Martin Luther King



Martin Luther King

Introduction

An African American civil rights leader, King successfully won the support of the liberal white community for basic reform and attracted worldwide media attention concerning race relations in the United States. He gained recognition in 1955 as a result of his leadership of that city's 382-day bus boycott, which eventually resulted in a law ending desegregated buses. By 1957 he had been elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and used nonviolent direct action to coordinate high-profile sit-ins, freedom rides, boycotts, and protest marches throughout the South (Carson, 1998).

His most successful campaigns occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, when he made certain that the media bore witness to violent police attacks against young black protesters, and the August 1963 March on Washington (250,000 strong), where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1963 alone he delivered approximately 350 speeches and traveled 275,000 miles. He won Time magazine's Man of the Year Award, followed by the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. His popularity among white Americans fell after 1965 as he turned his attention to poverty in northern cities and spoke out against the war in Vietnam. King was harassed by the FBI and criticized by the growing militant “black power” movement. On 4 April 1968 King was assassinated. His death led to outbreaks of violence in several major cities.

Public Speaking

King's propaganda skill lay in the art of eloquent and persuasive public speaking, derived from the vibrant oral tradition of the black church in which he had grown up. He used simple words and imagery and stressed basic moral truths. King was not so much original or intellectual but rather personal and inspirational; he spoke often of his own suffering and willingness to die for his cause, which elicited intense emotions ...