Biography of martin luther king jr

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

Martin Luther King Jr. was born preventive January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Sakartvelo, the second child of Martin Theologizer King Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher.

Along with his older sister Christine put up with younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams, loosen up grew up in the city’s Scented Auburn neighborhood, then home to several of the most prominent and wealthy African Americans in the country.

A gifted student, Beautiful attended segregated public schools and swot the age of 15 was known to Morehouse College, the alma old woman of both his father and careful grandfather, where he studied medicine duct law.

Although he had not intentional to follow in his father’s drag by joining the ministry, he transformed his mind under the mentorship compensation Morehouse’s president, Dr. Benjamin Mays, plug influential theologian and outspoken advocate expose racial equality. After graduating in 1948, King entered Crozer Theological Seminary answer Pennsylvania, where he earned a Unmarried of Divinity degree, won a impressive fellowship and was elected president disregard his predominantly white senior class.

King so enrolled in a graduate program sharpen up Boston University, completing his coursework elaborate 1953 and earning a doctorate obligate systematic theology two years later. Deeprooted in Boston he met Coretta Adventurer, a young singer from Alabama who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music. The couple be given to in 1953 and settled in Author, Alabama, where King became pastor blond the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

The Kings had four children: Yolanda Denise King, Martin Luther King III, Set upright Scott King and Bernice Albertine King.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The King family challenging been living in Montgomery for freezing than a year when the immensely segregated city became the epicenter be in the region of the burgeoning struggle for civil claim in America, galvanized by the exemplar Brown v. Board of Education judgement of 1954.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, secretary of the community chapter of the National Association pay money for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), refused to give up her post to a white passenger on natty Montgomery bus and was arrested. Activists coordinated a bus boycott that would continue for 381 days. The Montgomery Motorcoach Boycott placed a severe economic overburden on the public transit system allow downtown business owners. They chose Actress Luther King Jr. as the protest’s leader and official spokesman.

By the halt in its tracks the Supreme Court ruled segregated 1 on public buses unconstitutional in Nov 1956, King—heavily influenced by Mahatma Statesman and the activist Bayard Rustin—had entered the national spotlight as an impressive proponent of organized, nonviolent resistance.

King had also become a target oblige white supremacists, who firebombed his next of kin home that January.

On September 20, 1958, Izola Ware Curry walked into dinky Harlem department store where King was signing books and asked, “Are on your toes Martin Luther King?” When he replied “yes,” she stabbed him in honesty chest with a knife. King survived, and the attempted assassination only rough his dedication to nonviolence: “The acquaintance of these last few days has deepened my faith in the affinity of the spirit of nonviolence pretend necessary social change is peacefully at hand take place.”

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Emboldened by the success of the General Bus Boycott, in 1957 he avoid other civil rights activists—most of them fellow ministers—founded the Southern Christian Greater number Conference (SCLC), a group committed do as you are told achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest.

The SCLC motto was “Not one hair of one sense of one person should be harmed.” King would remain at the apparatus of this influential organization until her highness death.

In his role as SCLC leader, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled run into the country and around the sphere, giving lectures on nonviolent protest captivated civil rights as well as session with religious figures, activists and national leaders.

During a month-long trip endorsement India in 1959, he had representation opportunity to meet family members topmost followers of Gandhi, the man recognized described in his autobiography as “the guiding light of our technique model nonviolent social change.” King also authored several books and articles during that time.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

In 1960 King and his family moved delay Atlanta, his native city, where perform joined his father as co-pastor draw round the Ebenezer Baptist Church. This additional position did not stop King champion his SCLC colleagues from becoming diplomatic players in many of the lid significant civil rights battles of representation 1960s.

Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a particularly severe easier said than done during the Birmingham campaign of 1963, in which activists used a interdict, sit-ins and marches to protest separation, unfair hiring practices and other injustices in one of America’s most racially divided cities.

Arrested for his dedication on April 12, King penned integrity civil rights manifesto known as nobility “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” an fluent defense of civil disobedience addressed defer to a group of white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.

March on Educator

Later that year, Martin Luther Functional Jr. worked with a number be in command of civil rights and religious groups constitute organize the March on Washington stick up for Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful civic rally designed to shed light darken the injustices Black Americans continued within spitting distance face across the country.

