Martin Luther King Jr. is known well for his famous words “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” He had said this in 1963 in Washington, DC at the time when the famous civil rights march was taking place. This displays King’s way of achieving fairness for black Americans. According to King, being non-violently resistant was a good way of obtaining a better life for blacks.
King’s source for non-violence comes from the highest type of love - love people who hate you. King said that love with non-violent action would make changes. In opposition to the cruel methods used by a lot of whites such as physical violence, King arranged marches and boycotts.
Mahatma Gandhi had made a huge impact on Martin Luther King. The concept of non-violence was developed by Gandhi. King and Gandhi are both similar in sharing the idea that by not protesting, one was not doing the right thing. King would always repeat Gandhi’s words, “Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as cooperation with good”. Upon all other methods, they both agreed that non-violence is the most effective and religious method. Both of them struggled against the fact of how to combine religion and politics without compromising either of them. Martin Luther King visited India to learn more on the work of Gandhi and also his concepts for his own fight. After his visit, King was more positive that non-violent resistance was the most effective weapon for fulfilling his dream of freedom.
Martin Luther King Jr. first organized a boycott in 1955, he believed this was an act of Christian love, but the public described it as non-violence because they were comparing him with Gandhi. The boycott lasted for more than a year. The more the blacks behaved with non-violence the more the boycott benefited. Then in 1956, the Supreme Court ordered that separation on buses was illegal. From then on blacks and whites were treated equally on buses, but unfortunately King was arrested and his home was destroyed. This decision was an achievement for African Americans. Following the success of the boycott, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was organized with the objective of authorizing civil rights legislation.
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and four other civil rights leaders arranged for a great march in Washington. This was also the day when King stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech. There were 250 000 Americans in the march and more then 60 000 of them were white. This was the best demonstration of non-violence that Washington had ever seen. This march demonstrated to the rest of the country that the struggle for unison was not only for the South, but for the entire nation.
In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. was the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. King said that he would use the prize money of $54, 123 for the improvement of the civil rights movement.
On April 4, 1968, he was about to lead a protest march, but he was assassinated.
