Martin Luther King was a great man among great men. He had a huge impact on the twentieth century and proved that religious leaders can effect change.
Less than forty years ago, our modern, advancing world was more backward than many people would like to admit. In the face of hatred, violence and racist authorities, Martin Luther King spoke out boldly and became the most powerful black man in history.
Born in Georgia, USA, in 1929, he became pastor of a church in Alabama by the age of twenty-four. He was soon to come face to face with the segregation laws of America when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus for a white passenger. King led the resulting bus boycott which was hailed as huge success.
With his house bombed and King arrested, things may have seemed bleak, but he maintained his non-violent approach to changing American segregation laws. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, he was instrumental in organizing protest marches, rallies and speeches against the racist laws in his country.
To the surprise of many, his strategy worked. Hatred doesn’t have to be met with violence to get a reaction, as was proven by Gandhi decades before on the other side of the world. Laws were gradually changed as the non-violent movement gathered support and the silent majority suddenly began to show their power.
On 4th April 1968, James Early Ray shot and killed Martin Luther King as he took some air on his hotel balcony in Tennessee before addressing a rally of striking black employees. Four Years before he was killed, King became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But despite dying, his legacy lives on.
Nearly forty years later his work is still taught in schools. He is known by millions around the world for the example of equality he set by his policy of non-violent protest. In 1986, he became only the third person to have a US holiday named after him. His last major speech, “I have a dream” is known by millions of people who are able to quote or paraphrase those famous lines of King’s black children being able to play with white children; and it was heard by an audience of around 250,000 people at the time.
This man was truly a magnificent role-model for all generations and proves that religion isn’t about irrelevant stories in ancient lands but is active and works in the world we live in today.
May the legend of the Christian, Martin Luther King, live on for us all.
