It is clear throughout these excerpts, and background knowledge that I had going into these readings, that Martin Luther King Jr. is someone who is a very charismatic human who had leadership qualities that were exercised during his campaign. He had been presented with a very major topic that is still prevalent, though not as harsh, in our society today. He was born at a time to make a difference and he stepped up to answer that call. In the readings it states that he was not looking for but rather received a lifestyle in which he was born into. Growing up in a religious family in Atlanta with his father being a minister at a church, he was able to recognize things first hand and grasp real world topics at ease. Through being exposed to such a lifestyle he had begged for guidance from ahead and with the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King blasted into full effect with all of his characteristics flashing to make a difference.
Journalists state that King did not want to be remembered for all of his achievements or prizes, like Nobel Peace Prize, he received for all of the miraculous work that he achieved in his lifetime but rather him giving his life for all of man kind. He tried to sacrifice his life for others to have the chance to live and be stress free. Nothing compares to his efforts and the way he went about living his life through a very abnormal way for others, an extremely selfless human being that sticks out like a sore thumb in todays history.
While the Carson reading did make a point to include that MLK wouldn’t want to be idolized, and despite Carson’s entire article opposing the Great Man Theory, I can’t help but agree with you in that MLK’s selflessness and role in the civil rights movement is just inspiring. After reading the article, I found that I didn’t view MLK any different than before and, honestly, I wonder if there really are masses of Americans who think that MLK sparked the Civil Rights Movement. I think it’s pretty clear that he didn’t, he was just a star player/an icon… which is important in its own right.