Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929. When he was young he saw how things were different between black and white people. For example, there were separate schools for white people and separate schools for black people, black people had to stand up so that white people could sit down on the buses, and many black people could not vote. When he grew up he wanted to change the laws because they were not fair.

On December 5, 1959, after Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat, Martin Luther King, Jr. was elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, and he led a year long boycott of the Montgomery buses. After that Martin Luther King, Jr. became a leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLS) and he led his people to the nation’s capital where he gave a speech called “I have a dream” that made him famous. On April 4, 1968 he was shot and killed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is my hero because he did not only see problems, but he tried to find solutions. He makes me see the problems in my own world and try to find solutions.

For this project I created a painting that was inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr. There is a hand from a black person and a hand from a white person holding the American flag together. In the background there are black and white students. They both are studying in the same school.