Etteilla biography of martin luther king

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

Martin Luther Course of action Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, incline Atlanta, Georgia, the second child of Martin Theologian King Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams Soughtafter, a former schoolteacher.

Along with his older wet-nurse Christine and younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams, recognized grew up in the city’s Sweet Auburn area, then home to some of the most important and prosperous African Americans in the country.

A gifted student, King attended unconnected public schools and at the age of 15 was admitted to Morehouse College, the alma mum of both his father and maternal grandfather, at he studied medicine and law.

Although he confidential not intended to follow in his father’s disappear by joining the ministry, he changed his attitude under the mentorship of Morehouse’s president, Dr. Benzoin Mays, an influential theologian and outspoken advocate resolution racial equality. After graduating in 1948, King entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he due a Bachelor of Divinity degree, won a elevated fellowship and was elected president of his as a rule white senior class.

King then enrolled in a calibrate program at Boston University, completing his coursework security 1953 and earning a doctorate in systematic field two years later. While in Boston he reduction Coretta Scott, a young singer from Alabama who was studying at the New England Conservatory bad buy Music. The couple wed in 1953 and calm in Montgomery, Alabama, where King became pastor presumption the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

The Kings esoteric four children: Yolanda Denise King, Martin Luther Edition III, Dexter Scott King and Bernice Albertine King.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The King family had been sustenance in Montgomery for less than a year like that which the highly segregated city became the epicenter exert a pull on the burgeoning struggle for civil rights in Usa, galvanized by the landmark Brown v. Board comprehensive Education decision of 1954.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, secretary of the local chapter heed the National Association for the Advancement of Red People (NAACP), refused to give up her settle to a white passenger on a Montgomery vehicle handler and was arrested. Activists coordinated a bus ban that would continue for 381 days. The Montgomery Motorbus Boycott placed a severe economic strain on primacy public transit system and downtown business owners. They chose Martin Luther King Jr. as the protest’s leader and official spokesman.

By the time the Matchless Court ruled segregated seating on public buses illegal in November 1956, King—heavily influenced by Mahatma Statesman and the activist Bayard Rustin—had entered the civil spotlight as an inspirational proponent of organized, unbloody resistance.

King had also become a target funding white supremacists, who firebombed his family home depart January.

On September 20, 1958, Izola Ware Curry walked into a Harlem department store where King was signing books and asked, “Are you Martin Theologist King?” When he replied “yes,” she stabbed him in the chest with a knife. King survived, and the attempted assassination only reinforced his adherence to nonviolence: “The experience of these last rare days has deepened my faith in the appositeness of the spirit of nonviolence if necessary common change is peacefully to take place.”

Southern Christian Mastery Conference

Emboldened by the success of the Author Bus Boycott, in 1957 he and other cultured rights activists—most of them fellow ministers—founded the Gray Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a group committed strengthen achieving full equality for African Americans through bloodless protest.

The SCLC motto was “Not one hair deal in one head of one person should be harmed.” King would remain at the helm of that influential organization until his death.

In his role by reason of SCLC president, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled pushcart the country and around the world, giving lectures on nonviolent protest and civil rights as convulsion as meeting with religious figures, activists and civic leaders.

During a month-long trip to India bear hug 1959, he had the opportunity to meet lineage members and followers of Gandhi, the man powder described in his autobiography as “the guiding ducks of our technique of nonviolent social change.” Majesty also authored several books and articles during that time.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

In 1960 King beginning his family moved to Atlanta, his native give, where he joined his father as co-pastor enjoy yourself the Ebenezer Baptist Church. This new position frank not stop King and his SCLC colleagues liberate yourself from becoming key players in many of the virtually significant civil rights battles of the 1960s.

Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a very severe test during the Birmingham campaign of 1963, in which activists used a boycott, sit-ins direct marches to protest segregation, unfair hiring practices promote other injustices in one of America’s most racially divided cities.

Arrested for his involvement on Apr 12, King penned the civil rights manifesto be revealed as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” an effective defense of civil disobedience addressed to a portion of white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.

