This presentation was a part of my Community Organisation paper in my Social Work course about Martin Luther King Jr's Approach to Social Action. It shows a brief five-slide overview of the key moments in his life, his philosophies and ideas. I hope you find it useful.

1. MARTIN LUTHER
KING JR’S
APPROACHTO
SOCIALACTION
Tasmin Kurien, I MSW
Department of Social Work

2. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
SOCIAL ACTIVIST | 1929 - 1968
Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr. led the US civil rights movement with non-violent
protests against segregation in the mid-1950s. He fought for equal voting rights for blacks and
whites and against racial segregation in schools, restaurants and buses. The third Monday of
January is a US federal holiday to commemorate his birthday.
2
Started college at 15
Assassinated in 1968
Letter from a
Birmingham Jail
Nobel Peace
Prize winner
March on Washington Visited India to pay
credits to Gandhi &
non-violence
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not
be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.”
- August 28, 1963, at Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC

3. THE KING PHILOSOPHY TOWARDS SOCIAL ACTION
1. Poverty
2. Racism
3. Militarism
1. Non-violence is a way of life for
courageous people.
2. Nonviolence seeks to win
friendship and understanding.
3. Nonviolence seeks to defeat
injustice, not people.
4. Nonviolence holds that suffering
can educate and transform.
5. Nonviolence chooses love instead
of hate.
6. Nonviolence believes that the
universe is on the side of justice.
1. Information Gathering
2. Education
3. Personal Commitment
4. Discussion/Negotiation
5. Direct Action
6. Reconciliation
3
TRIPLE EVILS 6 STEPS OF NONVIOLENT
SOCIAL CHANGE
6 PRINCIPLES OF
NON-VIOLENCE
“The end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the Beloved Community.”
- 1956 rally after announcement of US Supreme Court decision against racial segregation

4. “Education without social action
is a one-sided value because it
has no true power potential.
Social action without education
is a weak expression of pure
energy. Deeds uninformed by
educated thought can take false
directions.”
MLK Jr. on the Importance of Education

5. 5
IDEAS, INFLUENCES & POLITICAL STANCES
• Religion: Heavily influenced by Jesus Christ and the Christian
gospels but rejected biblical literalism
• Non-violence: Inspired by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s non-
violent resistance
• Activism with Native Americans: Avid supporter of Native
American rights [Poor People’s Campaign in 1968]
• Politics: Supported ideals of democratic socialism
• Compensation: Stated that black Americans, as well as other
disadvantaged Americans, should be compensated for historical
wrongs
• Family Planning: Proponent and awardee of Planned
Parenthood; his wife supported abortion

6. THANK YOU
“With patient and firm determination we will press on until every
valley of despair is exalted to new peaks of hope, until every
mountain of pride and irrationality is made low by the levelling
process of humility and compassion; until the rough places of
injustice are transformed into a smooth plane of equality of
opportunity; and until the crooked places of prejudice are
transformed by the straightening process of bright-eyed wisdom.”