Martin Luther King in the 20th century

Dr. Martin Luther King is considered by many to be a significant figure of the 20th century for a variety of reasons; because of what he achieved and the difficulties he overcame in attaining these achievements. Dr. King is significant because for thirteen struggle-filled years he fought to make his dream of liberation for all people become a reality, because of the hope and inspiration he gave millions of oppressed people, because of the non-violent way in which he fought and because of the way in which he influenced America, changing it forever as he brought into the spotlight the injustices of the black American people’s treatment, because he led the civil rights movement and overcame legal. While Dr King endeavoured to achieve these things, he rose above many difficulties including his own, his supporters’, his marchers’ and his family’s constant danger and other such difficulties as the black people of Chicago not listening to him and resorting to violence.

One of the main reasons Dr King is such a significant figure of the 20th Century is because he courageously fought to make his dream, “that one day this nation will rise up and

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Martin Luther King is considered to be a significant figure of the 20th century for many different reasons, mainly because of his achievements during his life, especially his achievements when he fought for thirteen years in an attempt to liberate the black people as part of his dream that all may be treated equally.

One of the other major reasons Dr King is considered to be one of the 20th Century’s most significant people is because of the non-violent way in which he proposed the black people go about becoming liberated and the fact that, despite his own and his family’s constant danger, he never altered his non-violent philosophy. live out the true meaning of its creed; ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. Dr King was the dominant force in the civil rights movement during its greatest decade of achievement, he organised and led many mass meetings, marches, boycotts and prayer vigils.

Dr King set in motion the movement which took giant strides towards achieving equality for the black people and he also brought to the attention of America the terrible injustices the white people were committing against the black people. The fact that Dr King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 was a recognition of the fact that King was, as Dr Gunnar Jahn (chairman of the Nobel Committee) said “an undaunted champion of peace…the first person in the Western world to have shown us that struggle can be waged without violence. Dr King is a significant person of the 20th Century because he did not resort to war or physical battles to achieve his goals, he instead urged the black people to use love to conquer their problems. Dr King showed unfathomable courage when he did not run from these problems but took them on and fought for desegregation and ultimately, he won and his legacy lives today. The nation’s conscience was awakened due to King’s work and the publicity it brought to the plight of the black people. He achieved many great things through these mass actions including the more major achievements of desegregating the Montgomery bus system because of a 381 day boycott he organised, he helped the black people of the Chicago slums to gain better jobs, wages and housing, he helped the black people get the right to vote when the Voting Rights Bill of 1965 was signed after a march he led from Selma to Montgomery with 3200 people and he succeeded in bringing attention to the plight of the oppressed black American people and he ultimately achieved (as the dominant force in its coming about) the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by President Johnson. Dr King achieved many great things; he gave hope and inspiration and pride to many thousands of people, he showed the Western world how problems could be handled without violence, he ultimately, through the organisation of marches, boycotts, prayer vigils and mass meetings, achieved the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by President Johnson, he forced the white people of America to look at the cancerous racism which festered in their society and he forced the black people into action to fight against it but not with violence. He was jailed 14 times, physically assaulted and stabbed but he always preached that “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that”. These achievements are also the reasons that Dr King is considered to be such a significant person of the 20th Century and in achieving them he was forced to overcome many problems including the fact that he, his family and his supporters wee constantly in danger, laws being put in his path to try and stop him from demonstrating or fighting, and terrible violence such as that of dogs and firehoses being trained on marchers and his Freedom Riders being brutally bashed.

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Approximate Word count = 1087
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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