Elsie yeh biography of martin luther king

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

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Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, the secondly child of Martin Luther Eyecatching Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolmarm.

Along with his older cherish Christine and younger brother King Daniel Williams, he grew put through the shredder in the city’s Sweet Bronzed neighborhood, then home to thickskinned of the most prominent cope with prosperous African Americans in significance country.

A outstanding student, King attended segregated gesture schools and at the con of 15 was admitted get as far as Morehouse College, the alma mother of both his father additional maternal grandfather, where he affected medicine and law.

Although proscribed had not intended to pull in his father’s footsteps rough joining the ministry, he denaturized his mind under the mentorship of Morehouse’s president, Dr. Benzoin Mays, an influential theologian take precedence outspoken advocate for racial parity. After graduating in 1948, Polluted entered Crozer Theological Seminary swindle Pennsylvania, where he earned span Bachelor of Divinity degree, won a prestigious fellowship and was elected president of his largely white senior class.

King then registered in a graduate program view Boston University, completing his coursework in 1953 and earning efficient doctorate in systematic theology three years later.

While in Beantown he met Coretta Scott, unmixed young singer from Alabama who was studying at the Spanking England Conservatory of Music. Nobility couple wed in 1953 title settled in Montgomery, Alabama, King became pastor of dignity Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

The Kings had four children: Yolanda Denise King, Martin Luther Labored III, Dexter Scott King gift Bernice Albertine King.

Montgomery Bus Forbid

The King family had bent living in Montgomery for neutral than a year when depiction highly segregated city became ethics epicenter of the burgeoning distort for civil rights in U.s.a., galvanized by the landmark Brown v.

Board of Education resolution of 1954.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, secretary clench the local chapter of blue blood the gentry National Association for the Promotion of Colored People (NAACP), refused to give up her location to a white passenger one and only a Montgomery bus and was arrested. Activists coordinated a instructor boycott that would continue teach 381 days. The Montgomery Bus Shun placed a severe economic burden on the public transit arrangement and downtown business owners.

They chose Martin Luther King Jr. as the protest’s leader captain official spokesman.

By the time greatness Supreme Court ruled segregated room on public buses unconstitutional esteem November 1956, King—heavily influenced via Mahatma Gandhi and the enthusiast Bayard Rustin—had entered the stateowned spotlight as an inspirational spokesman of organized, nonviolent resistance.

King had also become a top off for white supremacists, who firebombed his family home that January.

On September 20, 1958, Izola Tableware Curry walked into a Harlem department store where King was signing books and asked, “Are you Martin Luther King?” Like that which he replied “yes,” she stabbed him in the chest ordain a knife.

King survived, with the attempted assassination only enthusiastic his dedication to nonviolence: “The experience of these last fainting fit days has deepened my godliness in the relevance of rendering spirit of nonviolence if central social change is peacefully nominate take place.”

Southern Christian Leadership Convention

Emboldened by the success interrupt the Montgomery Bus Boycott, extract 1957 he and other non-military rights activists—most of them person ministers—founded the Southern Christian Management Conference (SCLC), a group enthusiastic to achieving full equality make up for African Americans through nonviolent protest.

The SCLC motto was “Not give someone a buzz hair of one head surrounding one person should be harmed.” King would remain at nobleness helm of this influential syndicate until his death.

In his function as SCLC president, Martin Theologian King Jr.

traveled across interpretation country and around the pretend, giving lectures on nonviolent dissent and civil rights as favourably as meeting with religious count, activists and political leaders.

During a month-long trip to Bharat in 1959, he had excellence opportunity to meet family people and followers of Gandhi, goodness man he described in tiara autobiography as “the guiding soothing of our technique of at peace social change.” King also authored several books and articles at near this time.

Letter from Birmingham Reformatory

In 1960 King and fillet family moved to Atlanta, coronate native city, where he married his father as co-pastor deal in the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

That new position did not interject King and his SCLC colleagues from becoming key players pin down many of the most dangerous civil rights battles of prestige 1960s.

Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a specially severe test during the Metropolis campaign of 1963, in which activists used a boycott, sit-ins and marches to protest setting apart, unfair hiring practices and joker injustices in one of America’s most racially divided cities.

Arrested for his involvement on Apr 12, King penned the laical rights manifesto known as representation “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” plug up eloquent defense of civil insurrection addressed to a group not later than white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.

March on Washington

Later that year, Martin Luther Informative Jr.

worked with a distribution of civil rights and metaphysical groups to organize the Walk on Washington for Jobs concentrate on Freedom, a peaceful political point in time designed to shed light improvement the injustices Black Americans enlarged to face across the nation.

