Today marks the observance day of the late and great Martin Luther King Jr. I know when I was growing up, I only appreciated the holiday because we got the day off of school. I never invested the time to truly understand the impact Martin Luther King Jr. had on America. MLK is known as a fierce civil rights activist during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. On August 28, 1963, MLK gave his most well-known speech: I Have a Dream. Every now and then, I listen to this speech for pure motivation.
Aside from his I Have a Dream speech, MLK did a number of incredible things promoting nonviolent resistance while fighting against racial segregation. MLK Jr. founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in which he led many nonviolent campaigns, including the Albany movement and the Birmingham campaign. Did you know that MLK also led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott? The boycott followed Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a bus just because of her race.
All of this extraordinarily brave work did not go unnoticed. In 1964 MLK Jr. was presented with the Nobel Peace Prize. After his death in 1968, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor and the Congressional Gold Medal. No one has had quite the impact as MLK Jr. when it comes to nonviolent resistance, so I urge you to continue the conversation with your kids or your friends when it comes to Martin Luther King Jr. Today wasn’t just a day off of school—it’s a day to remember that violence is not the answer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorNEISD Community Education Archives
August 2017
Categories |