January 1928 in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents were Martin Luther King Snr. and Alberta Williams King. He did begin his education at the Yonge Street Elementary School in Atlanta. Later, he undertook an enrolment in the David Howard Elementary School. He then attended Booker Washington High School. He advanced to Morehouse College at the age of fifteen without graduating formally from Booker Washington High School because his scores were so high on the examination for college entrance in his junior year. After graduating with the Bachelor Degree in Sociology from Morehouse College in 1948, he studied at the University of Pennsylvania enrolling in the Crozer Theological Seminary where graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Divinity in May of 1951. By September 1951, Martin Luther King Jnr. enrolled at the Boston University to pursue his doctoral studies in Systemic Theology where he completed his studies and got awarded a PhD Degree on 5th June 1955 (Washington 24).
One of the best quotes from Martin Luther King is “we understand from experiences that are painful and extremely hurting that freedom and justice are never given voluntarily by the oppressors, therefore, as oppressors, we must the deliberate the effort to demand them.” In this quote, Martin Luther King Jnr. was challenging and encouraging his fellow American citizens that they join minds and hands so as to fight for what is right and just for all. The period of Martin Luther King’s life, between 1928 and 1968, was marred with racial discrimination and political exclusivity of the colored people. He took a passionate commitment to fight against these issues considering he was affiliated with the African American ethnic group (Washington 22).
As a result, Martin Luther King Jnr. was the engine of the critical force that sought to deliberate all Americans, regardless of their ethnic affiliations, from racial discrimination and oppression. He fought for equality, justice, and political inclusivity in matters pertaining to U.S. policies and development to achieve all spheres of freedom, a pursuit that cost him his life. In this context, Martin Luther King Jnr. was inarguably an important figure in the America history by being a civil rights leader. Therefore, the focus of this paper is specifically based on explaining how the three speeches by Martin Luther King Jnr. “I Have a Dream,” “The Three Evils of Society,” and “I Have been to the Mountain Top” confirm this thesis.
I have a Dream
Martin Luther King delivered the speech “I have a Dream” in 1963, August 28th during a campaign for jobs and freedom. Basically, the speech was a call for racism in the United States as well as in Washington D.C to end (Mathes 33). The elements presented from the entire speech depict that it was a moment defining the movement of civil rights. Martin was prompted to deliver the speech based on his analysis that one hundred years after 1863 when millions of slaves were freed following Emancipation proclamation, freedom had not been provided to the Negro. The speech was closely followed by the listeners and made them excited thus making it the most famous amongst other speeches delivered by King. The statement portrays Martin Luther King as an essential figure in the American history as a civil rights leader through various illustrations.
Luther, commonly identified as a rhetoric masterpiece summons key documents on the American history such as the Independence Declaration, Emancipation Declaration as well as the constitution of the United States. In the introductory part of his speech, King argues that abolition of slavery recorded in Emancipation Proclamation “came as a joyous break of the day to bring an end to the prolonged night of captivity.” However, according to Mathes (35) King posits that the slavery abolition articulated in the document was never attained fully in the sense that the Negro had not been granted freedom. The text in his speech “I have a Dream” which revolved around the “March on Washington” attracted a vast multitude, approximately 250,000 individuals who were ready to participate on occasion. An in-depth analysis indicates that the event had the largest gathering in history as compared to the others held earlier in the capital (Mathes 35 - 36).
Mathes (38) argues that the speech was aimed at ending racism and creating a sense of equality, Luther has been able to create changes not only in America but also in the entire world. His push for nations to live according to the principles of democracy established by the founders created a clear image of America’s misery. The text presented through the speech set out wrongs to be right consequently building a shame on the sins of the Americans in the olden days of slavery. Based on the guilt, America sorts its constitutional ways and started embracing the concept of equality across all the races.
Similarly, King delivers a message to the whole world that a time will come when racism shall come to an end by repeating his words “I have a Dream” in most lines of his speech. Through that, he builds hope to the Negros that there shall come a moment that their darkened days will have daybreak of light and they will be able to live freely with other races (Mathes 39 - 40). Luther’s message of hope changed my perception of various situations of life and assured me that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
The Three Evils of Society
Martin Luther King’s speech on the “Three Evils of Society” was delivered in 1967, August 31st at the National Conference based on New Politics. In his speech, Luther posts the following three evils raising concern within societies including racism, materialism, and militarism. He addressed the three mentioned issues as western civilization plagues (Johnson and Stone 202). Luther argues that racism is the greatest plague consuming our lives and similarly expand complex cancer from military industries that destroy everything visible. King’s speech against racism received much opposition from the Whites who were against equality and empowerment of the blacks. In his speech, he addressed the question of race arising from schizophrenic behavior in America. Martin used two contradicting personalities to present his racial issue including, the great principle of democracy and the one practicing the antithesis of the democracy. King in his speech states that every move initiated in America against racism has always faced a backward resistance known to be the white “backlash” which has been evident in America back from the time the Blacks landed in the Whites’ continent. Luther addresses racism to be a corrosive evil that has the potential of ending western civilization (Johnson and Stone 204).
