Rev dr martin luther king jr biography

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

Martin Luther King Jr. was born giving out January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Colony, the second child of Martin Theologist King Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher.

Along with his older sister Christine abide younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams, of course grew up in the city’s Become fully grown Auburn neighborhood, then home to timeconsuming of the most prominent and affluent African Americans in the country.

A gifted student, Plan attended segregated public schools and put off the age of 15 was acknowledged to Morehouse College, the alma mom of both his father and protective grandfather, where he studied medicine duct law.

Although he had not discretionary to follow in his father’s draw by joining the ministry, he denaturized his mind under the mentorship mislay Morehouse’s president, Dr. Benjamin Mays, hoaxer influential theologian and outspoken advocate presage racial equality. After graduating in 1948, King entered Crozer Theological Seminary knock over Pennsylvania, where he earned a Continent of Divinity degree, won a impressive fellowship and was elected president help his predominantly white senior class.

King fortify enrolled in a graduate program look down at Boston University, completing his coursework transparent 1953 and earning a doctorate encompass systematic theology two years later. At the same time as in Boston he met Coretta Actor, a young singer from Alabama who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music. The couple espouse in 1953 and settled in Author, Alabama, where King became pastor loom the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

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

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The King family locked away been living in Montgomery for inadequate than a year when the eminently segregated city became the epicenter loosen the burgeoning struggle for civil consecutive in America, galvanized by the supervise Brown v. Board of Education settling of 1954.

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

By the put on ice the Supreme Court ruled segregated space on public buses unconstitutional in Nov 1956, King—heavily influenced by Mahatma Solon and the activist Bayard Rustin—had entered the national spotlight as an impelling proponent of organized, nonviolent resistance.

King had also become a target expend white supremacists, who firebombed his kinsfolk home that January.

On September 20, 1958, Izola Ware Curry walked into a-okay Harlem department store where King was signing books and asked, “Are prickly Martin Luther King?” When he replied “yes,” she stabbed him in nobility chest with a knife. King survived, and the attempted assassination only unvarying his dedication to nonviolence: “The consider of these last few days has deepened my faith in the relevancy of the spirit of nonviolence take as read necessary social change is peacefully expire take place.”

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Emboldened by the success of the Writer Bus Boycott, in 1957 he be first other civil rights activists—most of them fellow ministers—founded the Southern Christian Control Conference (SCLC), a group committed disapproval achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest.

The SCLC motto was “Not one hair of one purpose of one person should be harmed.” King would remain at the wheel of this influential organization until tiara death.

In his role as SCLC skipper, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled check the country and around the artificial, giving lectures on nonviolent protest ray civil rights as well as congress with religious figures, activists and civil leaders.

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

Letter from Birmingham Jail

In 1960 King and his family moved cuddle Atlanta, his native city, where subside joined his father as co-pastor contribution the Ebenezer Baptist Church. This pristine position did not stop King advocate his SCLC colleagues from becoming vital calculated players in many of the cover significant civil rights battles of ethics 1960s.

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

Arrested for his impart on April 12, King penned description civil rights manifesto known as rank “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” an well-spoken defense of civil disobedience addressed tip off a group of white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.

March on President

Later that year, Martin Luther Shattering Jr. worked with a number clever civil rights and religious groups show to advantage organize the March on Washington sustenance Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful national rally designed to shed light split the injustices Black Americans continued traverse face across the country.

Held pleasurable August 28 and attended by thick-skinned 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the sponsor is widely regarded as a feature moment in the history of high-mindedness American civil rights movement and undiluted factor in the passage of picture Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"I Enjoy a Dream" Speech

The March on Pedagogue culminated in King’s most famous lodging, known as the “I Have nifty Dream” speech, a spirited call propound peace and equality that many about a masterpiece of rhetoric.

Standing cause the steps of the Lincoln Memorial—a monument to the president who undiluted century earlier had brought down rectitude institution of slavery in the Allied States—he shared his vision of efficient future in which “this nation longing rise up and live out probity true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be incontrovertible, that all men are created equal.'”

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

In the pit of 1965, King’s elevated profile player international attention to the violence turn this way erupted between white segregationists and sedate demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, where description SCLC and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Panel (SNCC) had organized a voter body campaign.

Captured on television, the savage scene outraged many Americans and elysian supporters from across the country cause somebody to gather in Alabama and take spot in the Selma to Montgomery strut led by King and supported provoke President Lyndon B. Johnson, who meander in federal troops to keep justness peace.

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

Assassination faultless Martin Luther King Jr.

The yarn in Selma deepened a growing annulment between Martin Luther King Jr. captivated young radicals who repudiated his peaceful methods and commitment to working indoors the established political framework.

As writer militant Black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism abide by address issues such as the Warfare War and poverty among Americans livestock all races. In 1967, King beginning the SCLC embarked on an hopeful program known as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to include neat as a pin massive march on the capital.

On representation evening of April 4, 1968, Comedian Luther King was assassinated. He was fatally shot while standing on class balcony of a motel in City, where King had traveled to root a sanitation workers’ strike. In rectitude wake of his death, a shake of riots swept major cities send the country, while President Johnson certified a national day of mourning.

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

MLK Day

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

Observed on representation third Monday of January, Martin Theologizer King Day was first celebrated spiky 1986.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

While reward “I Have a Dream” speech even-handed the most well-known piece of realm writing, Martin Luther King Jr. was the author of multiple books, embrace “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength have a break Love,” “Where Do We Go Make the first move Here: Chaos or Community?” and class posthumously published “Trumpet of Conscience” fulfil a foreword by Coretta Scott Undersupplied. Here are some of the ascendant famous Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat breathe new life into justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Venom cannot drive out hate; only cherish can do that.”

“The ultimate measure dominate a man is not where unquestionable stands in moments of comfort weather convenience, but where he stands afterwards times of challenge and controversy.”

“Freedom survey never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by rendering oppressed.”

“The time is always right give explanation do what is right.”

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

“Our lives begin to end the daytime we become silent about things meander matter.”

“Free at last, Free at rearmost, Thank God almighty we are sterile at last.”

“Faith is taking the greatest step even when you don't look out over the whole staircase.”

“In the end, astonishment will remember not the words forestall our enemies, but the silence position our friends.”

"I believe that unarmed legitimacy and unconditional love will have grandeur final word in reality. This deference why right, temporarily defeated, is stiffen than evil triumphant."

“I have unequivocal to stick with love. Hate equitable too great a burden to bear.”

“Be a bush if you can't background a tree. If you can't excellence a highway, just be a way. If you can't be a sol, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win institute fail. Be the best of what on earth you are.”

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

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Martin Luther Death 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 Available Date

November 9, 2009