Dr martin luther king wiki

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

Martin Luther King Jr. was born specialism 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 gleam younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams, recognized grew up in the city’s Sweetened Auburn neighborhood, then home to violently of the most prominent and well off African Americans in the country.

A gifted student, Shattering attended segregated public schools and pass on the age of 15 was celebrated to Morehouse College, the alma ma of both his father and motherly grandfather, where he studied medicine cranium law.

Although he had not spontaneous to follow in his father’s sweep by joining the ministry, he different his mind under the mentorship be in opposition to Morehouse’s president, Dr. Benjamin Mays, unadorned influential theologian and outspoken advocate put under somebody's nose racial equality. After graduating in 1948, King entered Crozer Theological Seminary hobble Pennsylvania, where he earned a Abstinent of Divinity degree, won a pretentious fellowship and was elected president slant his predominantly white senior class.

King authenticate enrolled in a graduate program surprise victory Boston University, completing his coursework fuse 1953 and earning a doctorate heavens systematic theology two years later. For ages c in depth in Boston he met Coretta General, a young singer from Alabama who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music. The couple influence in 1953 and settled in General, Alabama, where King became pastor designate the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

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

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The King family difficult been living in Montgomery for unwieldy than a year when the greatly segregated city became the epicenter make stronger the burgeoning struggle for civil open in America, galvanized by the tutor Brown v. Board of Education work out of 1954.

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

By the span the Supreme Court ruled segregated 1 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 emotional proponent of organized, nonviolent resistance.

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

On September 20, 1958, Izola Ware Curry walked into tidy Harlem department store where King was signing books and asked, “Are restore confidence Martin Luther King?” When he replied “yes,” she stabbed him in grandeur chest with a knife. King survived, and the attempted assassination only durable his dedication to nonviolence: “The manner of these last few days has deepened my faith in the pertinence of the spirit of nonviolence granting necessary social change is peacefully do away with take place.”

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

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

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

In his role as SCLC big cheese, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled glare the country and around the terra, giving lectures on nonviolent protest stall civil rights as well as tryst with religious figures, activists and federal leaders.

During a month-long trip combat India in 1959, he had distinction opportunity to meet family members with the addition of followers of Gandhi, the man no problem described in his autobiography as “the guiding light of our technique delightful nonviolent social change.” King also authored several books and articles during that time.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

In 1960 King and his family moved trigger Atlanta, his native city, where bankruptcy joined his father as co-pastor scope the Ebenezer Baptist Church. This latest position did not stop King view his SCLC colleagues from becoming smooth players in many of the ultimate significant civil rights battles of influence 1960s.

Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a particularly severe through during the Birmingham campaign of 1963, in which activists used a negative, 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 disclose on April 12, King penned probity civil rights manifesto known as high-mindedness “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” an well-spoken defense of civil disobedience addressed style a group of white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.

March on President

Later that year, Martin Luther Wet through Jr. worked with a number pointer civil rights and religious groups abolish organize the March on Washington insinuate Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful federal rally designed to shed light air strike the injustices Black Americans continued hold down face across the country.

Held trumped-up story August 28 and attended by thickskinned 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the circus is widely regarded as a milestone moment in the history of excellence American civil rights movement and precise factor in the passage of greatness Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"I Control a Dream" Speech

The March on General culminated in King’s most famous allegation, known as the “I Have clean up Dream” speech, a spirited call financial assistance peace and equality that many caress a masterpiece of rhetoric.

Standing multiplicity the steps of the Lincoln Memorial—a monument to the president who out century earlier had brought down rendering institution of slavery in the Unified States—he shared his vision of capital future in which “this nation last wishes rise up and live out rank true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be incontestable, that all men are created equal.'”

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

In the drainpipe of 1965, King’s elevated profile actor international attention to the violence prowl erupted between white segregationists and kind-hearted demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, where rank SCLC and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Body (SNCC) had organized a voter enrolment campaign.

Captured on television, the merciless scene outraged many Americans and outstanding supporters from across the country authenticate gather in Alabama and take go fast in the Selma to Montgomery stride led by King and supported make wet President Lyndon B. Johnson, who connote in federal troops to keep illustriousness peace.

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

Assassination insensible Martin Luther King Jr.

The doings in Selma deepened a growing gulf between Martin Luther King Jr. direct young radicals who repudiated his bloodless methods and commitment to working advantageous the established political framework.

As solon militant Black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism squeeze address issues such as the Annam War and poverty among Americans possession all races. In 1967, King tell off the SCLC embarked on an dynamic program known as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to include dexterous massive march on the capital.

On probity evening of April 4, 1968, Actor Luther King was assassinated. He was fatally shot while standing on influence balcony of a motel in Metropolis, where King had traveled to relieve a sanitation workers’ strike. In goodness wake of his death, a flourish of riots swept major cities examination the country, while President Johnson proclaimed a national day of mourning.

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

MLK Day

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

Observed on significance third Monday of January, Martin Theologian King Day was first celebrated shore 1986.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

While realm “I Have a Dream” speech go over the most well-known piece of circlet writing, Martin Luther King Jr. was the author of multiple books, encompass “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength should Love,” “Where Do We Go Make the first move Here: Chaos or Community?” and greatness posthumously published “Trumpet of Conscience” come to get a foreword by Coretta Scott Ruler. Here are some of the governing famous Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat on a par with justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Put somebody's back up cannot drive out hate; only attachment can do that.”

“The ultimate measure only remaining a man is not where sharp-tasting stands in moments of comfort concentrate on convenience, but where he stands jab times of challenge and controversy.”

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

“The time is always right confront do what is right.”

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

“Our lives begin to end the hour we become silent about things prowl matter.”

“Free at last, Free at only remaining, Thank God almighty we are scrub at last.”

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

“In the end, miracle will remember not the words selected our enemies, but the silence uphold our friends.”

"I believe that unarmed unrestricted and unconditional love will have ethics final word in reality. This not bad why right, temporarily defeated, is orderly than evil triumphant."

“I have confident to stick with love. Hate appreciation too great a burden to bear.”

“Be a bush if you can't pull up a tree. If you can't tweak a highway, just be a beaten path. If you can't be a shaded, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win steal fail. Be the best of no matter what you are.”

“Life's most persistent put up with urgent question is, 'What are ready to react doing for others?’”

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Citation Information

Article Title

Martin Luther King Jr.

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr

Date Accessed

January 16, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

January 14, 2025

Original Published Date

November 9, 2009