How do we define the personality traits of a hero?

• “He is studied by schoolchildren of all backgrounds; his words are quoted by the powerless and the powerful, by anyone who has a dream to make her or his life better, to better the nation, or the world.” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).

• “King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other nonviolent means.” (Oresco)

How did Martin Luther King Jr. plan on fighting against racism?

• “King's involvement in nonviolent protest began in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, where he led a successful boycott of the city's buses.” (King)

• “King and the SCLC were invited by local black leaders to help organize a protest to end segregation in downtown stores, to achieve equal opportunity in employment, and to establish a biracial commission to promote further desegregation” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).

How does a hero reflect his/her particular culture and

society? • “His leadership was fundamental to that movement’s success in ending the

legal segregation of African Americans in the South and other parts of the United States” (Louis).

• “Martin Luther King, Jr., has evolved from a prominent civil rights leader into the symbol for the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).

How does a hero represent his/her time period and

geographical area? • “On December 1, 1955, Montgomery seamstress Rosa Parks was arrested

for refusing to abide by one of Montgomery’s laws requiring segregated seating on city buses. In response to this incident, several groups within the city’s black community, long dissatisfied with the treatment of blacks on public transportation, came together to take action.” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).

• “The rising tide of civil rights agitation produced, as King had hoped, a strong effect on national opinion and resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, authorizing the federal government to enforce desegregation of public accommodations and outlawing discrimination in publicly owned facilities.” (Louis.)

How do various cultures reward or recognize their

heroes? • “In 1986, the U.S. Congress made King unique among twentieth-century

Americans by designating his birthday a federal holiday.” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).

• “In the years after his death, King remained the most widely known African American leader of his era. His stature as a major historical figure was confirmed by the successful campaign to establish a national holiday in his honor in the United States and by the building of a King memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C., near the Lincoln Memorial, the site of his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.” (“Martin Luther King Jr.”).

What inspired Martin Luther King Jr. to become a civil

rights leader? • “This summer experience in the North only deepened King’s growing hatred

of racial segregation.” (Louis).

• “He had begun to settle into his role as preacher and new father when the events of December, 1955, thrust upon him the mantle of local civil rights leader.” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).

What sort of discrimination did Martin Luther King

have to go against? • “He never forgot the time when, at about age six, one of his white playmates

announced that his parents would no longer allow him to play with King, because the children were now attending segregated schools.” (Louis).

• “Yet despite his social standing, he was still subjected to the lessons of segregation because of his color.” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).

What did Martin Luther King do to earn him the 1964

Nobel Peace Prize? • “Martin Luther King Jr. began to raise his voice against racism, militarism, and

economic exploitation around the world.” (Orosco).

• “These words introduced to the country a fresh voice, a skillful rhetoric, an inspiring personality, and in time a dynamic new doctrine of civil struggle.” (Louis).

How was Martin Luther King Jr. Criticized? • “The SNCC criticized King for becoming a symbol and his SCLC adults for

interfering with student-initiated grassroots movements.” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).

• “The King holiday campaign overcame forceful opposition, with critics citing FBI surveillance files suggesting that King was an adulterous radical influenced by communists.” (Louis).

When and how was Martin Luther King Jr. killed?

• “At the age of 39, he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.” (King).

• “Again in Memphis to plan this march, King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.” (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia).