Martin Luther King man had a dream, and it inspired him to become one of the most famous civil rights leaders ever known! Read about his fascinating story in this article!
Michael Luther King Junior was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His mother, Alberta, was a school teacher, and his father, Michael Luther Senior was a Baptist minister. From his birth, King's roots were in the African-American Baptist Church. His grandfather was the Reverend A.D. Williams, the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and he was also a founder of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP. Michael's father, Michael Luther Senior, followed his father and later became the pastor of the church, as well as a civil rights leader too. (Michael's name was later changed to "Martin" sometime during his childhood.)
King admired his father and his grandfather for their work towards improving the lives of the African Americans. When he was a junior in college, King decided to become a minister and join do his part to help the cause. And his life from that point on was dedicated to the gaining equal rights for African Americans.
After graduation in 1948 from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, King went on to graduate from Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania three years later. On June 18, 1953, King wed Coretta Scott in Marion, Alabama. During their fifteen-year marriage, they had four children: Yolanda, Martin Luther King III, Dexter, and Bernice. The following year, King moved his family to Montgomery to preach at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
In 1955, Martin Luther King, Junior, finished his studies and received a degree in theology. That same year, he was elected to serve as President of the Montgomery Improvement Association. This civil rights group was formed after activist Rosa Parks refused to obey the city's segregation laws. Just four days earlier, Parks had refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus. The group launched a bus boycott to protest the segregation laws.
In 1956, King's house was bombed, and he and other leaders of the boycott were charged with interfering with the bus company's operations. Finally, at the end of that year, after the United States Supreme Court declared Alabama's segregation laws were unconstitutional, the Montgomery buses were desegregated.
The next year, Martin Luther King, Junior formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with a number of other black ministers. The group's first goal was to secure the right to vote.
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, (Harper), was King's first book, and it was published in 1958. The book was based on King's recollections of the Montgomery bus boycott.
Two years later, in 1960, King ended his term of being pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. He returned to the Atlanta headquarters of the SCLC to continue his work with that organization. King also helped his father in his duties as pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church.
By this time, King had already taken part in several demonstrations. And, in the spring of 1963, he again lead protests in Birmingham. Their goal this time was to change unfair hiring practices in Birmingham's stores. King was ultimately arrested after being ordered by the court to discontinue the demonstrations. The incident spawned his classic "Letter from Birmingham Jail."
The demonstrations made national headlines, and President Kennedy finally submitted the predecessor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to Congress where it was passed.
During that same summer, King gave his famous, " I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in front of over two hundred thousand supporters. King began his speech by saying, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. (My Lord) I have a dream today."
1964 proved to be yet another busy year for Martin Luther King, Junior. His activities included publishing his second book, "Why We Can't Wait," and visiting with Pope Paul VI. King also found himself become Time Magazine's Man of the Year. At the end of that same year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The following year, King was finally successful in his campaign to bring about the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, when President Johnson signed the act.
In 1968, Martin Luther King, Junior was still in the prime of his career as a civil rights activist. While helping with a strike in Memphis, Tennessee, he was assassinated by James Earl Ray. Ray claimed his innocence, but was sentenced to prison where he died many years later.
Finally, after much lobbying on the part of King's supporters, January 20, 1986, marked the first national celeration of King's birthday. Thereafter, the official holiday was set to be celebrated on the third Monday of every January.
King is the only American besides George Washington to have a national holiday. Martin Luther King Day reminds us of the valuable contributions that he made in the equalization of African Americans.