In his efforts to fight for Civil rights, King confronts the evil of materialism by illustrating the conditions of the slums where the black Americans are locked in misery as domestic workers. Furthermore, his speech addresses the existing link between political statesmanship and poverty. Also, in Johnson and Stone (206), he describes how the extent at which the Congress advocates for socialism amongst the rich and capitalism among the poor through provision of subsidies to the oil industries (Johnson and Stone 208). King further explains that every program organized to raise communities of Africa America were disrupted by the city leadership, state, and the Congress. Martin Luther Kings in his speech provided a suggestion that the only way to bring down the issues of socialism and capitalism is by redistributing both the political and economic power.
The speech by King on militarism alongside war seemed to be exact, blunt, and haunting. He illustrated that war tampered with the future of the whole world both economically and socially. He posits that war has contributed to the tearing up of the agreement signed by Geneva and has similarly weakened the United Nations extremely. Furthermore, he argues that war has exerted hatred between different continents across the globe. Martin’s advocacy for civil rights and equality addressed the three societal evils by calling for radical-value revolution and maladjustment of people to justice (Johnson and Stone 209 -210).
I Have been to the Mountain Top
“I Have been to the Mountain Top” was the last speech of Martin Luther King Jnr. delivered on 3rd April 1968 at the Mason Temple (the headquarter of Church of God in Christ) in Memphis, Tennessee. The primary concern of the speech was the strike y sanitation workers in Memphis. Martin Luther King delivered the speech with the chief intention of calling for unity, boycotts, economic actions, and non-violent protests so as to challenge the U.S. federal government to live up to its ideals of protecting the workers’ rights and considering their welfare. In the speech, King raises the issue of injustice. The injustice was witnessed through the refusal by the Memphis city to be fair, honest, and considerable in pay regarding its dealings with the public workers, particularly the sanitation workers. Martin Luther King Jnr. issued a warning to the striking sanitation workers not indulge in the violent demonstrations lest ignorance be served to their real issues of injustice revolving around the vices of racial discrimination, low pay, and terrible conditions of working. He argued that there were not better courses of actions than peaceful strike as the only effective way of guaranteeing that the workers’ demands would be heard and answered (Lawson 461 - 463).
Concerning the civil rights movement, as a civil right leader, he floated the demand the U.S. must most not only consider but also defend the provisions that the U.S. Constitution has promised to all its citizens. He promised never to relent until when there are protection and regard of all Americans’ natural rights by saying that “Somewhere I have read about the freedom to assemble. Somewhere I have read about the freedom of speech. Somewhere I have read about the press freedom. Somewhere I have read that America’s greatness is guided by right and freedom to demonstrate for rights. Therefore, we will not let water horses or dogs act as impediments in our journey of fighting for justice and we will never let injunctions paralyze our desire for achieving what is good for all. We will go on and not turn around” (Lawson 468-470). King said that regardless of the individual Negroes being poor, together they are the economic powerhouse which they can use to empower the colored people’s businesses and stop the racist groups. He was advocating for the liberation of Black people from economic bondage despite the prevalent discriminations and low pay that the colored individuals were subjected to in the industries and formal job sectors.
King encouraged the colored people that the only way to lessen their pain is by distributing it through protesting and boycotting the products from several businesses that discriminate against them. Therefore, King was doubtlessly an important figure in the as a civil rights leader in the American history. Nothing could make him change his mind on the determination to advocate that every person is not only seen as equal but also treated with equality, respect, and dignity in all settings of life and engagement. He could risk his life and never feared death when it comes to fighting for justice and human rights. As witnessed in the closing remarks of this speech, he raised concerns about threats against his life as if shadowing the impending death. However, such threats could still not prevent him from pressing on with the focus of demanding justice, it was unfortunate that the next day after this speech, he was assassinated.
Works Cited
Johnson, Andre E., and Anthony J. Stone Jr. "The Most Dangerous Negro in America": Rhetoric, Race and the Prophetic Pessimism of Martin Luther King Jr." Journal of Communication " Religion 21.1 (2018), 200 – 210.
Lawson, Steven F. (1994). I've been to the mountaintop: Freedom then, freedom now, and the historiography of the civil rights movement. HarperSanFrancisco, (1991): 456-471.
Mathes, Carter. "Circuits of Political Prophecy: Martin Luther King Jr., Peter Tosh, and the Black Radical Imaginary." Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism 14.2 (32) (2010): 17-41.
Washington, James M. The essential writings and speeches of Martin Luther King Jnr. and their importance in civil right movement. New York: HarperOne (2016).