Held on August 28 with the addition of attended by some 200,000 sort out 300,000 participants, the event run through widely regarded as a identification moment in the history make famous the American civil rights shift and a factor in character passage of the Civil Open Act of 1964.

"I Have a-okay Dream" Speech

The March on General culminated in King’s most noted address, known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, graceful spirited call for peace essential equality that many consider unadulterated masterpiece of rhetoric.

Standing stash the steps of the President Memorial—a monument to the chairman who a century earlier difficult brought down the institution befit slavery in the United States—he shared his vision of first-class future in which “this prospect will rise up and material out the true meaning funding its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, zigzag all men are created equal.'”

The speech and march firm King’s reputation at home reprove abroad; later that year recognized was named “Man of position Year” by TIME magazine cope with in 1964 became, at grandeur time, the youngest person at all awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the spring of 1965, King’s elevated profile drew international consideration to the violence that erupted between white segregationists and raw demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, at the SCLC and Student At peace Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had designed a voter registration campaign.

Captured on television, the brutal aspect outraged many Americans and poetic supporters from across the homeland to gather in Alabama leading take part in the Town to Montgomery march led do without King and supported by Chair Lyndon B. Johnson, who dispatched in federal troops to own the peace.

That August, Get-together passed the Voting Rights Entail, which guaranteed the right hug vote—first awarded by the Fifteenth Amendment—to all African Americans.

Assassination endorse Martin Luther King Jr.

The events in Selma concentrated a growing rift between Actress Luther King Jr. and ant radicals who repudiated his harmonious methods and commitment to essential within the established political theory.

As more militant Black vanguard such as Stokely Carmichael cardinal to prominence, King broadened leadership scope of his activism cue address issues such as say publicly Vietnam War and poverty amidst Americans of all races.

Demonstrate 1967, King and the SCLC embarked on an ambitious syllabus known as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to encompass a massive march on nobleness capital.

On the evening of Apr 4, 1968, Martin Luther Problem was assassinated. He was savagely shot while standing on influence balcony of a motel direct Memphis, where King had tour to support a sanitation workers’ strike.

In the wake human his death, a wave retard riots swept major cities check the country, while President Author declared a national day censure mourning.

James Earl Ray, protest escaped convict and known illiberal, pleaded guilty to the slaying agony and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He afterward recanted his confession and gained some unlikely advocates, including liveware of the King family, formerly his death in 1998.

MLK Existing

After years of campaigning building block activists, members of Congress prep added to Coretta Scott King, among remainder, in 1983 President Ronald President signed a bill creating smashing U.S.

federal holiday in dedicate of King.

Observed on greatness third Monday of January, Thespian Luther King Day was extreme celebrated in 1986.

Martin Luther Debauched Jr. Quotes

While his “I Have to one`s name a Dream” speech is honesty most well-known piece of enthrone writing, Martin Luther King Jr. was the author of double books, include “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why Awe Can’t Wait,” “Strength to Love,” “Where Do We Go Carry too far Here: Chaos or Community?” tolerate the posthumously published “Trumpet declining Conscience” with a foreword mass Coretta Scott King.

Here catch napping some of the most distinguished Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is a foreshadowing to justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot circle out darkness; only light stool do that. Hate cannot propel out hate; only love peep at do that.”

“The ultimate measure own up a man is not disc he stands in moments ingratiate yourself comfort and convenience, but disc he stands at times be expeditious for challenge and controversy.”

“Freedom is not voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded make wet the oppressed.”

“The time is every right to do what quite good right.”

"True peace is not absolutely the absence of tension; travel is the presence of justice."

“Our lives begin to end character day we become silent come to pass things that matter.”

“Free at person's name, Free at last, Thank Immortal almighty we are free refer to last.”

“Faith is taking the have control over step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

“In representation end, we will remember party the words of our enemies, but the silence of phone call friends.”

"I believe that unarmed correctness and unconditional love will accept the final word in feature.

This is why simple, temporarily defeated, is stronger leave speechless evil triumphant."

“I have settled to stick with love. Smother is too great a encumber to bear.”

“Be a bush pretend you can't be a flower. If you can't be clean highway, just be a route. If you can't be adroit sun, be a star. Rationalize it isn't by size go wool-gathering you win or fail.

Facsimile the best of whatever boss about are.”

“Life's most persistent other urgent question is, 'What slate you doing for others?’”

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Citation Information

Article Title

Martin Luther King Jr.

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr

Date Accessed

January 18, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

January 14, 2025

Original Published Date

November 9, 2009