"The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby"
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Yep, that’s where he gave his biggest speech.
"Dear Tim and Moby,
Can you do a Martin Luther King movie?
Thanks, Amari"
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the most important
leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement.
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That was the effort to extend equal rights to all people,
regardless of race.
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Well, in the first half of the 20th century, that was a controversial idea.
In many parts of the country,
African Americans were barred from participating in ordinary life.
They couldn’t eat at the same lunch table, go to the same schools,
or even use the same bathrooms as white people.
This practice of separating African Americans from white people
was called segregation.
In the South, segregation was enforced through Jim Crow laws.
They made it illegal for African Americans to mix with whites.
They policed black behavior, too.
African Americans had to live in separate neighborhoods,
hold specific jobs, and talk to whites with the utmost respect.
Try to fight it, and you risked jail time, injury, even death.
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There were no Jim Crow laws up North,
but unspoken rules still kept African Americans apart.
In many places, white homeowners would only sell their houses
to other white people.
These informal codes ensured that African Americans remained
second-class citizens.
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Martin Luther King grew up in the midst of all that inequality.
He was born in 1929 to a middle-class family in Atlanta, Georgia.
Both his grandfather and his father were pastors at a local church.
King attended religious colleges up North,
in Philadelphia and Boston.
He noticed black and white people
mixing more freely than he'd seen growing up.
Though these cities had their share of racial tension,
they were a far cry from the way things were down South.
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Dr. King moved to Montgomery, Alabama
with his wife, Coretta, in 1953.
He became a pastor and community leader.
Around that time, a local woman named Rosa Parks
was arrested for refusing to give her bus seat to a white man.
King joined forces with activist Jo Ann Robinson
to organize a massive boycott of the Montgomery Bus System.
Most black citizens of Montgomery refused to ride the buses
for over a year.
Many were violently attacked, just for walking instead of taking a bus!
Dr. King's house was bombed,
and along with dozens of other protesters, he was thrown in jail.
But these injustices drew national attention to the issue.
And in 1956, a Supreme Court decision banned segregated buses.
After that victory,
King helped organize a group of churches
dedicated to nonviolent protests for civil rights.
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He was inspired by the life of Mahatma Gandhi,
whose nonviolent leadership helped free India from British rule.
Over the next decade, King led protests and marches
all over the country.
The biggest was The March on Washington
for Jobs and Freedom in 1963.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the nation’s capital
to support Civil Rights.
It was there that Dr. King delivered his momentous
“I Have a Dream” speech.
"One day right there in Alabama,
little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands
with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!"
--Beep.
Yeah, kinda gives you goose bumps, doesn't it?
King’s gift for public speaking helped inspire millions of people.
His words gave them the hope and courage to believe
in the future he envisioned.
Two years later, the protests he led throughout Alabama
caught the world's attention.
People watched in shock as local police turned firehoses
and attack dogs on peaceful protesters.
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Well, people often feel threatened by change.
In fact, making folks uncomfortable was
kind of the point of all this protest.
In a letter written from an Alabama jail, King said,
"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis
and establish such creative tension that a community
that has constantly refused to negotiate
is forced to confront the issue."
In other words, things change
only when conditions are made so stressful, people demand it.
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Oh yeah, King was arrested lots of times during these marches —
but the result was worth it:
His work pressured Congress to pass groundbreaking laws
moving society closer to his vision.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
overturned segregation laws around the country.
In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
He went on to fight against poverty and the Vietnam War.
Then, in 1968,
Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
His killer, James Earl Ray, was captured months later.
King was only 39 years old.
But in his short life, he'd changed the face of this country.
Without his influence, who knows how long it would have been
before equal rights were protected for everyone.
--Beep.
Yeah, you’re right.
We still struggle with racial equality to this day.
But thanks to Dr. King and other Civil Rights leaders,
we know that great change is possible.
--Beep.
"I have a dream today!"