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Parks' December 1, , arrest presented the perfect opportunity to make a case for desegregating the transit system. Ralph Abernathy, a close friend of King, contacted King and other clergymen to plan a citywide bus boycott. The group drafted demands and stipulated that no Black person would ride the buses on December 5.
That day, nearly 20, Black citizens refused bus rides. When the boycott ended days later, Montgomery's transit system was nearly bankrupt. Additionally, on November 23, in the case of Gayle v. Browder , the U. Supreme Court ruled that "Racially segregated transportation systems enforced by the government violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," according to Oyez, an online archive of U.
The court also cited the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka , where it had ruled in that "segregation of public education based solely on race violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," according to Oyez. On December 20, , the Montgomery Improvement Association voted to end the boycott.
Buoyed by success, the movement's leaders met in January in Atlanta and formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to coordinate nonviolent protests through Black churches.
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King was elected president and held the post until his death. In early , King's first book, "Stride Toward Freedom," which detailed the Montgomery bus boycott, was published. While signing books in Harlem, New York, King was stabbed by a Black woman with a mental health condition. As he recovered, he visited India's Gandhi Peace Foundation in February to refine his protest strategies.
Biography of martin luther king: Martin Luther King, Jr. (born January 15, , Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.—died April 4, , Memphis, Tennessee) was a Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mids until his death by assassination in
In the book, greatly influenced by Gandhi's movement and teachings, he laid six principles, explaining that nonviolence:. Is not a method for cowards; it does resist : King noted that "Gandhi often said that if cowardice is the only alternative to violence, it is better to fight. Does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding : Even in conducting a boycott, for example, the purpose is "to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent" and the goal is one of "redemption and reconciliation," King said.
Is directed against forces of evil rather than against persons who happen to be doing the evil: "It is evil that the nonviolent resister seeks to defeat, not the persons victimized by evil," King wrote. The fight is not one of Black people versus White people, but to achieve "but a victory for justice and the forces of light," King wrote. Is a willingness to accept suffering without retaliation, to accept blows from the opponent without striking back: Again citing Gandhi, King wrote: "The nonviolent resister is willing to accept violence if necessary, but never to inflict it.
He does not seek to dodge jail. Avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit: Saying that you win through love not hate, King wrote: "The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent, but he also refuses to hate him.
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Is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice: The nonviolent person "can accept suffering without retaliation" because the resister knows that "love" and "justice" will win in the end. Fred Shuttlesworth of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights in a nonviolent campaign to end segregation and force Birmingham, Alabama, businesses to hire Black people.
King was thrown into jail. King spent eight days in the Birmingham jail as a result of this arrest but used the time to write "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," affirming his peaceful philosophy. The brutal images galvanized the nation. Money poured in to support the protesters; White allies joined demonstrations. By summer, thousands of public facilities nationwide were integrated, and companies began to hire Black people.
The resulting political climate pushed the passage of civil rights legislation. On June 11, , President John F. The law prohibited racial discrimination in public, ensured the "constitutional right to vote," and outlawed discrimination in places of employment. Then came the March on Washington, D. Nearly , Americans listened to speeches by civil rights activists, but most had come for King.
King to communism. The FBI even went so far as to write him a threatening letter, anonymous at the time. King believed the letter had implied for him to commit suicide. In the later s, Martin Luther King Jr. King wanted to occupy Washington, D. On April 4th, , at the age of 38, Dr. Although they undoubtedly tried, Martin Jr. He strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority in his children, which left a lasting impression on Martin Jr.
His baptism in May was less memorable for young King, but an event a few years later left him reeling. In May , when King was 12 years old, his grandmother Jennie died of a heart attack. Distraught at the news, he jumped from a second-story window at the family home, allegedly attempting suicide. Growing up in Atlanta, King entered public school at age 5.
He later attended Booker T. Washington High School, where he was said to be a precocious student. He skipped both the ninth and eleventh grades and, at age 15, entered Morehouse College in Atlanta in He was a popular student, especially with his female classmates, but largely unmotivated, floating through his first two years.
