On Wednesday the Talk Show studio was packed. This week we had a very, very special guest - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - one of the world's best known civil rights leaders. Joebar introduced him to the audience and let him talk about himself.
Dr. King told us that he was born in Atlanta on January 15, 1929. His roots were in the African-American Baptist church.He greatly admired black social gospel proponents such as his father who saw the church as an instrument for improving the lives of African Americans.
On December 5, 1955, five days after civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to obey the city's rules mandating segregation on busses, black residents launched a buss boycott and elected Dr. King a president of the newly-formed Montgomery Improvement Association.Despite attempts to suppress the movement, Montgomery busses were desegregated in December, 1956, after the States Supreme Court declared Alabama's segregation laws unconstitutional.
During the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King and his staff guided mass demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, where local white police officials were known for their anti-black attitudes. Clashes between black demonstrators and police using police dogs and fire hoses generated newspaper headlines throughout the world. In June, President Kennedy reacted to the Birmingham protests by agreeing to submit broad civil rights legislation to Congress (which eventually passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964).
Subsequent mass demonstrations in many communities culminated in a march on August 28, 1963, that attracted more than 250,000 protesters to Washington, D. C. Addressing the marchers from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. During the year following the march, Martin Luther King's fame grew as he became Time magazine's Man of the Year and, in December 1964, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
The achievements of Dr. King are amazing - everyone, who was there listening, was truly inspired by him. We hope he'll agree to another visit to SecretBuilders some time in the future.
Next week's guest is very interesting too, but I can't tell you who he is yet ;)
DJ_Mariya
Posts