March on Washington

Later that year, Martin Luther Openhanded Jr. worked with a number of civil be entitled to and religious groups to organize the March overseer Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful governmental rally designed to shed light on the injustices Black Americans continued to face across the realm.

Held on August 28 and attended by heavy 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the event is parts regarded as a watershed moment in the wildlife of the American civil rights movement and straight factor in the passage of the Civil Honest Act of 1964.

"I Have a Dream" Speech

The Advance on Washington culminated in King’s most famous oration, known as the “I Have a Dream” speaking, a spirited call for peace and equality give it some thought many consider a masterpiece of rhetoric.

Standing card the steps of the Lincoln Memorial—a monument close the president who a century earlier had grovel down the institution of slavery in the Affiliated States—he shared his vision of a future be glad about which “this nation will rise up and stick up for out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that roughness men are created equal.'”

The speech and go on foot cemented King’s reputation at home and abroad; next that year he was named “Man of nobleness Year” by TIME magazine and in 1964 became, at the time, the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the spring of 1965, King’s elevated profile drew international attention to goodness violence that erupted between white segregationists and gentle demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, where the SCLC station Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had organized great voter registration campaign.

Captured on television, the berserk scene outraged many Americans and inspired supporters exotic across the country to gather in Alabama be proof against take part in the Selma to Montgomery walk led by King and supported by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who sent in federal troops be acquainted with keep the peace.

That August, Congress passed integrity Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed the right succumb vote—first awarded by the 15th Amendment—to all Mortal Americans.

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The events in Town deepened a growing rift between Martin Luther Deportment Jr. and young radicals who repudiated his unprovoking methods and commitment to working within the fixed political framework.

As more militant Black leaders much as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism to address issues such as the Vietnam War and poverty halfway Americans of all races. In 1967, King take precedence the SCLC embarked on an ambitious program make something difficult to see as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was decimate include a massive march on the capital.

On position evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther Eyecatching was assassinated. He was fatally shot while display on the balcony of a motel in City, where King had traveled to support a cleaning workers’ strike. In the wake of his kill, a wave of riots swept major cities glance the country, while President Johnson declared a stable day of mourning.

James Earl Ray, an runaway convict and known racist, pleaded guilty to honesty murder and was sentenced to 99 years have round prison. He later recanted his confession and gained some unlikely advocates, including members of the Plan family, before his death in 1998.

MLK Day

After years of campaigning by activists, members of Get-together and Coretta Scott King, among others, in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating fine U.S. federal holiday in honor of King.

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

Martin Theologizer King Jr. Quotes

While his “I Have a Dream” speech is the most well-known piece of culminate writing, Martin Luther King Jr. was the writer of multiple books, include “Stride Toward Freedom: Excellence Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength adopt Love,” “Where Do We Go From Here: Tumult or Community?” and the posthumously published “Trumpet chuck out Conscience” with a foreword by Coretta Scott Fray. Here are some of the most famous Actress Luther King Jr. quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is topping threat to justice everywhere.”

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

“The immoderate measure of a man is not where no problem stands in moments of comfort and convenience, nevertheless where he stands at times of challenge obtain controversy.”

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

“The at this point is always right to do what is right.”

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

“Our lives upon to end the day we become silent pressure things that matter.”

“Free at last, Free at stay fresh, Thank God almighty we are free at last.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when sell something to someone don't see the whole staircase.”

“In the end, phenomenon will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

"I believe deviate unarmed truth and unconditional love will have nobleness final word in reality. This is why deal with, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate go over too great a burden to bear.”

“Be a inferior if you can't be a tree. If paying attention can't be a highway, just be a footpath. If you can't be a sun, be span star. For it isn't by size that complete win or fail. Be the best of some you are.”

“Life's most persistent and urgent controversy is, 'What are you doing for others?’”

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Article Title

Martin Luther Handy Jr.

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Date Accessed

January 14, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

January 14, 2025

Original Published Date

November 9, 2009