Essay on the Life and Story of Martin Loather King

Martin Loather King was born January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Martin became the third member of his family to join the church and serve as the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church after his father and grandfather (Harding, 2008). He was also inspired to take the educational path by his father and grandfather. He attended segregated public schools in Georgia where he graduated at the age of 15. As Garrow (2002) explains, he furthered his education and received a B.A degree from Atlantas Morehouse College by then recognized as a black school. However, after his B.A degree completion, Martin decided to study theology where he enrolled at Crozer Theological Seminary School in Pennsylvania (Harding, 2008). His leadership qualities seem to have started in Pennsylvania where he was first elected as the president of his senior class. He further graduated from Boston College in Massachusetts with a doctoral degree in 1955.

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Martin met his wife Coretta Scott in Boston where they got married after which they moved to Montgomery, Alabama. In Montgomery, he worked as a pastor of Dexter Baptist Church. Although he was already a member of the Nation Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Martin did not become actively involved in the organizations affairs until 1955 when he led 382-day boycott of the public bus system in Montgomery (Garrow, 2003). The organization tried to fight against the discrimination of the black people in Montgomery and across America as a whole. As Avakian (2002) explains, the boycott of the bus system followed the relegation of the black people at the back of the bus where they were expected to give up their seats whenever a white person entered the bus. Since the buses were the essential means of transport for the African-Americans, the association was formed to end such kind of discriminations among others in America against the black people. According to Avakian (2002), Martin Loather King was a human right activist who did not only support the liberation of the black people but for all Christian people. His ideas significantly influenced the organization.

Some of the people who had a significant influence on Martins life apart from his father and grandfather include Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who was also a Democratic activist in India (Harding, 2008). What influenced Martin was Mohandas peaceful and nonviolent civil disobedience that led to change of the native India. Therefore, in most of his activist operations, Martin stressed nonviolence despite being faced with violent responses from his opponents. Martin Loather King delivered many speeches; however as Duffy and Besel (2010) explain, the most famous and frequently identified speech is the August 28, 1963, speech popularly known as I have a dream. The speech called for the rights of all people not only the black people in America. In part of his speech Martin says that he believes that one day the discriminated people will live in a land where they will no longer be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their characters (Duffy and Besel, 2010).

Some of his achievements include the nomination and winning of the man of the year for 1963 Nobel Prize led by the Time magazine. The following year, Martin was selected by the Nobel Prize Committee in Stockholm as the youngest man ever received such award for advocating for nonviolent and democratic civil rights movement (Harding, 2008). As a result, he was awarded Nobel Peace Prize. His other achievements include his various speeches on anti-war and nonviolence movement. Martin Loather King was assassinated in 1968 when he traveled to Memphis where most of the black sanitation had been involved in a continuous strike.

Leadership Aspects

Martin Loather King had and articulated great and powerful visions. As a leader, one should have powerful visions that provide them with the ability to engage with their hearts (Pierce & Newstrom, 2003). However, it is not only mentioning or articulating the visions that make a good leader but instead one should be able to create and lay paths that will enable them to achieve the vision. Martin Loather King was one of such a leader who articulated powerful visions and ensured that he shared and laid a path towards their fulfillment. This can be witnessed in his different speeches in which he shared what he believed in his heart; the most famous speech I have a dream is one of such a speech where Martin shares his heart beliefs.

Pierce and Newstrom (2003) cite that good and effective leaders speak up about things that not only affect them alone but affect everyone and matters to everyone. As Pierce and Newstrom (2003) explain, good leaders are not selfish; therefore, they consider the problems of others as well. In one of his famous speeches, Martin said that peoples lives begin to end the day they become silent about the things that affect them and matters to them (Garrow, 2003). Therefore, this can be witnessed in his involvement in the civil rights movements; he was an active member who did not only participate in the decision making but also promoted the effect of changing. Martin spoke about things that mattered not only to him but the other segregated people. For example, he led a boycott demonstration after a black woman; Rosa Parks was arrested for having violated the seating ordinance on a public bus in Montgomery (Avakian, 2002). The 382-day boycott led by Martin aimed at ending the segregation and dehumanization of the black people in bus stations and other public places.

According to Pierce and Newstrom (2003), good leaders involve everyone on the things that matter. Good and effective leaders do not act alone or want to be recognized for having achieved something alone. Martin was such a leader who involved everyone in his mission to promote human rights and struggle for liberation and anti-dehumanization. Martin did not only involve the segregated black people alone but also involved the whites through his anti-racial harmony campaign he frequently spoke about in his speeches. Therefore, good leaders feel the fear, but they take the risk anyway.

Bibliography

Avakian, S., 2002. Racial Disparity Among the Incarcerated'. Law, Social Justice & Global Development Journal (LGD), 1, pp.02-1.Duffy, B.K. and Besel, R.D., 2010. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream and the Politics of Cultural Memory: An Apostil. ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews, 23(3), pp.184-191.

Garrow, D.J., 2003. King The Man, The March, The Dream. American History, 38(3), p.26.

Harding, V., 2008. Martin Luther King, the inconvenient hero. Orbis Books.Pierce, J.L. and Newstrom, J.W., 2003. Leaders & the leadership process. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.