It is hard to imagine that less than 40 years ago the land of the free, as we know the United States of America today, had separate water fountains for whites and blacks and 'coloured balconies' in theatres. Such measures of exclusion had a particular, and powerful, brand of politics backing it, and practised over two centuries had acquired the garb of a policy.
But one man, deriving his inspiration from Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was determined to change it all. The process of transformation Martin Luther King brought about was far-reaching and deep, so much so that any mention of civil rights is incomplete without him.
But, for the struggle against racism that King unleashed, which continues to this day, he had to pay the ultimate price. On April 4, 1968, a sniper's bullet cut short the great man's life.
rediff.com pays tribute to one America's bravest heroes.
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