Informative Speech’s Outline on the Importance of Martin Luther King Jr.

Topic: The Importance of Martin Luther King Jr.

General Purpose: To Inform

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience about the importance of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. in the history of the United States.

Thesis: Martin Luther King is a significant inspiration and a civil rights leader in the history of the United States Civil Rights Movement.

Introduction

1. Attention Getter: My mother called me a few months ago to ask me about how I was going in my studies and why I did not attend my educational facility that day as I was unable to bring good results home for the past few months due to some serious health inconvenience. I assured her of my improvement in my studies and told her that school was not opened as it was Martin Luther King’s birthday. She asked me “who is this King?” to probe me about the history of the United States. All thanks to the Internet as I recently did a little bit of research on King Martin that saved me from my mother’s wrath.
2. Reason to Listen: King Martin Luther was an African American leader and a Civil Rights Activist who bravely said: “I have a Dream” while delivering one of his famous speeches during the time of social injustice and sabotaging of Blacks’ rights in America and his words were heard by the majority, so it is important to be knowledgeable about the people who contributed in the equality of mankind.
3. Thesis Statement: Martin Luther King is a significant inspiration and a civil rights leader in the history of the United States Civil Rights Movement.
4. Credibility Statement:
5. While my mother knows about the history of the United States more than anyone else in our family as she loves reading historical books, I have done limited research about King and just know that he is an inspiring character.
6. I have been fascinated by his struggle for his country my mother told me over the phone while providing me details of 2 major events led by King during his Civil Rights Movement; Montgomery Bus Boycott and the “I have a Dream” speech.
7. Preview of Main Points:
8. To begin with, I’ll discuss the background of Martin Luther King.
9. Second, I will discuss the three major events led by King Martin.
10. Finally, I will shed light on his preaching of non-violent resistance and equal rights.
11. Martin Luther King is a significant inspiration and a civil rights leader in the history of the United States Civil Rights Movement.
12. King Martin Luther was a born empath who had feelings for Black people surviving in miseries around him in the United States.
13. King Martin Luther always fought for what was right.
14. Martin was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929.
15. He was married to Coretta Scott King.
16. He was an effective civil rights leader.
17. Martin Luther King was a humanitarian, American pastor, revolutionary, activist, dreamer, and reformer who always followed his Christian belief in non-violent civil disobedience (Little Jr, 2008).
18. He was an important personality during the times when African Americans were being discriminated against in the United States.
19. Martin always struggled during his lifetime being an African American.
20. He was in favor of getting freedom without using violence.
21. He was a spokesperson for all the people living in unfair conditions across the world.
22. King delivered numerous speeches to the people of the United States so that they could take initiatives for themselves in order to stop racism across the world.
23. Martin Luther played a great role in creating the voting rights act for equal voting irrespective of caste, color, nationality, or ethnicity in the United States in 1965.
24. He created Civil Rights Act in 1964 (The King Center, n.d.).
25. King ended the legal segregation of Blacks in the United States.
26. He wanted the future generations of the United States to not judge or critique people by the color of their skin.
27. King stressed the content of people’s morale and character rather than color.
28. He remained firm on what he believed about ending racial segregation in American society.

Transition:

Now that I have discussed the life of Martin Luther King as an important figure of the civil rights movement, a successful activist, a born empath, and a humanitarian, I will now discuss the three major events led by King Luther.

1. King protested against racial bias and segregation in public buses, provided selfless services to the African American people living in miseries, delivered numerous speeches to save a world from racial segregation and make the world a worthy place to live in (The King Center, n.d.).
2. Rosa Parks on December 1, 1995, while on a bus refused to give up her seat in the bus to a white passenger which subsequently led to her removal from the bus. She was fined $14 and arrested.
3. Martin Luther decided to set up a boycott against city buses in Montgomery.
4. The boycott started on December 5, 1955. Later, it ended on December 20, 1956, when court ruled against seating segregation in public buses.
5. This boycott put Martin Luther in the spotlight in his struggle to bring about fair and just treatment for African Americans in the United States.
6. Montgomery bus boycott was a civil rights protest to bring authorities’ and court’s consideration against segregated seating.
7. This Montgomery boycott led by King Luther was regarded as the first large-scale United States demonstration against racial bias and segregation (Little Jr, 2008).
8. Court after 13 months ruled that segregation and racial bias in city buses among the public was unconstitutional.
9. Martin Luther King delivered numerous speeches stressing ending racial bias and segregation from society and making the world a just and fair place to live in.
10. King dreamt of equality, justice, and ending social evils in a society spread due to racial bias and segregation in the society when he delivers “I have a Dream” which had a powerful and forceful narrative for activating social rights in the United States in March 1963 (Flanagan et al, 2022).
11. King Martin Luther used “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed” to emphasize his notion and emotion that all people in the world are created by the same Lord God and thus equal due to their content character.
12. The content of the speech was mainly based on the freedom of the Black people of America who were called by the derogatory name Negros.
13. He dreamt that little Black girls and boys of Alabama in the United States will be able one day in the near future to join hands with White girls and boys as sisters and brothers “into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood” (Largen, 2020).
14. King Martin Luther was named “Man of the Year” by Time Magazine in 1963 for his remarkable speech.
15. King Martin was the second African American who received Nobel Prize.
16. He was the 14^th U.S. citizen who won this award due to his selfless services to humanity and African Americans in particular.
17. King divided $5400 award money among several groups fighting for civil rights in America.

