The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, Essay Example

Martin Luther King, Jr. is known as one of the most important figures in the African American civil rights movement.  He led blacks across the country in ending racial segregation and discrimination, giving his life in his efforts.  From his time spent in prison to that of his death for the cause, he had an immense effect on the freedom of blacks in the United States in his non-violent efforts.

Freedom

King strived for the freedom of blacks in the United States.  He saw a nation caught up in segregation, where African-Americans were judged by the color of their skin.  To this end he devoted his time in efforts and movements to find freedom for all people, to the extent of ridding segregation, discrimination, racism, and ultimately in the suffrage of African-Americans in the United States.

In many ways King can be seen to take matters into his own hands.  In other words, he did not wait for things to happen, for the nation to change towards what he knew was right.  As he expresses from an early age, “This deprecation [of the individual in such societies] of individual freedom was objectionable to me (King, “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence”).”  King wanted to see the freedom of African-Americans in the country, joining them to other men and women in the country as equals.

Nonviolence

King is widely seen to be a historical figure of nonviolence.  Following non-violent methods of resistance from Gandhi, King extended it into something self-reflective:

Here is the true meaning and value of compassion and nonviolence, when it helps us to see the enemy’s point of view, to hear his questions, to know his assessment of ourselves. For from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition, and if we are mature, we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition.

King “A Time to Break Silence”

King led his followers by non-violent methods in order to come closer to his enemies, paradoxically to common efforts. To these ends King is linked to the “high road,” so to speak, of his nonviolence he advocated and expressed.

King led an extensive number of nonviolent movements towards his vision of freedom.  He even spent time in jail for his protests and efforts, such as in the 1963 protest in Birmingham, Alabama.  This is where he wrote his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” to which he still adamantly fought the injustices of the nation.

Conclusion

Overall Martin Luther King, Jr. is known as one of the most important leaders in the last century.  He led African-Americans into the most important era in regards to the civil rights of blacks in the country, at least since the emancipation of blacks.  His efforts allowed African-Americans in the United States to obtain voting privileges.

The result of Dr. King’s influence is hard to underestimate.  It originated in his dream that he so eloquently elaborated upon in his most famous “I Have a Dream Speech” in Washington D.C.  In the words of Langston Hughes, his dream certainly explodes as evident in American history (“A Dream Deferred”).  His place in American history and in the civil rights of all Americans is well-defined.

Works Cited

Hughes, Langston. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. New York: Vintage, 1995.

King, Martin Luther Jr. “A Time to Break Silence.” 1967.  Web. May 25, 2010.

King, Martin Luther Jr. “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence.” 1958. Web. May 25, 2010.