i have a dream that one day this nation will rise up live out the true meaning of its creed we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created martin luther king jr was born on january 15 1929 and graduated as the valedictorian of crozier theological seminary in 1951 king became pastor of a baptist church in montgomery alabama and later completed his phd martin luther king was a religious man he was a pastor he looked at racism and all of the the so-called separate but equal laws and the terrible treatment of people of
color in the united states that he said this is absolutely wrong this is against god's will this is not recognizing the dignity of peoples and he made us all face that in very powerful ways on the eve of rosa parks refusal to move to the back of a city bus in 1955 king was chosen to lead a city-wide bus boycott two years later king and a group of civil rights activists formed the southern christian leadership conference to conduct non-violent protests for civil rights when martin luther king led the alabama boycott that was a major turning
point in the fight for civil rights what you saw was people who had been fractionized coming together as one walking together with others joining the fight this was when people america the world stood up and said whoa what are we looking at here an amazing time inspired by gandhi's activism king worked with the sclc to organize black voters and civil rights protests in 1963 king was arrested at a march in alabama during his prison time king wrote a rebuttal to an article denouncing his methods his long hand notes on the margins of the newspaper became
known as letter from birmingham jail and was famously republished and studied in colleges across the country martin luther king was a man of god who believed that that calling necessitated social change in the present and he put his life on the line for that calling free at last free at last thank god almighty on august 28 1963 king led more than 20 000 people in a massive demonstration at the lincoln memorial where his speech i have a dream became a defining moment in civil rights history through his work king helped pass the civil rights act
of 1964 and received the nobel peace prize that same year martin luther king according to time in 1963 personified the civil rights movement he took on one of the greatest challenges of his time and was one of the people that most influenced this very transformative time in american history although king faced criticism for more militant black leaders he continued his peaceful efforts toward both racial and economic justice after delivering his i've been to the mountaintop speech at a rally in memphis king was assassinated the next day on april 4th 1968 while standing at the balcony
of his motel room king's assassination was i think devastating for many people but there is also a rising level of organization and many people king's assassination galvanizes them into many kind of black power movements across the country many anti-poverty movements so it's both a moment of despair but also a moment of political flowering posthumously king was awarded the presidential medal of freedom in 1977 and a congressional gold medal in 2004. today the martin luther king jr national holiday continues to be honored on the third monday of every january you
