Who’s Martin Luther King Jr
On Monday, January 20, the USA would celebrate Martin Luther King Day. And though his actual birthday is on January 15, the US celebrates third Monday of every January in his honour.
But do you know who’s Martin Luther King Jr? Today we live in a free world. A world without boundaries and discriminations. Today nobody can dare distinguish you on the basis of the colour of your skin, your race, your caste or your religion. But this was not always the case. Black people or people of aboriginal tribes and African-Americans were looked down upon by others in the US. They didn’t have the right to vote, they didn’t have a say in the government. Can you imagine a school where one set of kids are not allowed to use the same bathroom as others because of their skin colour? And King tried to bring change in that.
Here are few cool facts about this great man from the world history
- Just like Mahatma Gandhi, King used non-violence and non-cooperation to bring justice in the society. He was a great believer in peaceful protest, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. His protests used no-violent tactics, even when the protesters themselves were met with violence from the police.
- King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929, a time when racial segregation was a way of life. He first became aware of the practice at age six when his best friend, who happened to be white, was sent to a different elementary school. As he grew older, King realized that black and white people led disparate lives – they ate at different restaurants, went to different schools, and even sat in separate areas when traveling on buses and trains.
- However when he started college at the age of 15, he realised that things were different in Northern states where black people were not treated like an outsider.
- In 1963, he helped to organize the famous “March on Washington”. Over 250,000 people attended this march which was a huge number at that time. It is here that he gave his famous ‘I have a dream speech’. Don’t miss to listen to that.
- Over the years he strives to bring equality in society by asking the government to work for it. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was instrumental in getting the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed. This act outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
- He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in April of 1964.
- Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in 1968 in Tennessee by one James Earl Ray. He was standing on the balcony of his hotel when he was shot.
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