martin luther king jr essay pdf

Martin Luther King Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on martin luter king.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an African-American leader in the U.S. He lost his life while performing a peaceful protest for the betterment of blacks in America. His real name was Michael King Jr. He completed his studies and attained a Ph.D. After that, he joined the American Civil Right Movement. He was among one of the great men who dedicated their life for the community.

Reason for Martin Luther King to be famous

There are two reasons for someone to be famous either he is a good man or a very bad person. Martin Luther King was among the good one who dedicated his life to the community. Martin Luther King was also known as MLK Jr. He gained popularity after he became the leader and spokesperson of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

Martin Luther King was an American activist, minister, and humanitarian. Also, he had worked for several other causes and actively participated in many protests and boycotts. He was a peaceful man that has faith in Christian beliefs and non-violence. Also, his inspiration for them was the work of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. For his work in the field of civil rights, the Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize.

He was a great speaker that motivated the blacks to protest using non-violence. Also, he uses peaceful strategies like a boycott, protest march , and sit-ins, etc. for protests against the government.

Impact of King

King is one of the renowned leaders of the African-American who worked for the welfare of his community throughout his life. He was very famous among the community and is the strongest voice of the community. King and his fellow companies and peaceful protesters forced the government several times to bend their laws. Also, kings’ life made a seismic impact on life and thinking of the blacks. He was among one of the great leaders of the era.

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Humanitarian and civil rights work

As we know that King was a civic leader . Also, he has taken part in many civil right campaigns and boycotts like the Bus Boycott, Voting Rights and the most famous March on Washington. In this march along with more than 200,000 people, he marched towards Washington for human right. Also, it’s the largest human right campaign in U.S.A. history. During the protest, he gave a speech named “I Have a Dream” which is history’s one of the renowned speeches.

Death and memorial

During his life working as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement he makes many enemies. Also, the government and plans do everything to hurt his reputation. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968. Every year the US celebrates his anniversary as Martin Luther King Jr. day in the US. Also, they honored kings’ memory by naming school and building after him and a Memorial at Independence Mall.

Martin Luther King was a great man who dedicated his whole life for his community. Also, he was an active leader and a great spokesperson that not only served his people but also humanity. It was due to his contribution that the African-American got their civil rights.

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The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Stanford University

Additional information:   https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/publications/king-papers

A comprehensive edition of the papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 –1968) clergyman, activist, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. King has become a national icon in the history of American progressivism. A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, in 1962, and organized nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama, that attracted national attention following television news coverage of the brutal police response. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. This edition of speeches, sermons, correspondence, and other papers of America’s foremost leader of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The project was initiated by the King Center in Atlanta before moving to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford.

Seven completed volumes of a planned 14-volume edition

Martin Luther King, Jr. addresses the crowd at the Civil Rights March, August 28, 1963. National Archives.

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Dr. martin luther king, jr. archive, finding aid and content.

View contents of this collection in Boston University ArchivesSpace

Download the Dr. King Collection finding aid and inventory [PDF]

About the Collection – Scope & Content Notes

The Martin Luther King, Jr. collection, donated in 1964, consists of manuscripts, notebooks, correspondence, printed material, financial and legal papers, a small number of photographs and other items dating from 1947 to 1963.

Manuscripts include class notes, examinations and papers written by Dr. King while a student at Morehouse College (1944-1948), Crozer Theological Seminary (1948-1951) and Boston University (1951-1953). Among the notable documents are: a paper entitled Ritual (1947), composed at Morehouse; An Autobiography of Religious Development (1950), an assignment for the “Religious Development of Personality” class at Crozer taught by one of King’s mentors, George W. Davis; and notes and drafts of his doctoral dissertation, A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman (1955). Additional manuscripts in the collection include drafts of speeches, sermons and three books: Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (Harper, 1958), about the 1955-1956 bus boycott; Strength to Love (Harper & Row, 1963), a collection of several of his best-known sermons including “A Knock at Midnight,” “Shattered Dreams,” “The Death of Evil Upon the Seashore,” and “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life;” and Why We Can’t Wait (Harper & Row, 1964), which includes the famed “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