Transition: Now that I have discussed the important life events of King Martin Luther Jr. and his struggle for equality irrespective of color and race, we will now move on to his preaching of equal rights and freedom without using violence and illegal ways and his Christian notion of non-violent resistance.

1. King Martin Luther through his speeches, protests, and social work emphasized applying the Christian notion of non-violent resistance through spreading love and connecting with the common masses.
2. Martin Luther was a social rights activist who through his movement connected with his people through love, honor, and respect.
3. Christianity teaches that Lord God has made everyone on this Earth on the likeliness of Himself, so everyone has equal rights as a human being and as a citizen of any country (Largen, 2020).
4. Martin Luther presented the idea that evil must be resisted in society at every cost to save the world from injustice because injustice was small at the start, but it has grown due to powerful people not being punished in a biased society. Whereas every human being of color and low social strata was always punished in ancient times which started the foundation of unfair means and injustice in the world and brought anarchy, chaos, and destruction to the world.
5. He offered himself as an empath who believed in resisting an unjust system but still could love people whether they were Black or Whites.
6. He stressed the idea that every individual must be treated with love and honor as everyone who comes into this world from the door of life is worthy of love and respect even after he exits the world through the door of death. I would like to relate Shakespeare’s theory that this Earth or world is a mere stage where an actor enters from the door of life and leaves after completing his role through the door of death.
7. He preached that enemies should never be humiliated or shamed to any extent at any cost but with love, forgiveness, honor, and respect.
8. The Civil Rights Movement led by the king was furnished on the philosophy of “non-violent resistance” which he and his fellow activists regarded as the “guiding light” of their movement.
9. The notion of “non-violent resistance” was all about defeating injustice in American society and across the world where an individual’s civil rights were being sabotaged due to racial bias or segregation (Flanagan et al, 2022).
10. The Civil Rights Movement was based on love according to Martin Luther’s beliefs that Christianity reflects love as unselfish and always seeking good for others.
11. His philosophy of “non-violent resistance” seeks to win reconciliation, friendship, honor, understanding, love, and redemption from enemies.
12. He always taught resisting the evils in society without resorting to violent means in his speeches to African Americans and the people of the United States.
13. The idea presented in the movement recognized that Lord God is on the side of all whether an individual is Black, White, Asian, American, African, or of any other nationality irrespective of ethnic or religious beliefs and teachings.
14. The notion of “non-violent resistance” in the Civil Rights Movement led by King Martin and other renowned fellow activists of that time won the goal as people tried to return forgiveness for hate and good for evil.

Conclusion

1. Review of Main Points:
2. Today, my first discussion was about the brief background of Martin Luther King.
3. Second, I shed light on the 2 major events that Martin led through his Civil Rights Movement.
4. Finally, I discussed Martin’s Christian belief of non-violent resistance in order to win friendship, reconciliation, and understanding of the opponent.
5. Restate Thesis: Martin Luther King is a significant inspiration and a civil rights leader in the history of the United States Civil Rights Movement.
6. Closure: To conclude the discussion regarding what my mother equipped me with about King Martin Luther Jr., his struggle for his country, major events he led during his Civil Rights Movement, and his notion of non-violent resistance to win understanding of the opponents. Martin’s services to the humanity and Black people living in the United States in particular despite he was arrested many times and when there was no one by his side when he raised his voice for equal rights for African Americans would never be forgotten.

References

Largen, K. J. (2020). Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr. Dialog, 59(1), 12-13.

Flanagan, C., Cho, Eden., Hillemann, P. (January 7, 2022). Teaching a More Complete Picture of MLK. Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-education/2022/01/07/teaching-a-more-complete-picture-of-mlk/

The King Center. (n.d.). About Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The King Center. https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/martin-luther-king-jr/

Little Jr, M. H. (2008). More Than a Dreamer: Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ind. L. Rev., 41, 523.