Greatest Leaders of All Time
Martin Luther King Jr.
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“I have a dream” the famous speech by Martin Luther King Jr. at the March on Washington. It all started with a dream, like it always does. A dream for change and a dream for better tomorrow. Marting Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) was an activist and a leader in the civil rights movement of USA.
He was a Baptist minister and social activist who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. Inspired by advocates of nonviolence such as Mahatma Gandhi, King sought equality for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and victims of injustice through peaceful protest. He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history. These events helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a U.S. federal holiday since 1986.
In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphi, Tennessee. His death was followed by riots in many U.S. cities.
King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, and as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington State was also renamed for him. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.
Quotes
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.-Martin Luther King Jr.
Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others? -Martin Luther King Jr.
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. -Martin Luther King Jr.