Martin Luther King, Jr.: An Influential Leader
Martin Luther King, Jr., a leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement is a courageous man, who is impossible to forget. Martin Luther King Jr. played an important role in fighting against racial discrimination. The protest he led in Alabama caught the public’s attention. A year after he directed a peaceful march in Washington, D.C. of 250,000 people, a law was passed prohibiting racial discrimination (Martin Luther King-Biography, 2013).
“Influence is the change in a target agent’s attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors as a result of influence tactics” (PSU WC Lesson 7). Enough people took Martin Luther King, Jr.’s ideas seriously and believed in what he was fighting for, that the political stance on racial discrimination was changed. Although he was arrested and assaulted numerous times, he was determined to win the fight against discrimination peacefully (Martin Luther King-Biography, 2013). He was part of a nonviolent resistant group fighting for the equal rights of African-Americans (Martin Luther King- History, 2013). At that time, many people attempted to fight back, but Martin Luther King Jr. was able to influence 250,000 people to join a peaceful march (Martin Luther King- Biography, 2013).
Another example of his ability to influence the public was the well-known bus boycott. “He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington,” (Martin Luther King-Biography, 2013). After time passed, the Supreme Court declared segregation on buses to be unconstitutional (Martin Luther King-Biography, 2013). Overall, King was a highly influential and respectable leader.
References:
Martin Luther King Jr. – Biographical. (2013). Retrieved on June 28, 2013, from http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html
Martin Luther King Jr. -History. (2013). Retrieved on June 28, 2013, from
http://www.history.com/topics/martin-luther-king-jr
Penn State World Campus (2013). PSYCH485 Lesson 7: Power and Influence. Retrieved on June 28, 2013, from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su13/psych485/001/content/07_lesson/03_page.html