International Students on MLK, Jr: Who was he?

Recently, a class of international graduate students at WPI was asked "What is significant about MLK, Jr?" Below are some of their answers, their names and their departments:

[MLK, Jr.] is a hero of the USA. I know him from his famous lecture, "I Have a Dream." And the campaign he led played an important role in the progress of American society. All human beings are equal, no matter what their skin color is. They own the same rights." - Haitao Jiang, Chemical Engineering

As I know, Martin Luther King is a leader for the struggle for equity and liberty of black people. He had given many speeches and led many actions throughout the US. In fact, he became a spiritual leader for black people all over the world, besides the US. Furthermore, the people in developing countries are encouraged by him to struggle for liberty for themselves. - Songting Chen, Computer Science

Actually, I don't know him clearly. I had only read a famous speech of his, "I Have a Dream." I think he is a hero; his life was not for himself, but for the whole human race. His effort was significant, and now, though there is still some race disparity, it is much better than before. Maybe the most important thing of his is that he woke up all black people, as well as the white people. - Huahui Wu, Computer Science

I have only heard his name but I can not remember what did he do. I am sorry - Jinda Yeyongchaiwat, Chemical Engineering

He was a hero to organize the black people together and lead them to get freedom. He was against race discrimination. He was famous for his speech and he was murdered. His speech brought light on the elimination of race discrimination and caused all black people to know their rights in social life. - Song Wang, Computer Science

He is the greatest leader in liberation of racial discrimination. He contributed a lot to this movement; without his effort, millions of people would still be suffering from unfair treatment. He also gave us the idea of equality for all races and nationalities. He let us know everybody has some dignity and rights regardless of his/her race or anything else. - Jie Liu, Mathematical Science

I just know his name. - Nehal Abu-Lail, Chemical Engineering

He was a leader of black people. He made a contribution to the life of black people. - Xuemin Tu, Mathematical Science

Martin Luther King was an important leader of black people who struggled for their equal rights with the whites. He played a very important role in organizing and leading the human rights campaign. - Wei Liu

His dream was to see black and white children go to the same schools. He wanted to achieve equality between whites and blacks by non-violence. I mean, by going to through courts. - Wael Al-Sawai, Physics