Background

Martin Luther King Jr. was born Michael King Jr. on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father, Martin Luther King Senior, also born Michael, was the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church and a civil rights leader in the early stage of the movement. In 1934, his father attended Fifth Baptist World Alliance Congress at Berlin and came to know about German reformer Martin Luther. Thereafter, he changed both their names from Michael to Martin Luther. His mother, Alberta Williams King, was an accomplished organist and choir leader. Michael, who was born second of his parents’ three children, had an elder sister called Willie Christine King and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King.

Education

During the schools years Martin Luther King was a very hardworking and clever student. He attended the Atlanta public schools. Following graduation from Morehouse College in 1948, King entered Crozer Theological Seminary, having been ordained the previous year into the ministry of the National Baptist Church. He graduated from Crozer in 1951 and received his doctorate in theology from Boston University in 1955. His dissertation covered the topic "A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman".

Doctor King was awarded at least 50 honorary degrees from colleges and universities in the United States and elsewhere.

Career

In December 1955, when Rosa Parks, a black woman, was arrested for violating a segregated seating ordinance on a public bus in Montgomery, black citizens were outraged. King, fellow minister Ralph Abernathy, and Alabama's state chairman of the NAACP called a public meeting. African Americans were urged to boycott the segregated city buses, and the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was formed. The boycott lasted over a year, until the bus company capitulated. Segregated seating was discontinued, and some African Americans were employed as bus drivers. When the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that the bus segregation laws of Montgomery were unconstitutional, the boycott ended in triumph for black dignity.

Overnight, Martin Luther King had become a national hero and an acknowledged leader in the civil rights struggle. Elected president of the MIA, King's life was in constant danger.

In January 1957 approximately 60 black ministers assembled in Atlanta to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to continue the civil rights fight. King was elected president.

In February 1958 the SCLC sponsored 21 mass meetings in key southern cities as part of a "Crusade for Citizenship." The goal was to double the number of black voters in the South. King was traveling constantly now, speaking for "justice" throughout the country. A year later Dr. and Mrs. King visited India at the invitation of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. King had long been interested in Mahatma Gandhi's practice of nonviolence. Yet when they returned to the United States, the civil rights struggle had greatly intensified, and violent resistance by whites to the nonviolent efforts of black demonstrators filled the newspapers with accounts of bloody confrontations.

Increasing demands were being made upon King as an advocate of nonviolent change. He moved his family to Atlanta in 1960 and became associate pastor with his father at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Ralph Abernathy soon followed, and the two men worked in tandem for the remainder of King's career.

In February 1960 the "sit-in" movement was begun in Greensboro, N.C., by African American students protesting segregation at lunch counters in city stores. The black students were frequently joined by white students and other sympathizers. On April 15 the SCLC called a conference of sit-in leaders to coordinate the movement. King urged the young people to continue using nonviolent means. Out of this meeting the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) emerged.

By August a report issued by the Southern Regional Council in Atlanta stated that the sit-ins had succeeded in ending segregation at lunch counters in 27 southern cities. When King and 75 students entered the store and requested lunch-counter service, he and 36 others were arrested. Atlanta's mayor negotiated a truce, however, and charges were dropped, but King was imprisoned for violating his probation on a traffic offense conviction. John F. Kennedy, currently campaigning for the presidency, made a dramatic telephone call to Mrs. King. Political wheels were set in motion, and King was released.

In a subsequent move, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), SCLC, and SNCC joined in a coalition. A Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee was formed with King as chairman.

In December 1961 King and the SCLC were invited by black leaders in Albany, Ga., to lead their civil rights struggle. After 2,000 frustrated African Americans clashed with police, King called for a "day of penitence." King himself was jailed, tried, and given a suspended sentence.

In May 1962 King was asked to assist in the civil rights struggle in Birmingham, Ala., and the SCLC made plans to hold its annual convention there. The Birmingham campaign began with a series of workshops on nonviolence. In early 1963 King made a speaking tour, recruiting volunteers and obtaining money for bail bonds for those arrested in the struggle. On April 3 a manifesto was issued by the black community, and the campaign began in earnest with picketings and sit-ins. On the Friday before Easter, Dr. King was jailed.

On May 2 some 6,000 school children marched to demonstrate against school segregation; 959 children were arrested. The next day, as volunteers gathered in a church, police barred the exits, and fire hoses and police dogs were turned on the teen-age demonstrators.

The SCLC's campaign continually met harassment from the Birmingham police. But more violence erupted when white racists refused to comply with Federal school integration laws. The worst came when a bomb thrown into a black church killed four little girls. In June, King and 125,000 persons marched in a "Freedom Walk" in Detroit. That same year he was featured as Time magazine's "Man of the Year."

The next year King and his followers moved into St. Augustine, Fla., one of America's most thoroughly segregated cities. A few weeks later the 1964 Civil Rights Bill was signed by President Lyndon Johnson.

In September 1964 King and Abernathy went to West Berlin at Mayor Willy Brandt's invitation, where King received an honorary doctorate from the Evangelical Theological College. The two civil rights leaders then went to Rome for an audience with Pope Paul VI. Back in the United States, King endorsed Lyndon Johnson's presidential candidacy. That December, King received the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1965 the SCLC concentrated its efforts in Alabama. The prime target was Selma, where only a handful of black citizens had been permitted to vote. King urged President Johnson to expedite the Voting Rights Bill, and he announced a march from Selma to Montgomery to demonstrate the black people's determination to vote. But Governor George Wallace refused to permit the march, and the 500 persons who gathered to march were beaten by state troopers and "possemen." The march continued anyway, and Selma's black citizens were joined by hundreds of blacks and whites from other states, including many notable churchmen. On March 21 over 10,000 persons followed King from Selma toward Montgomery. Only 300 were allowed to make the 4-day march, but they were joined by another 25,000 in Montgomery for the march to the capital to present a petition to Governor Wallace.

