Martin Luther King Essay

Martin Luther King Jr`s impact on the civil rights movement

Maya Angelou Interview http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ang0int-1
Poet and Historian

January 22, 1997
High Point, North Carolina

oDr. Angelou, you worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. What was Dr. King really like, personally? oMaya Angelou: Dr. King was a human being. He had a sense of humor which was wonderful. It is very dangerous to make a person larger than life because, then, young men and women are tempted to believe, well, if he was that great, he's inaccessible, and I can never try to be that or emulate that or achieve that. The truth is, Martin Luther King was a human being with a brilliant mind, a powerful heart, and insight, and courage and also with a sense of humor. So he was accessible. I mentioned courage, and I would like to say something else about that, finding courage in the leaders and in you who will become leaders. Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtues consistently. You see? You can't be consistently kind or fair or humane or generous, not without courage, because if you don't have it, sooner or later you will stop and say, "Eh, the threat is too much. The difficulty is too high. The challenge is too great." So I would like to say that Dr. King, while we know from all the publicity that he was brilliant, and he was powerful, and he was passionate and right, he was also a funny man, and that's nice to know.

John Lewis Interview http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23845194
Transcript from January 14, 1999
MLK's Legacy with Congressman John Lewis (D-GA)
Congressman_John_Lewis: Good evening. It's great to be here.

npr_host: Can you tell us a bit about your first hand experience with the Civil Rights Movement?

Congressman_John_Lewis: I was born in Alabama, 50 miles from Montgomery, in southeast Alabama, in a the little town of about 13,000 people just outside of Troy. When I would visit the cities of Montgomery or Birmingham, I saw the signs that said white men and white women, I saw the signs that said colored lady, colored men. In 1950 when I was 10 years old I tried to check a book out of the local library, I tried to get a library card and I was told that the library was only for white people and not people of color. It had an unbelievable impact on me. I couldn't understand it. But in 1955 when I was 15 years old I heard about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. And, 3 years later I met MLK and a year later I got involved in the civil rights movement.

Congressman_John_Lewis: Dr. King was one of the most inspiring human beings I ever met. He was such a warm, compassionate and loving human being.

npr_host: How was Dr. King inspiring on a personal level, as much as in public?

Congressman_John_Lewis: MLK Jr. taught me how to say no to segregation and I can hear him saying now ... when you straighten up your back -- no man can ride you. He said stand up straight and say no to racial discrimination.

The Greatest Speech Ever - Robert F Kennedy Announcing The Death Of Martin Luther King
April 4th, 1968 Martin Luther King was shot and killed.

On that night, Robert F Kennedy, New York's senator back then, wanted to deliver the news to the people of Indianapolis, IN

Local police warned him, they won't be able to provide protection if the people wold riot because he was in the heart of the African-American ghetto.

He wrote his notes on his ride and started the speech without any drafts or prewritten words before his assistance would give him their proposed draft.

This speech was delivered on a back of a Flatbed truck.

Although all major cities had riots, Indianapolis remained calm after RFK's speech

63 days after this speech, RFK got assassinated.

I reproduced the video, creating this version after adding the above mentioned details to it, so the speech can be put into context for everyone who watches

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Martin Luther King Accomplishments