Martin Luther King

Essay # 54287

African-American Studies > Civil Rights
African-American Studies > Historical Figures

Martin Luther King

An overview of the impact of the political views of Martin Luther King.

1,951 words () | 1 source | APA | 2004 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Martin Luther King set forth a new precedent for the struggle between the oppressor and oppressed by calling upon African-Americans to embrace tactics of nonviolent resistance. It looks at how he was an eloquent speaker and an articulate and literate presenter of information. It shows how his words, both spoken and textual, influenced many people to come around to the nonviolent resistance tactics, which he stressed in his dialogues. It explores how Martin Luther King?s teachings are widely respected and eloquently presented and continue to impact the social and political dynamic of race relations today by encouraging individuals to renounce resignation and violence and practice nonviolent resistance.

From the Paper:

"King states that oppressed people may choose to acquiesce to their oppressor, and accept their role as oppressed subjects without questioning the morality of their situation in a way that encourages activity. He states that many of the Egyptian slaves who were called upon by Moses to deliver themselves from their situation were so used to being slaves that they actually didn't want to go; their condition had become habitual to them and they actually began to believe their oppressor. King sees this acquiescence to the oppressor as an unproductive and cowardly solution to the problem; although the individual may find comfort, s/he will not find freedom, and will wind up reinforcing the situation of oppression by showing the oppressor that s/he has already won by making the individual acquiesce."