In 1965 King made a "people-to-people" tour of northern cities. But the growing militancy of black people in Watts and Harlem, and even in Mississippi and Alabama, caused Dr. King to reassess the nonviolent civil rights movement, which he had fathered. Although he reaffirmed his commitment to nonviolence, he understood the intense frustration experienced by blacks when their own nonviolent tactics left them open to dangerous violence from the opposition. He was troubled, too, about the American involvement in the war in Vietnam and found himself increasingly pushed toward leadership in antiwar groups.

In 1967 King began speaking directly against the Vietnam War, although many civil rights advocates criticized this. While serving a 4-day sentence in Birmingham stemming from the 1963 demonstrations, King and his brother, Abernathy, and Wyatt Tee Walker began planning a "Poor People's March" to bring together the interests of the poor of all races.

In January 1968 Dr. King and other antiwar leaders called for a Washington rally on February 5/6. He also announced that the Poor People's March would converge in Washington on April 22. Following the February rally, King toured key cities to see firsthand the plight of the poor. Meanwhile, in Memphis, Tenn., black sanitation workers were striking to protest unequal pay and poor working conditions. The protest soon became citywide, with grievances ranging from police brutality to intolerable school conditions. In March, King went to lead the Memphis demonstrations. The march ended in a riot when some frustrated young blacks began breaking windows, looting, and burning stores. Police retaliation was swift and bloody. In Memphis on April 3, King addressed a rally; speaking of threats on his life, he urged followers to continue the nonviolent struggle no matter what happened to him.

The next evening, as King stood on an outside balcony at the Lorraine Hotel, he was struck by a rifle bullet. He was pronounced dead at 7:00 P.M. in a Memphis hospital.

Achievements

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  Martin Luther King's greatest achievement was being the main force behind the American Civil Rights Movement. He fought for the rights of African-Americans, which revolved around the banning of racial segregation, led the Birmingham campaign, whose aim was promoting their civil rights and, finally, he was instrumental in organizing the largest gathering in Washington's history in March, 1963.
  
  King was a prolific writer. Among his most important works are Stride toward Freedom (1958), Strength to Love (1963), Why We Can't Wait (1964), Where Do We Go from Here (1967), and The Trumpet of Conscience (1968). Collections of his writings include A Martin Luther King Treasury (1964) and I Have a Dream (1968).
  
  In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. received Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent campaign against racism.
  
  In 1986, it was decided to observe January 15, the day Martin Luther King Jr. was born, as a federal holiday.
  
  In 2011, The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was opened on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Works

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  • Stride Toward Freedom 1958
  • Strength to Love 1963
  • The Measure of a Man 1959
  • Why We Can't Wait 1964
  • Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? 1967
  • The Trumpet of Conscience 1968

Religion

As a Christian minister, Martin Luther King's main influence was Jesus Christ and the Christian gospels. He really enjoyed religious quotes and used them in various religious meetings an speeches at church and in public discourses. King's trully belived in such ideas as loving your neighbor as yourself, loving God above all, and loving your enemies, praying for them and blessing them.

Politics

As the leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King had a policy of not publicly endorsing a U.S. political party or candidate: "I feel someone must remain in the position of non-alignment, so that he can look objectively at both parties and be the conscience of both—not the servant or master of either." He always said that none of the parties is perfect by saying: "I don't think the Republican party is a party full of the almighty God nor is the Democratic party. They both have weaknesses ... And I'm not inextricably bound to either party."

Views

Quotations: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

Membership

King was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Alpha Phi Alpha, and Sigma Pi Phi.

Personality

Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for equality when others would not. His life was one of education, service and leadership. He was involved in several groups and committees and learned to support and be supported in his endeavors in the civil rights movement.

Martin Luther King Jr. was also a born leader, with extra-ordinary drive and determination. Insisting on his right to make up his own mind, he demanded freedom of thought and action, and did not let anything or anyone stand in his way once he was committing to his goals.

These traits let him play the most significant - and successful - role in American's civil rights movement of the 60's.

Connections

On June 18, 1953, King married Coretta Scott, an accomplished singer, author and a civil rights activist. The couple had four children: Yolanda King (b. 1955), Martin Luther King III (b. 1957), Dexter Scott King (b. 1961), and Bernice King (b. 1963).

Father:

Martin Luther King Sr.

He was an American Baptist pastor, missionary, and an early figure in the Civil Rights Movement.

Mother:

Alberta (Williams) King

She played a significant role in the affairs of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. She was shot and killed in the church six years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Spouse:

Coretta King

She was an American author, activist, civil rights leader, and the wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1953 until his death in 1968.

Friend:

Mahalia Jackson

Daughter:

Yolanda Denise King

She was an American activist. She was known also for her artistic and entertainment endeavors and public speaking.

Son:

Dexter King

Dexter has been a dedicated vegan and animal rights activist since the late 1980s.

Daughter:

Bernise Albertina King

King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 2009.

Son:

Martin Luther King

He is an American human rights advocate and community activist.

Friend:

Billy Graham

He is an evangelical Christian evangelist, ordained as a Southern Baptist minister, who rose to celebrity status in 1949 reaching a core constituency of middle-class, moderately conservative Protestants.

References

• The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
  2001
• Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  2007