Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) — Baptist Minister, Pastor and Civil Rights Activist
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, GA on January 15, 1929. He was the eldest son of Martin Luther King, Sr., pastor and civil rights leader, and Alberta Williams King.
King entered Morehouse College at the age of 15, and was ordained a Baptist minister at 17. He married Coretta Scott in June 1953, at 24, and received a doctorate in systematic theology in 1955. By this time, the core of Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolent protest had been formed, based on the ideals of Mohandas K. (Mahatma) Gandhi.
In December of 1955, Rosa Lee Parks, a black woman, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her seat on a municipal bus to a white man. The black community chose Dr.King to organize a boycott to end racial segregation in public transportation. From this successful bus boycott, Dr. King emerged as a highly respected leader and was chosen to lead the new Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
In 1958, King published his first book, “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story.” The following year, he began assisting his father as co-pastor of the Ebenezer Church in Atlanta. With Atlanta being the home of the SCLC headquarters, this move enabled King to participate more effectively in the burgeoning national civil rights movement.
In 1963, Dr. King led a massive civil rights campaign in Birmingham, Ala., and organized drives for black voter registration, desegregation, and better education and housing throughout the South. During these nonviolent campaigns he was arrested several times, generating newspaper headlines throughout the world. In June, President John F. Kennedy reacted to the Birmingham protests by submitting broad civil rights legislation to Congress.
Dr. King was the final speaker at the historic March on Washington DC (August 28, 1963), where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In June the Civil Rights Act of
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1964 was passed. Also in 1964, Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
On April 3, 1968, King spoke of having “…been to the mountain top and seen the Promised Land.” The following day, while seeking to assist in a garbage workers’ strike in Memphis, TN, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed by James Earl Ray, a white escaped convict.
Some 100,000 people attended his funeral in Atlanta. In 1983, Congress declared the third Monday in January a federal legal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday; his Atlanta birthplace and gravesite have been made into a national historic site.
