Martin Luther King, 1929 - 1968 |
| Martin Luther King lived in America from 1929 to 1968 at a time when it was not against the law to discriminate against black people.
Even though slavery had been abolished in 1869, most black people still lived in poverty. Black people earned half the amount white people earned, many could not vote; they lived in ghettos and they were often segregated in public places. |
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Martin Luther King was a black American Christian who believed that God created black people and white people equally. All humans were made 'in the image and likeness of God'. Because of his Christian beliefs, Martin Luther King worked towards equality by organising non-violent protests. He believed that it was never right to use violence, because this does not express the love of God, it expresses just hatred. Not all black activists agreed with him. The black power movement (led by Malcolm X) believed that equality would only be achieved by force, because white people refused to listen. Martin Luther King followed in his father's and grandfather's footsteps by becoming a Baptist Minister. Initially he was not involved in obtaining equal rights for black people in America. That all changed in 1955 when he became the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association. |
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