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U.S. History 1877-Present 11.6: Dr. King 40 Views


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Description:

Martin Luther King Junior is one of America's most celebrated and important historical figures. With a name like that, we suppose he was destined to do something pretty awesome.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Some people just have a clear goal. They know who they are and [Woman asleep in bed dreaming about being an Astronaut]

00:08

what they want to do with their life. There's no time spent searching for

00:11

their spirit animal, they just know oh and for future reference our spirit

00:16

animal is a horse. Took us 20 years to figure that one out. Someone who didn't

00:20

take 20 years to figure it out? Well that'd be Martin Luther King Jr. He had

00:24

the power to inspire millions with his message of equality and hope. Well heck he [Crowds cheer MLK at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference]

00:29

didn't even need a spirit animal, he was one. MLK became the face of the

00:33

nonviolent struggle to end segregation. Take a second and let the awesomeness of

00:38

this statement sink in, non-violence.. So why is that so awesome? Well because by

00:44

this point African Americans had more than earned the right to be angry. But

00:49

Dr. King figured he could make his point in a different way he thought in

00:53

ideals and he refused to engage in violence under any circumstances. His [Two tanks approach MLK and protesters and he holds up a rose]

00:57

approach was peaceful drawing much of its inspiration from India's

01:01

independence fighter Mohandas Gandhi. King referred to Gandhi as the guiding light

01:06

of our technique of nonviolent social change. Well the idea was that civil

01:11

rights activists could use the techniques and rights granted them by

01:14

the Constitution to enact social change. We Americans love a good rally or [The Bill of Rights]

01:19

protest to get our point across and Dr. King used these nonviolent methods to

01:24

fight for an end to segregation in the south, and boy was he good at it, like

01:29

super good at it.. he was basically the nonviolent protest ninja. Anyway you know

01:34

how they say you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, while MLK's [Bowl of honey with a lot of flies in next to a bowl of vinegar with only 1 fly in it]

01:37

movement definitely caught the attention and earn the respect of millions of

01:41

Americans. Besides his early successes in Montgomery he also led a revolutionary

01:46

nonviolent campaign in Birmingham Alabama called by some the most

01:50

segregated city in America. The world watched in horror as police assaulted

01:56

peaceful protesters with water hoses and dogs, well not long after MLK led a huge

02:01

march on Washington where he delivered his famous I have a dream speech [Footage of MLK delivering his speech on a TV]

02:06

cementing him as a major world voice for civil rights. Well pretty soon he was being

02:12

awarded the 1964 Nobel peace prize and congress was

02:15

passing the Civil Rights Act which guaranteed equal opportunity for people

02:19

of all races and it did it a lot more specifically than the constitutional

02:23

amendment had done before and MLK didn't stop there. Thanks to his campaign

02:28

in Selma, Congress passed a voting rights act in 1965 knocking down all the [MLK leading a crowd of protesters]

02:34

practices that were barring blacks from the poll. Later King spoke out strongly

02:39

against the Vietnam War and fought for economic equality for the poor of all

02:43

races tragically MLK's peaceful crusade was finally stopped on April fourth 1968

02:50

when he was shot by a sniper at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee. His [MLK's memorial]

02:55

body was taken to his hometown of Atlanta where dignitaries from all over

02:59

the world attended his funeral. We're sure there wasn't a dry eye in the house.. [Crowd of people crying at a funeral]

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