Martin Luther King Jr.'s Peacebuilding Work

When examining Martin Luther King Jr.’s peacebuilding work, he can be perceived as a powerful individual. In the beginning years of his life, he witnessed a magnitude of mistreatment towards his race. Martin also was affected by his father’s beliefs on religion and the treatment of the African American people. As a result he began his work for the African American civil rights movement. His idea to bring America together and abolish segregation was to use nonviolence. Martin wanted to remain peaceful, and used his definition of peace to enact that. His idea of peace was to create equality throughout American without harm being done. He exercised this belief in many ways, one being his well-known walk on Washington in 1963. Also Martin organized …show more content…
His father, Martin Luther Sr. was a minister and more of the enforcer of the household. Whereas Martin’s mother was a more calm and caring woman. For the duration of his childhood, Martin’s father argued against racial prejudices, not just for the treatment of his race, but because he felt that it was a sin towards God. The beliefs that his father had created a large impact on Martin Luther King Jr., which would eventually shape him into a powerful peacebuilder. Martin, also faced other difficulties in his childhood. All through his life, Martin faced depression and at the age of 12 he attempted suicide after his grandmother’s death. “Distraught at the news, young Martin jumped from a second story window at the family home, allegedly attempting suicide” (B.E.). However, his depression is not noted as much in his later years of life. Once in school Martin became well absorbed into his studies. He did so well in school, he managed to skip both ninth and eleventh grades, and entered college at the age of 15. Martin’s capabilities in school were not halted when he first entered college either. “He thrived in all his studies, and was valedictorian of his class in 1951, and elected student body president” (B.E.). While Martin was attending college he became disconnected with his religion, and felt uncomfortable around people who were passionate about it. In spite of this when he …show more content…
“He was observing what was going on and learning the extents of abuse from segregative practices, learning that it was acceptable for people of his caliber to resist the injustice by showing their sentiments against the prejudices” (Mwita 199). When Martin was younger, he witnessed the disrespect his father faced with being called ‘boy’ instead of Reverend. However, it was not until he was 16 when he experienced racial discrimination first hand. “King, accompanied by a teacher, went to a small town in southern Georgia for an oratorical contest; on the way home, the bus driver forced King and his teacher to give up their seats to white passengers. King and his teacher had to stand for the three hours it took to return to Atlanta” (Vox). Although these experiences Martin had with segregation, had a major part in him becoming a peacebuilder, another factor included his father. Before experiencing segregation for the first time, Martin observed his father speak against segregation throughout his childhood. With the combination of his father’s beliefs and his own anger, Martin began his journey to become a peacebuilder. “King declared, ‘We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that