Martin Luther King Jr. , a major Civil Rights leader, once said? I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character?. This was a very inspirational line by Martin Luther King Jr. from the March On Washington during the Civil Rights Movement in 1963. Americans. In the book of Glory Field, Thomas (or Tommy) Lewis, a part of the Lewis family, wanted to march with African Americans wanting their rights, but they were being hurt including Skeeter (Tommy? friend).
The Civil Rights movement was a very important movement for the lives of Americans and the Lewis family since it gave them the rights they deserved and live a happy life after fighting for their rights for over 300 years. The Civil Rights Movement also made sure that all races would be accepted and gave them rights. The summary of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Lewis family started with Muhammad Bilal as a slave from Africa being imported to America. Then a generation passed and Lizzy, Muhammad? s daughter, was working as a slave with his brothers Joshua and Lem.
Then one day Joshua didn’t do his work and was tied to a tree and Lizzy found him during night. She then said goodbye to her parents, untied Joshua, and Lem, Joshua, and Lizzy went to escape their homes since they were wanted. Then Elijah, Lizzy? s son, was born and their family had a lot of taxes and debts to pay off. Elijah went off to find a lost child for $35 but the child died because of the windy and harsh conditions. After receiving the $35, he gave it to his parents and his parents were very happy but also guilty.
The next day, the slaveowner was going to whip their family, so Elijah said goodbye and took a railroad to Chicago. The Luvenia was born and she wanted to go to College so she went to work. She was fired for being part of a lie and started her own cosmetic shop. Then Thomas or Tommy was born and he was important in the Lewis family since he not only protected the rights of his own family rights. He also protected the rights of everyone including whites with public demonstrations. It was about this time was when Martin Luther King Jr. led his march to Washington and changed many lives.
Then about some years after the march, he was assassinated and he hopefully was remembered for al the good deeds he did. Then Malcolm made the Glory Field as a peaceful garden to remember the fields the Lewis Family used to work at when they were slaves. The Lewis family was known for being very brave and hardworking. Martin was also brave and a very thoughtful person. He is a person that cares for equality like his quote that he said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. They motivated many by never giving up for what is right.
The Lewis family were Christians so they always prayed and thought positively of people. Tommy helped everybody in his city by handcuffing the sheriff. Since they lived during the era of blacks being enslaved and discriminated, they were influenced by this time era since of all the hate they received. One thing that the family said that eventually turned to true was that “Every black person who ain’t dead sooner or later gets a freedom dream”. Many of the characters usually fell in a sad demise, there was not a lot of success for the Lewis family.
One example was when Luvenia got fired by her boss since she was bribed to pay for college. The Lewis family cared and loved their families Like when Elijah “… my grandma need that money, all of it” for their taxes. This, however, ended with their whole family being whipped so Elijah had to escape their barn. They are still however very hopeful and always thought positively. An example of this would be when Muhammad said “Bless this precious Earth. ” even though they were slaves and always mistreated. Martin Luther King also affected society with his quotes and sayings.
He once said that there was no alternative to protest and this was very true since blacks would? ve been arrested or even killed if they resorted to violence The family had a lot of ways to influence. Martin Luther King’s ways were also similar to the Lewis family. One way they influenced others was Elijah in the book in this quote stared at the sheriff. “For a long moment, the two of them, Elijah and Sheriff Glover, stared at each other as the boat bobbed and turned in the water”. This was very influential to the sheriff since he is beginning to feel bad for Elijah since he just wants to pay the taxes of his family.
However, the sheriff also wanted the money for himself so he forced Elijah to give him a share of the money. Elijah agreed but never gave his cut since he needed all of it to pay the taxes. In the end, people were mad at Elijah for taking the reward of the missing boy even if the kid died and the sheriff with some volunteers were going to whip him. This maybe could have resulted differently if they lived in the northern states of U. S. What could’ve happened is that Elijah gets the money he deserved for his family with everyone being happy and maybe even influenced by Elijah’s actions.
Eventually, they became more and more respected for their actions and they have changed some laws and even people’s minds. In honesty, I feel that I support most of the actions by the Lewis family and Martin Luther King Jr.. And maybe many others may agree. I still, however, feel that there were times they could have done things differently. An example of this would be Luvenia getting a telegram saying “YOUR SERVICES ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED” most probably sent by Mr. Deets. Another example was when Thomas handcuffed the sheriff.
While this wasn’t necessarily a bad action, it was very dangerous and Thomas could’ve been shot. But, if these people lived in the northern part of the states, maybe they could be free and express their opinions to the people in the south better. Also, maybe if they lived in another era such as the time Malcolm lived, they would have been free and have almost no problems with slavery but would still have to deal with a little discrimination. But in the end, the actions they made were all for good reasons. Then Martin Luther King Jr. lso would’ve done these actions in my opinion since he wants to influence people in a non-violent way.
He was someone who led people to freedom even if he was in danger. A quote by Martin that I feel that can relate their similarities is “Life’s most persistent question for others is, what are you doing for others? ”. Martin Luther King Jr. was a person that had similar characteristics to a pacifist. This is why the family and Martin are very alike. He was always thought of very highly and he was treated with respect by a lot of people.
He is very similar to Thomas since they both were involved in public demonstrations like with Martin and his march. There was a lot of similarities the family and Martin shared. A similarity would be when Tommy had to sacrifice his time and family to give equality to everyone. This would be very similar to Elijah since he did a job so he could support his family. There aren’t a lot of differences with the family and Martin aside that Martin was slightly more wealthy and more fortunate than the family.
A quote that probably they would agree on was martin’s quote “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”. So to summarize, Martin was a person that was an African American who would have done things similar to what the Lewis family would also do. He was a person who did what was right and wanted equality no matter the cost. Many disagreed with him and wanted to use violence, but in the end, Martin was right and if blacks wanted to stop being hurt, then they had to be the first to stop it.