Michael King was born on January 15th 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of five, Michael King was baptized by his father Martin Luther King snr and was then afterwards given the name Martin Luther King II. As a child, it was difficult for Martin to grow up in the white American society. Because the whites saw them selves as superior to the Africans, Martin, although his best friend was white, was not allowed to attend the same school as his best friend. And even though his father was a well respected preacher, he was still forced to take the worst seats of the buses. 70 years before Martin birth, the black people, as they were known at that time, were taken, or rather snatched from their peaceful villages and were chained and ‘packed’ below ship decks for the long voyage back to America were the Africans were to work as slaves. They had no rights what so ever, and were bought and sold as thought they were animals being sold at the markets.
The white Americans of the time were so racist that they would not have black people swimming in the same pool as them, or even sitting in the same train carriages. Signs displaying ‘Whites only’ kept the Africans from entering shops, schools and even in some cases, churches…now that makes you think, doesn’t it?
At the age of 15 yrs, Martin was an excellent speaker; he had a strong and commanding yet gentle and soft way of speaking. He entered a public speaking competition. It was here he presented his powerful speech about the Negro and the constitution and won himself first prize. Proud of his achievements, Martin flung himself on a bus and relaxed ready to return home to present his parents with his prize. But on the way, the bus filled up and seats became few. Martin remained in his seat refusing to get up for any white man. When the bus driver saw that Martin remained in his seat, he ordered him to get up to allow room for the white people. Martin stayed strong, that was until his teacher ordered him up. In obedience, Martin stood and was gently reminded by his teacher of the rule of the day. ‘White before blacks.’ Martin was furious, it was, according to him, the angriest he’d ever been in his life!
Martin Luther King’s career was always something that bothered him, he was talented in many areas, especially that of athletics and public speaking. Martin longed to help the black people of America and had a strong Christian faith and so decided to follow his father’s footsteps and began training to be a Baptist minister.
After studying Mahatma Gandhi throughout college, Martin new the only way he could achieve freedom was through peace.
Martin met Coretta his wife to be in 1952 on a blind date organized by one of his close friends, Mary Powell. The couple married in1953 and had four children
The book is more or less written to suit the capabilities of younger readers. It is written in more of a story telling format to allow easy understanding and stuff. The large fonts also contribute to the easy reading level of the book.
Free at last was written to provide younger readers with reach vocabulary and challenging sentence structure. The book also provides additional information and an alphabetical glossary to keep the reader understanding what he r she is reading.
In writing this book, Angela Bull has not focused on a particular aspect of Martin’s life but has simply made a brief account of the some of the events that took place.
Because the book was written to suit children of about 8-12 yrs, the setting and background of the book is simple and comprehensible. Angela managed to portray the time of which Martin was living very well with excellent use of pictures and other fragments information. Her pictures also expose and reveal the brutal treatment the people were receiving and the harshness and apprehension between the whites and the blacks.
Angela Bull writes this book in first person and uses this point of view to allow the simplicity of the book once again to allow easy reading for the younger readers.
Reading this book, along with the others read about Martin Luther King has given me more insight into his life and ministry. ‘Free at last’ has emphasised Martin’s relationship to God and its affect on his life’s work. Although the book was well written for the proficient readers of the younger age groups, I personally do believe that more background information of Martin’s life and upbringing could have been included.
The reason I chose to do this book was because of it outstanding difference in tone and style in comparison to the other three books I read
A wise black man once said, ‘When I was born, I was black, when I grew up, I was black, when I was in the sun, I was black, when I got cold, I was black, when grew ill, I was black, and when I died, I was black. But you, when you were born, you were pink, when you grew up, you white, when you stayed in the sun, you turned red, when you got cold, you went blue and when you die, you turn grey….and you call me coloured!
