Martin Luther King Jr.

Martinluther King Jr. (http://www.alternet.org/files/styles/story_image/p (http://www.alternet.org/files/styles/story_image/p))

A hero is selfless, courageous, and is willing to do whatever it takes to change the world for the better and do what is right, and Martin Luther King Jr. was exactly that. He dedicated his life to make the world a better place, and he did whatever it took to get there. King is the perfect example of a hero because of this. His actions in the African-American civil rights movement are still admired to this day by the young and old, and still there are so many things we can learn from his leadership and heroism. This man even has a national holiday dedicated to him for his huge impact in the world, the civil rights movement, and American history. But where did it all start?

He was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, but that isn't where his role as a great leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement began. After Rosa Parks got arrested for refusing to give up her seat to white man, the leader of the local NAACP met with Martin Luther King Jr. He wanted him to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott the local civil rights leaders had been planning. The boycott lasted more than three-hundred days and successfully opened eyes to people who did not realize how bad racism had gotten in the U.S.. Along with that, Martin Luther King's heroic actions during the Montgomery Bus boycott were noticed so many opportunities were open to him

 After the the boycott, Martin, Ralph Abernathy, and sixty ministers and civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. Its goal was give full equality to African-American people, though they protested through non-violence. Like Martin Luther King Jr. they believed that nonviolence was the best way to act during the civil rights movement.  King had always held the most influence to the organization of SCLC. Even their motto related to non violence, which was "Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed." Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolence morals were mainly influenced by the Christian religion, Bayard Rustin (a civil rights activists who acted as Martin's mentor), and a trip to Gandhi's birthplace. Ever since this trip in 1959, Martin had increased his commitment to the civil rights movement by trying any way to protest using non violence. But his work was not done yet.

the March on Washington (http://chestertownspy.org/2013/08/28/chestertown-remembers-king-and-the-march-on-washington/)

In the year of 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. partnered with many civil rights activists and religious groups to organize the March on Washington. It was a nonviolent political rally whose purpose was to share with the world the injustice African-Americans had to face. The March on Washington was a watershed event that helped lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Voting Act Rights of 1965. It was participated in by around two-hundred-thousand to three-hundred-thousand. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great leader of this event and spoke for the whole African-American community and anyone who agreed with the injustice that had been done to them in his famous speech, "I Have a Dream". His speech is still admired today for its truth, and greatness.At that time, Martin had received the Nobel Peace Prize and had been named "Man of the Year" on People Magazine, all at the age of thirty-five, which was the youngest age of someone who had received a Nobel Peace Prize.

Just at age thirty-nine King was assassinated and killed. So a holiday was made to celebrate his life and the impact that he had left on the world. That is what a hero does, they make a change. They leave an impact. A hero shows up to not only save the ones who have been wronged, but change the evil to good. King had done just that by leading the African-American community to justice, and opening the eyes around him to the change that needed to happen. That is why Martin Luther King Jr. is a hero.