Dr. King’s office files, which date from 1955 to 1963, make up the bulk of the collection and consist primarily of letters, but also include itineraries, financial and legal documents, printed items, news clippings, and similar documents. There is material related to both the Dexter Avenue Church in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Additionally, there are extensive files related to the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Other organizations which prominently figure include the American Friends Service Committee, which helped to finance Dr. King’s 1959 trip to India; the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); and the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).

Notable correspondence from figures in the Civil Rights movement includes letters from Bayard Rustin, Malcolm X, Adam Clayton Powell, Ella J. Baker, Medgar Evers, Roy Wilkins, Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, William Sloane Coffin, Allan Knight Chalmers, Sidney Poitier, Jackie Robinson, A. Philip Randolph, Harry Belafonte, and Ralph Abernathy. Distinguished U.S. Government correspondents include Alabama Gov. John Patterson, Robert F. Kennedy, Sargent Shriver, Paul Douglas, Prescott Bush, Ralph Bunche, Eleanor Roosevelt, Hubert Humphrey, Richard M. Nixon, Dean Rusk, Walter Reuther, Adlai Stevenson, Earl Warren, Harry S. Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson. Other eminent correspondents include James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Jawaharlal Nehru, Linus Pauling, Nat King Cole, Cass Canfield, Ralph Ginzburg, Julian Huxley, Paul Tillich, and Stanley Levison.

Photographs in the collection include images of King with his family and congregation, a formal portrait, a photograph of the knife with which he was stabbed in 1958, and his coffin being transported by airplane.

Awards for King in the collection include an honorary Doctor of Divinity diploma from the Chicago Theological Seminary (1957); a certificate from the Alabama Association of Women’s Clubs (1957); Man of the Year Award from the Capital Press Club (1957); the Social Justice Award from the Religion and Labor Foundation (1957); the New York City proclamation of May 16, 1961 as “Desegregation Day” in honor of King, by Mayor Robert Wagner (1961); a citation from Americans for Democratic Action (1961); a certificate from the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (1963); an award from the Institute of Adult Education, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Bayonne, New Jersey (1964); and King’s certificate of membership in the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity at Boston University.

Audio in the collection includes recordings of King delivering a speech at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina (1958); an interview with Bayard Rustin (1963); King’s visit to Boston University in 1964 to donate his papers; King giving a speech at the Golden Jubilee Convention of the United Synagogues of America (Nov. 19, 1964); King speaking to District 65 DWA; and King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Other items in the collection include telephone log books (1961–1963); King’s diary regarding his arrest on July 27, 1962; numerous clippings, pamphlets, flyers, articles, and other printed items; and a monogrammed leather briefcase owned by King. An addendum to the collection includes correspondence pertaining to the Joan Daves Agency’s dealings with King and the King Estate. These letters date from 1958 to 1993 and cover advertising and promotion, King’s Massey Lectures (1967), publishing rights, permissions, and other subjects.

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The Enigma Surrounding the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

This essay about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. examines the uncertainties and debates surrounding his death on April 4, 1968. Highlighting the official narrative that James Earl Ray was the assassin, the essay also explores widespread conspiracy theories suggesting government involvement. It touches on Ray’s recantation of his guilty plea, the King family’s doubts about his sole culpability, and the broader implications of the FBI’s surveillance of King under COINTELPRO. The essay ultimately suggests that, despite unresolved questions about the exact perpetrator, King’s legacy of advocating for justice and equality remains undiminished. It emphasizes the importance of continuing his work for a more equitable society, underscoring the impact of King’s vision on American history and the ongoing struggle for civil rights. At PapersOwl too, you can discover numerous free essay illustrations related to Martin Luther King.

