NAME: Martin Luther King, Jr.
OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Minister
BIRTH DATE: January 15, 1929
DEATH DATE: April 04, 1968
EDUCATION: Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, Boston University
BEST KNOWN FOR
Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968.
"I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land."
Born Michael King, Jr., Martin Luther King, Jr. was the middle child of Michael King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. The King and Williams families were rooted in rural Georgia. Martin Jr.'s grandfather, A.D. Williams, was a rural minister for years and then moved to Atlanta in 1893. There he took over the small, struggling Ebenezer Baptist church with around 13 members and made it into a forceful congregation. He married Jennie Celeste Parks and they had one child that survived, Alberta. Michael King Sr. came from a sharecropper family in a poor farming community. He married Alberta in 1926 after an eight-year courtship. The newlyweds moved to A.D. Williams home in Atlanta.
Michael King, Sr. stepped in a pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church upon the death of his father-in-law in 1931. He too became a very successful minister and adopted the name Martin Luther King, Sr. in honor of the German Protestant religious leader Martin Luther. In due time, Michael, Jr. would follow his dad’s lead and adopt the name himself.
Young Martin had an older sister, Willie Christine and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King. The King children grew up in a secure and loving environment. Martin Sr. was more the disciplinarian, while his wife’s gentleness easily balanced out the father’s more strict hand. Though they undoubtedly tried, Martin Jr.’s parents couldn’t shield him completely from racism. Martin Luther King, Sr. fought against racial prejudice, not just because his race suffered, but because he considered racism and segregation to be an affront to God's will. He strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority in his children which left a lasting impression on Martin Jr.
Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King, Jr. entered public school at age five. In May, 1936, he was baptized, but the event made little impression on him. In May, 1941, Martin was 12 years old when is grandmother, Jennie, died of a heart attack. The event was traumatic for Martin, more so because he was out watching a parade against his parents’ wishes when she died. Distraught at the news, young Martin attempted suicide by leaping from a second story window at the family home.
I Have a Dream
In the spring of 1963, Martin Luther King organized a demonstration in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Entire families attended. City police turned dogs and fire hoses on demonstrators. Martin Luther King was jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, but the event drew nationwide attention. However, King was personally criticized by black and white clergy alike for taking risks and endangering the children who attended the demonstration. From the jail in Birmingham, King eloquently spelled out his theory of non-violence. "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate forced to confront the issue."
By the end of the Birmingham campaign, Martin Luther King and his supporters were making plans for a massive demonstration on the nation’s capital composed of multiple organizations, all asking for peaceful change. On August 28, 1963, the historic March on Washington drew more than 200,000 people in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. It was here that King made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech emphasizing his belief that someday all men could be brothers.
The rising tide of civil rights agitation produced a strong effect on public opinion. Many people in cities not experiencing racial tension began to question the nation’s Jim Crow laws and the near century second class treatment of African American citizens. This resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 authorizing the federal government to enforce desegregation of public accommodations and outlawing discrimination in publicly owned facilities. This also led to Martin Luther King receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for 1964.
The struggle continued for Martin Luther King throughout the 1960s. It seemed as though progress was “two steps forward and one step back.” On March 7, 1965, a civil rights march, planned from Selma to Alabama’s capital in Montgomery, turned violent as police with nightsticks and tear gas met the demonstrators as they tried to cross the Edmond Pettus Bridge. King was not in the march, however the attack was televised showing horrifying images of marchers being bloodied and severely injured. Seventeen marchers were hospitalized leading to the naming the event “Bloody Sunday.” A second march was cancelled due to a restraining order to prevent the march from taking place. A third march was planned and this time King made sure he was on it. Not wanting to alienate southern judges by violating the restraining order, a different tact was taken. On March 9, 1965, a procession of 2,500 marchers, both black and white, set out once again to cross the Pettus Bridge and confronted barricades and state troopers. Instead of forcing a confrontation, King led his followers to kneel in prayer and then they turned back. The event caused King the loss of support among some younger African American leaders, but it nonetheless aroused support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
During the latter part of 1965 through 1967, Martin Luther King expanded his civil rights movement into other larger American cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. But he met with increasing criticism and public challenges from young black-power leaders. King’s patient, non-violent approach and appeal to white middle-class citizens alienated many black militants who considered his methods too weak and too late. In the eyes of the sharp-tongued, blue jean young urban black, King’s manner was irresponsibly passive and deemed non-effective. To address this criticism King began making a link between discrimination and poverty. He expanded his civil rights efforts to the Vietnam War. He felt America’s involvement in Vietnam was politically untenable and the government’s conduct of the war discriminatory to the poor. He sought to broaden his base by forming a multi-race coalition to address economic and unemployment problems of all disadvantaged people.
Martin Luther King Jr.. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 12:21, Jan 15, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086
