 1986, the Martin Luther King Day was celebrated for the first time. However, not all states recognized this day as a holiday. In some it wasn't the official day off, it was united with other holidays. Finally, this day became a federal holiday in the territory of all states only in 2000.
On January 16, 1986, in the Big rotunda of the Capitol in Washington the bust of King has been fixed - the black American has received such honor for the first time.
In the day of Martin Luther King in the USA appears holiday in schools, offices, post offices, and banks. All TV channels broadcast rollers of performances of King of the 1960th years. From radio receivers, statements of leaders of the movement for the equal civil rights are heard. On the previous Sunday in churches, short sermons are red. On Monday there pass the memorial services and refined ceremonies reminding of the life of King devoted to fighting for peace.
It is remarkable that in 2013 celebration of the day of the fighter for the rights of black Americans has coincided with the inauguration day of the first black president Barack Obama.
References
George Bush: Proclamation 6401 - Martin Luther King, Jr., Federal Holiday, 1992. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=47329
Congressional Gold Medal Recipients | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://history.house.gov/Institution/Gold-Medal/Gold-Medal-Recipients/
Hickey, G. (2003). Hope and danger in the New South city: Working-class women and urban development in Atlanta, 1890-1940. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press. 191-193
Pierce, A. (2005). The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Edina, MN: Abdo Daughters.14
Ching, J. (2002). The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Rosen Pub. Group. 18-19
Frady, M. (2006). Martin Luther King, Jr.: A life. New York: Penguin Group. 18
Farris, C. K. (2009). Through it all: Reflections on my life, my family, and my faith. New York: Atria Books. 44-47
Bruns, R. A. (2006). Martin Luther King, Jr.: A biography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 23-25
Coretta Scott King. (2006, February 1). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1509338/Coretta-Scott-King.html
Fleming, A. M. (2008). Martin Luther King, Jr.: A dream of hope. New York: Sterling. 23-24
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://www.naacp.org/pages/dr.-martin-luther-king-jr
December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks arrested. (2003, March 11). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/03/10/sprj.80.1955.parks/
McMahon, T. F. (2004). Ethical leadership through transforming justice. Dallas: University Press of America. 25
Fisk, L. J., & Schellenberg, J. L. (2000). Patterns of conflict, paths to peace. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press. 115-117
Jackson, T. F., & King, M. L. (2007). From civil rights to human rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the struggle for economic justice. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Oppenheimer, D. B. (1993, Summer). Martin Luther King, Walker v. City of Birmingham, and the Retrieved May 4, 2016, from http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1601&context=facpubs
Sitkoff, H. (2008). The struggle for Black equality. New York: Hill and Wang. 152-153
American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr. - I Have a Dream. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from https://web.archive.org/web/20110116221921/http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream2.htm
FULL TRANSCRIPT: President Obama's speech on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. (2013, August 28). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-speech-on-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-march-on-washington/2013/08/28/0138e01e-0ffb-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_story.html
St. Augustine Movement. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_st_augustine_movement/
Martin Luther King Jr. Acceptance Speech. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-acceptance_en.html
Lawson, S. F., & Payne, C. M. (1998). Debating the civil rights movement, 1945-1968. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. 148-149
Martin Luther King, Jr. I've Been to the Mountaintop. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
Pilkington, E. (2008, April 3). 40 years after King's death, Jackson hails first steps into promised land. Http://www.theguardian.com. Retrieved May 4, 2016, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/apr/03/usa.race
Martin Luther King Day. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from https://web.archive.org/web/20080328081425/http://exchanges.state.gov/education/engteaching/mlkbday.htm
