President Obama’s A More Perfect Union speech that he delivered conveyed many messages about his beliefs concerning racism. He starts off explaining how the founders of our nation made the Constitution creating all men equal, but not actually practicing that idea. Obama is the son of a white woman and a Kenyan man, and there is much criticism about his supporters supporting him purely because of his race. His former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright recently spoke some very controversial words concerning the issue of racism, which created much unease. Obama goes on to say that his former pastor is a good man, that he just has lived and grew up in a time where segregation and the Jim Crow Laws were very much legal in the U.S.
As “elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), he was often seen as a rival to the NAACP. (Royson)” Martin Luther later became part of the NAACP. It was an organization that would help colored people earn their civil rights. His protests were anti-violent, because he believed there was no win through a physical war. The only way to win was with the help of God, because he created man as equal.
He deemed paying a poll tax, which was the law, was unjust; therefore, Thoreau questioned it and didn't pay the tax. He argued for resistance to civil government when he was against an unjust law. Martin Luther King Jr., like Thoreau, believed in bettering the government, but also improving the living conditions for African Americans. King was an active member of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He was arrested more than once for resisting the government.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. vs. Malcolm X Tyana Ingram ENG121: English Composition I March 8, 2011 I had the hardest time trying to figure out what I was going to write my compare and contrast essay on, and being that Black History Month just passed; I decided to write it on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Both were two influential leaders who changed this nation tremendously by expressing their beliefs to the masses. Even though they both had similar messages concerning their beliefs, they were quite different, and went about their teachings two different ways. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. taught to love thy brother, and if provoked react, but do it peacefully. However, Malcolm X simply stated “We want freedom by any means necessary.
King’s audience, although, is seen as the eight clergymen who wrote against his own actions, U.S citizens and the whole world itself is involved. They both have fairly large audiences that can impact a movement. Thoreau’s main point in his essay is to not follow the lead of what everyone else is doing but to reject and argue what you believe is not morally right. As said before, he also aims to encourage citizens to protest against
Martin Luther King Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps and became a pastor as well. This helped to influence the way he protested. He was a nonviolent speaker and wanted blacks and whites to be equal in society together not separated. He was a very good public speaker and many blacks along with whites supported his belief of being equal. Malcom X did not have the same lifestyle that Martin had the ability to grow up with.
Centuries later the Negro community was still riddled by racial injustice and oppression. These contradictions to the original visions of the founding fathers were still very much in existence when Dr. King made his speech. A scholar who graduated and received a bachelor degree in sociology from Morehouse College, Martin Luther King’s speech, “I Have a Dream” was carefully crafted to encourage and motivate the predominantly Negro audience to take a stand for an equal democracy. “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off… Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.” King’s tone when he delivered his speech was derived from the cadence and rhythms of a preacher. His speech consisted of various literary elements such as figurative language and repetitive phrases that painted a vivid mural in the mind of the listener: “My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American man who protested for the rights of freedom and equality for all the African American's present in the United States of America. He lead the Civil Rights Movement for all the black American's who were being treated unfairly during the period of 1950 to 1970. Formerly named Michael King, his father changed his name to MKL in honor of the German reformer Martin Luther. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his fight against racial in-equality using non-violence. He gave the speech "I Have a Dream" in 1963 on the "March to Washington" after which he established himself as one of the greatest orators in the history of America.
No one should feel unwanted or hated by the country they were born and raised in, just because their skin color or their just different. African Americans were segregated against for years and they couldn’t do anything about it. Luckily we have had many strong leaders in our time that have contributed to abolishing segregation and slavery. Two of these leaders are Martin Luther king jr. and our past president john F. Kennedy. These men were both very different in lifestyles, with one being black and one white, but they both wanted the same thing.
Dr. Martin’s speech was inspiring a huge people and engaged them to raise their hands and claiming for their rights. His words were the key to motivate African-American to create nonracial society in the United States. Dr. Martin Luther King used a language that was understood by the illiterate and educated people too. He made people to seeing his dream in the speech and living it in the current days. In my opinion, he created a light in the mind of others because his speech was coming out from his heart.