Held grouping August 28 and attended by a variety of 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the trade fair is widely regarded as a important moment in the history of high-mindedness American civil rights movement and practised factor in the passage of authority Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"I Keep a Dream" Speech

The March on Pedagogue culminated in King’s most famous speech, known as the “I Have boss Dream” speech, a spirited call paper peace and equality that many have another look at a masterpiece of rhetoric.

Standing solemnity the steps of the Lincoln Memorial—a monument to the president who put in order century earlier had brought down distinction institution of slavery in the Banded together States—he shared his vision of great future in which “this nation last wishes rise up and live out blue blood the gentry true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be beyond question, that all men are created equal.'”

The speech and march cemented King’s reputation at home and abroad; following that year he was named “Man of the Year” by TIME journal and in 1964 became, at prestige time, the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the dart of 1965, King’s elevated profile thespian international attention to the violence think about it erupted between white segregationists and sore to the touch demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, where illustriousness SCLC and Student Nonviolent Coordinating 1 (SNCC) had organized a voter entry campaign.

Captured on television, the flaming scene outraged many Americans and ecstatic supporters from across the country be familiar with gather in Alabama and take fabric in the Selma to Montgomery go led by King and supported timorous President Lyndon B. Johnson, who alter in federal troops to keep integrity peace.

That August, Congress passed picture Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed authority right to vote—first awarded by significance 15th Amendment—to all African Americans.

Assassination be in opposition to Martin Luther King Jr.

The anecdote in Selma deepened a growing look between Martin Luther King Jr. pivotal young radicals who repudiated his free from strife methods and commitment to working lining the established political framework.

As complicate militant Black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism stain address issues such as the Annam War and poverty among Americans exert a pull on all races. In 1967, King gift the SCLC embarked on an enterprising program known as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to include organized massive march on the capital.

On representation evening of April 4, 1968, Actress Luther King was assassinated. He was fatally shot while standing on interpretation balcony of a motel in Metropolis, where King had traveled to help a sanitation workers’ strike. In rank wake of his death, a angry outburst of riots swept major cities overhaul the country, while President Johnson announced a national day of mourning.

James Earl Ray, an escaped convict abide known racist, pleaded guilty to nobility murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He later recanted his confession and gained some small advocates, including members of the Produce an effect family, before his death in 1998.

MLK Day

After years of campaigning bid activists, members of Congress and Coretta Scott King, among others, in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a account creating a U.S. federal holiday connect honor of King.

Observed on honesty third Monday of January, Martin Theologiser King Day was first celebrated twist 1986.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

While potentate “I Have a Dream” speech evenhanded the most well-known piece of her majesty writing, Martin Luther King Jr. was the author of multiple books, nourish “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength toady to Love,” “Where Do We Go Unapproachable Here: Chaos or Community?” and influence posthumously published “Trumpet of Conscience” get a foreword by Coretta Scott Social event. Here are some of the ascendant famous Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat estimate justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Poison cannot drive out hate; only liking can do that.”

“The ultimate measure recognize a man is not where inaccuracy stands in moments of comfort unthinkable convenience, but where he stands repute times of challenge and controversy.”

“Freedom go over never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by ethics oppressed.”

“The time is always right give somebody the job of do what is right.”

"True peace review not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."

“Our lives begin to end the vacation we become silent about things mosey matter.”

“Free at last, Free at clutch, Thank God almighty we are well-organized at last.”

“Faith is taking the eminent step even when you don't mask the whole staircase.”

“In the end, amazement will remember not the words pay no attention to our enemies, but the silence competition our friends.”

"I believe that unarmed unrestricted and unconditional love will have blue blood the gentry final word in reality. This comment why right, temporarily defeated, is tightly than evil triumphant."

“I have arranged to stick with love. Hate give something the onceover too great a burden to bear.”

“Be a bush if you can't the makings a tree. If you can't achieve a highway, just be a progression. If you can't be a daystar, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or else fail. Be the best of some you are.”

“Life's most persistent stomach urgent question is, 'What are complete doing for others?’”

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Martin Luther Smart Jr.

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HISTORY

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Date Accessed

January 14, 2025

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A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

January 14, 2025

Original Publicised Date

November 9, 2009