Martin Luther King, winner of a Nobel Peace Prize and immortalized through many hospitals, schools, and a statue on the south entrance of Westminster Abbey in London, England, began as a minister in Southern Alabama and quickly rose to lead America's civil rights movement in the 1960s. He led a march to Washington D.C. where he gave his famous speech, I Have A Dream, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on the U.S. Capital's main mall. His vision was that America would be a society that looked first at the quality of the individual and last, if ever, at the color of their skin or their nationality. At this period in America's history, racial tensions were very high and many feared Dr. King would lead a racial conflict pitting whites against blacks. He didn't, and opted for non-violent change. .

             From this tense time and Dr. Kings' background, his speech emerged. The speech Dr. King delivered was riveting, keeping nearly 250,000 people silent as he passionately explained that the true dream of America was that all people could live together, in peace, respect and cooperation with one another. His speech was particularly riveting when he mentioned young black children playing with young white children, an activity forbidden by many families in the southern United States during this time frame. Dr. King had seen the horrific effects of racism and bigotry in the United States; he had been to funerals of young black girls killed when members of racist hate groups blew up a church while the girls were attending Sunday School. Just recently the guilty have been charged, but one just needs to imagine the horror of this and the vitriolic atmosphere in the country at this time to realize it would have been easy for Dr. King to incite violence as a method for change. Instead he chose peace; he chose to change the world through love. Dr. King was a minister and his choice to lead the civil rights movement through peaceful change is a direct reflection of his Christian beliefs.