Influenced by his experiences with racism, King began planting the seeds for a future as a social activist early in his time at Morehouse.
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At the time, King felt that the best way to serve that purpose was as a lawyer or a doctor. Although his family was deeply involved in the church and worship, King questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional displays of religious worship. But in his junior year at Morehouse, King took a Bible class, renewed his faith, and began to envision a career in the ministry.
In the fall of his senior year, he told his father of his decision, and he was ordained at Ebenezer Baptist Church in February Later that year, King earned a sociology degree from Morehouse College and began attended the liberal Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He thrived in all his studies, was elected student body president, and was valedictorian of his class in He also earned a fellowship for graduate study.
He became romantically involved with a white woman and went through a difficult time before he could break off the relationship. Mays was an outspoken advocate for racial equality and encouraged King to view Christianity as a potential force for social change. After being accepted at several colleges for his doctoral study, King enrolled at Boston University.
He completed his doctorate and earned his degree in at age A committee of scholars appointed by Boston University determined that King was guilty of plagiarism in , though it also recommended against the revocation of his degree. As explained in his autobiography , King previously felt that the peaceful teachings of Jesus applied mainly to individual relationships, not large-scale confrontations.
It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking. Led by his religious convictions and philosophy of nonviolence, King became one of the most prominent figures of the Civil Rights Movement. He was a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and played key roles in several major demonstrations that transformed society.
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The effort began on December 1, , when year-old Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus to go home after work. As more passengers boarded, several white men were left standing, so the bus driver demanded that Parks and several other African Americans give up their seats. Three other Black passengers reluctantly gave up their places, but Parks remained seated.
The driver asked her again to give up her seat, and again, she refused. Parks was arrested and booked for violating the Montgomery City Code. On the night Parks was arrested, E. King was elected to lead the boycott because he was young, well-trained, and had solid family connections and professional standing. He was also new to the community and had few enemies, so organizers felt he would have strong credibility with the Black community.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott began December 5, , and for more than a year, the local Black community walked to work, coordinated ride sharing, and faced harassment, violence, and intimidation. In addition to the boycott, members of the Black community took legal action against the city ordinance that outlined the segregated transit system.
They argued it was unconstitutional based on the U. Board of Education After the legal defeats and large financial losses, the city of Montgomery lifted the law that mandated segregated public transportation. The boycott ended on December 20, Flush with victory, African American civil rights leaders recognized the need for a national organization to help coordinate their efforts.
In January , King, Ralph Abernathy , and 60 ministers and civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to harness the moral authority and organizing power of Black churches. The SCLC helped conduct nonviolent protests to promote civil rights reform. The SCLC felt the best place to start to give African Americans a voice was to enfranchise them in the voting process.
King met with religious and civil rights leaders and lectured all over the country on race-related issues. This new position did not stop King and his SCLC colleagues from becoming key players in many of the most significant civil rights battles of the s.
With the slogan, "I am a man," workers in Memphis sought financial justice in a strike that fatefully became Martin Luther King Jr. King penned of the civil rights movement's seminal texts while in solitary confinement, initially on the margins of a newspaper. The civil rights leader was attacked in by Izola Ware Curry, a decade before his murder.
Later that year, Martin Luther King Jr. Held on August 28 and attended by some , to , participants, the event is widely regarded as a watershed moment in the history of the American civil rights movement and a factor in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of Captured on television, the brutal scene outraged many Americans and inspired supporters from across the country to gather in Alabama and take part in the Selma to Montgomery march led by King and supported by President Lyndon B.
Johnson , who sent in federal troops to keep the peace. As more militant Black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism to address issues such as the Vietnam War and poverty among Americans of all races. On the evening of April 4, , Martin Luther King was assassinated. In the wake of his death, a wave of riots swept major cities across the country, while President Johnson declared a national day of mourning.