How it works

On April 4, 1968, a tragedy unfolded that would forever alter the landscape of American civil rights and social justice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a towering figure in the fight against racial segregation and inequality, was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. His death sent shockwaves through the nation and the world, sparking a mix of grief, outrage, and a renewed commitment to King’s dream of equality and justice for all. Yet, more than five decades later, the question of who exactly killed MLK Jr.

remains a topic of intense debate and speculation.

The official narrative, as concluded by the FBI and supported by a Memphis jury, points to James Earl Ray, a small-time criminal who pleaded guilty to King’s murder in 1969. Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison, a verdict that, on the surface, seemed to close the case. However, the simplicity of this conclusion has been challenged by numerous theories and allegations, suggesting that Ray was a scapegoat in a broader conspiracy involving various entities, including the FBI, CIA, and other facets of the U.S. government.

Critics of the official account argue that the evidence against Ray was circumstantial at best. Ray himself recanted his guilty plea three days after it was made, claiming he was coerced into confessing. Over the years, he maintained that he was not the one who pulled the trigger, suggesting instead that he was unwittingly set up to take the fall by a shadowy figure he knew only as “Raoul.” Despite these assertions, Ray’s attempts to obtain a trial were unsuccessful, and he died in prison in 1998, leaving many questions unanswered.

Adding complexity to the narrative are the King family’s own doubts about Ray’s guilt. The Kings, having met with Ray, publicly supported his quest for a new trial and expressed belief in a conspiracy theory that implicated government agencies in MLK’s assassination. This stance was further bolstered by a civil trial in 1999, where a jury found in favor of the King family, agreeing that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy involving various parties, though not specifically naming the U.S. government. Critics of this verdict argue that the civil trial’s standards for evidence were significantly lower than those of a criminal trial, thus questioning the reliability of its findings.

The intrigue surrounding King’s assassination is further deepened by the historical context. During his lifetime, MLK was under constant surveillance by the FBI, which, under J. Edgar Hoover, sought to undermine his influence and discredit his work. This surveillance was part of a wider effort by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program to neutralize what it considered radical and subversive elements within the United States. The knowledge of such operations has fueled speculation that the government had both the motive and the means to orchestrate King’s assassination, viewing him as a threat to the status quo.

In the end, the question of who killed Martin Luther King Jr. remains mired in a complex web of facts, theories, and interpretations. The official narrative has its supporters and detractors, and the possibility of a broader conspiracy cannot be conclusively dismissed. What remains indisputable, however, is the impact of King’s life and death on the course of American history. His vision for a just and equitable society, his courage in the face of relentless adversity, and his unwavering commitment to nonviolence and love as the means to achieve change continue to inspire generations. In the quest for truth about his assassination, perhaps the most fitting tribute to King’s legacy is to continue the work he started, striving towards the realization of his dream where individuals are judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Cite this page

The Enigma Surrounding the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.. (2024, Feb 27). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/the-enigma-surrounding-the-assassination-of-martin-luther-king-jr/

"The Enigma Surrounding the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.." PapersOwl.com , 27 Feb 2024, https://papersowl.com/examples/the-enigma-surrounding-the-assassination-of-martin-luther-king-jr/

PapersOwl.com. (2024). The Enigma Surrounding the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-enigma-surrounding-the-assassination-of-martin-luther-king-jr/ [Accessed: 11 Apr. 2024]

"The Enigma Surrounding the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.." PapersOwl.com, Feb 27, 2024. Accessed April 11, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/the-enigma-surrounding-the-assassination-of-martin-luther-king-jr/

"The Enigma Surrounding the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.," PapersOwl.com , 27-Feb-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-enigma-surrounding-the-assassination-of-martin-luther-king-jr/. [Accessed: 11-Apr-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). The Enigma Surrounding the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-enigma-surrounding-the-assassination-of-martin-luther-king-jr/ [Accessed: 11-Apr-2024]

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