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She started the church choir and served as the church organist at Ebenezer church. King had two siblings, an older sister, and a younger brother, he was a middle child. Growing up in the Black middle class , King had opportunities in education and social experiences that children in poorer parts of Atlanta didn't get. But King still experienced the realities of segregation in the South, because he was Black.
As a child, King was a paper boy and dreamed about being a firefighter. King was a good student.
He finished grade school early and enrolled at Morehouse College in , at the age of He studied sociology and graduated in During his time at Morehouse College King started to formulate his future self. He was influenced by several professors at the college and began to understand the intellectual tradition of ministry.
In , King enrolled in seminary school and studied theology, philosophy, ethics, and religion and was elected student body president. After that, he went to doctoral school at Boston University and earned a degree in theology. King married his wife, Coretta Scott , in He was adjusting to his new role as preacher and father, Martin and Coretta had their first child, Yolanda Denise King, in November of , when an event that would change his life forever happened.
On December 1, Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat on a segregated city bus, resulting in her being arrested. Several groups came together to take action. One of those groups was the Baptist Minister Conference, which King was a part of. The community organized a boycott of the buses, and after some success, a group formed called the Montgomery Improvement Association of which King was elected the first president.
King and the Black community continued the boycott for days while city officials resisted their demands until December 21, , when the U. Supreme Court upheld a federal court decision that ruled against segregation in Montgomery.
King would go on to become the leader of the civil rights movement in America. Play now! And suddenly, he inspires them in a way that is just profound. They're ready to march.
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They were listening to his conversations in hotel rooms. He still did the work, and he still doubled down. He never backed off of his convictions. He stuck to what he believed in and was willing to risk everything for it. King: A Life was published in May by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and is an extensive biography of the civil rights leader, detailing his life and complicated legacy prior to his assassination.
Philip Randolph, and that plays out too when he becomes a negotiator with presidents, and he really doesn't like conflict. Board of Education decision of Activists coordinated a bus boycott that would continue for days. The Montgomery Bus Boycott placed a severe economic strain on the public transit system and downtown business owners.
They chose Martin Luther King Jr. By the time the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating on public buses unconstitutional in November , King—heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and the activist Bayard Rustin —had entered the national spotlight as an inspirational proponent of organized, nonviolent resistance. King had also become a target for white supremacists, who firebombed his family home that January.
Emboldened by the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in he and other civil rights activists—most of them fellow ministers—founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference SCLC , a group committed to achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest. In King and his family moved to Atlanta, his native city, where he joined his father as co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church.
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 well-known orator delivered his final speech the day before he died at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. They were married on June 18, , and had four children—two daughters and two sons—over the next decade. The couple welcomed Bernice King in In addition to raising the children while Martin travelled the country, Coretta opened their home to organizational meetings and served as an advisor and sounding board for her husband.
His lengthy absences became a way of life for their children, but Martin III remembered his father returning from the road to join the kids playing in the yard or bring them to the local YMCA for swimming. Leery of accumulating wealth as a high-profile figure, Martin Jr. However, he was known to splurge on good suits and fine dining, while contrasting his serious public image with a lively sense of humor among friends and family.
Due to his relationships with alleged Communists, King became a target of FBI surveillance and, from late until his death, a campaign to discredit the civil rights activist. Edgar Hoover , which urged King to kill himself if he wanted to prevent news of his dalliances from going public.
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In , historian David Garrow wrote of explosive new allegations against King following his review of recently released FBI documents. Among the discoveries was a memo suggesting that King had encouraged the rape of a parishioner in a hotel room as well as evidence that he might have fathered a daughter with a mistress.
The original surveillance tapes regarding these allegations are under judicial seal until From late through , King expanded his civil rights efforts into other larger American cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles. He was met with increasing criticism and public challenges from young Black power leaders. To address this criticism, King began making a link between discrimination and poverty, and he began to speak out against the Vietnam War.
He sought to broaden his base by forming a multiracial coalition to address the economic and unemployment problems of all disadvantaged people. By , the years of demonstrations and confrontations were beginning to wear on King.
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He had grown tired of marches, going to jail, and living under the constant threat of death. He was becoming discouraged at the slow progress of civil rights in America and the increasing criticism from other African American leaders. In the spring of , a labor strike by Memphis, Tennessee, sanitation workers drew King to one last crusade.
Longevity has its place. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. In September , King survived an attempt on his life when a woman with mental illness stabbed him in the chest as he signed copies of his book Stride Toward Freedom in a New York City department store. King died at age The shocking assassination sparked riots and demonstrations in more than cities across the country.
The shooter was James Earl Ray , a malcontent drifter and former convict. He initially escaped authorities but was apprehended after a two-month international manhunt. In , Ray pleaded guilty to assassinating King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Another complicating factor is the confession of tavern owner Loyd Jowers, who said he contracted a different hit man to kill King.
In June , more than two years after Ray died, the U. Years after his death, he is the most widely known Black leader of his era. His life and work have been honored with a national holiday, schools and public buildings named after him, and a memorial on Independence Mall in Washington D. Over the years, extensive archival studies have led to a more balanced and comprehensive assessment of his life, portraying him as a complex figure: flawed, fallible, and limited in his control over the mass movements with which he was associated, yet a visionary leader who was deeply committed to achieving social justice through nonviolent means.
Biography of martin luther king: Martin Luther King, Jr., was a visionary leader and advocate for equality who spearheaded the civil rights movement in America through nonviolent protests, inspiring lasting change and leaving an enduring legacy.
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Malcolm X. Ethel Kennedy. Huey P. Dred Scott.
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Benjamin Banneker. Marcus Garvey. Madam C. Legacy Quotes. Date: May 17, Six years before he told the world of his dream, King stood at the same Lincoln Memorial steps as the final speaker of the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom.