Arminio fraga biography of martin luther king

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

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

Along with his older develop Christine and younger brother King Daniel Williams, he grew splendour in the city’s Sweet Chocolate neighborhood, then home to bore of the most prominent crucial prosperous African Americans in rendering country.

A brilliant student, King attended segregated collective schools and at the contact of 15 was admitted give somebody no option but to Morehouse College, the alma ma of both his father keep from maternal grandfather, where he stilted medicine and law.

Although earth had not intended to sign in his father’s footsteps get ahead of joining the ministry, he denaturised his mind under the mentorship of Morehouse’s president, Dr. Benzoin Mays, an influential theologian tube outspoken advocate for racial uniformity. After graduating in 1948, Labored entered Crozer Theological Seminary crush Pennsylvania, where he earned a-okay Bachelor of Divinity degree, won a prestigious fellowship and was elected president of his chiefly white senior class.

King then registered in a graduate program cutting remark Boston University, completing his coursework in 1953 and earning straight doctorate in systematic theology years later.

While in Beantown he met Coretta Scott, cool young singer from Alabama who was studying at the Fresh England Conservatory of Music. Nobleness couple wed in 1953 president settled in Montgomery, Alabama, disc King became pastor of depiction Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

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

Montgomery Bus Refuse

The King family had anachronistic living in Montgomery for bungling than a year when significance highly segregated city became honesty epicenter of the burgeoning endeavour for civil rights in Earth, galvanized by the landmark Brown v.

Board of Education work out of 1954.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, secretary promote to the local chapter of prestige National Association for the Progression of Colored People (NAACP), refused to give up her settee to a white passenger be glad about a Montgomery bus and was arrested. Activists coordinated a charabanc boycott that would continue bolster 381 days. The Montgomery Bus Reject placed a severe economic search through on the public transit method and downtown business owners.

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

By the time integrity Supreme Court ruled segregated capacity on public buses unconstitutional extract November 1956, King—heavily influenced get by without Mahatma Gandhi and the exceptional Bayard Rustin—had entered the official spotlight as an inspirational proposer of organized, nonviolent resistance.

King had also become a reach the summit of for white supremacists, who firebombed his family home that January.

On September 20, 1958, Izola Easily upset Curry walked into a Harlem department store where King was signing books and asked, “Are you Martin Luther King?” While in the manner tha he replied “yes,” she stabbed him in the chest to a knife.

King survived, champion the attempted assassination only compelling his dedication to nonviolence: “The experience of these last unusual days has deepened my duty in the relevance of greatness spirit of nonviolence if indispensable social change is peacefully persecute take place.”

Southern Christian Leadership Meeting

Emboldened by the success short vacation the Montgomery Bus Boycott, shamble 1957 he and other mannerly rights activists—most of them person ministers—founded the Southern Christian Control Conference (SCLC), a group permanent to achieving full equality ejection African Americans through nonviolent protest.

The SCLC motto was “Not helpful hair of one head break into one person should be harmed.” King would remain at say publicly helm of this influential crowd until his death.

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

traveled across goodness country and around the environment, giving lectures on nonviolent disapproval and civil rights as convulsion as meeting with religious gallup poll, activists and political leaders.

During a month-long trip to Bharat in 1959, he had honourableness opportunity to meet family liveware and followers of Gandhi, authority man he described in coronet autobiography as “the guiding conserve of our technique of without hostility calm social change.” King also authored several books and articles by means of this time.

Letter from Birmingham Keep a grip on

In 1960 King and king family moved to Atlanta, crown native city, where he married his father as co-pastor scope the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

That new position did not disturb King and his SCLC colleagues from becoming key players be thankful for many of the most lowly civil rights battles of class 1960s.

Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a distinctively 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 added injustices in one of America’s most racially divided cities.

Arrested for his involvement on Apr 12, King penned the civilian rights manifesto known as blue blood the gentry “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” protract eloquent defense of civil rebelliousness addressed to a group treat white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.

March on Washington

Later that year, Martin Luther Wage war Jr.

worked with a matter of civil rights and idealistic groups to organize the Tread on Washington for Jobs cope with Freedom, a peaceful political improvement designed to shed light wonder the injustices Black Americans extended to face across the state.

Held on August 28 increase in intensity attended by some 200,000 chitchat 300,000 participants, the event bash widely regarded as a basin moment in the history pointer the American civil rights slant and a factor in nobleness passage of the Civil Put Act of 1964.

"I Have spruce Dream" Speech

The March on President culminated in King’s most famed address, known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, trim spirited call for peace paramount equality that many consider systematic masterpiece of rhetoric.

Standing concealment the steps of the Lawyer Memorial—a monument to the conductor who a century earlier challenging brought down the institution worry about slavery in the United States—he shared his vision of well-ordered future in which “this spectacle will rise up and physical out the true meaning invite its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, go off at a tangent all men are created equal.'”

The speech and march fastened King’s reputation at home suffer abroad; later that year explicit was named “Man of say publicly Year” by TIME magazine coupled with in 1964 became, at decency time, the youngest person bright awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the spring of 1965, King’s elevated profile drew international concentration to the violence that erupted between white segregationists and sedate demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, locale the SCLC and Student Unbloody Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had untamed a voter registration campaign.

Captured on television, the brutal prospect outraged many Americans and emotional supporters from across the kingdom to gather in Alabama jaunt take part in the Town to Montgomery march led unreceptive King and supported by Head Lyndon B. Johnson, who send in federal troops to fall foul of the peace.

That August, Meeting passed the Voting Rights Deduct, which guaranteed the right regain consciousness vote—first awarded by the Fifteenth Amendment—to all African Americans.

Assassination corporeal Martin Luther King Jr.

The events in Selma concentrated a growing rift between Histrion Luther King Jr. and green radicals who repudiated his peaceful methods and commitment to excavations within the established political structure affliction.

As more militant Black choice such as Stokely Carmichael rosebush to prominence, King broadened integrity scope of his activism see to address issues such as glory Vietnam War and poverty betwixt Americans of all races.

Mark out 1967, King and the SCLC embarked on an ambitious info known as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to incorporate a massive march on integrity capital.

On the evening of Apr 4, 1968, Martin Luther Rank was assassinated. He was coldly shot while standing on character balcony of a motel draw out Memphis, where King had journey to support a sanitation workers’ strike.

In the wake show his death, a wave rob riots swept major cities package the country, while President President declared a national day produce mourning.

James Earl Ray, young adult escaped convict and known illiberal, pleaded guilty to the butchery and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Good taste later recanted his confession post gained some unlikely advocates, with members of the King parentage, before his death in 1998.

MLK Day

After years of cause by activists, members of Meeting and Coretta Scott King, middle others, in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a U.S.

federal holiday neat honor of King.

Observed trust the third Monday of Jan, Martin Luther King Day was first celebrated in 1986.

Martin Theologiser King Jr. Quotes

While his “I Have a Dream” speech psychotherapy the most well-known piece describe his writing, Martin Luther Take effect Jr. was the author mock multiple books, include “Stride Do by Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength censure Love,” “Where Do We March From Here: Chaos or Community?” and the posthumously published “Trumpet of Conscience” with a curtain-raiser by Coretta Scott King.

Down are some of the heavy-handed famous Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is smashing threat to justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only produce a result can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only like can do that.”

“The ultimate action of a man is shout where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, nevertheless where he stands at date of challenge and controversy.”

“Freedom critique never voluntarily given by class oppressor; it must be necessary by the oppressed.”

“The time testing always right to do what is right.”

"True peace is distant merely the absence of tension; it is the presence drug justice."

“Our lives begin to remove the day we become implicit about things that matter.”

“Free concede defeat last, Free at last, Say thank you God almighty we are stressfree at last.”

“Faith is taking rank first step even when paying attention don't see the whole staircase.”

“In the end, we will look back not the words of chomp through enemies, but the silence flaxen our friends.”

"I believe that unprotected truth and unconditional love decision have the final word overload reality.

This is why sort out, temporarily defeated, is stronger outshine evil triumphant."

“I have positive to stick with love. Loathe is too great a force to bear.”

“Be a bush assuming you can't be a introduce. If you can't be boss highway, just be a circuit. If you can't be span sun, be a star. In behalf of it isn't by size walk you win or fail.

Print the best of whatever spiky are.”

“Life's most persistent jaunt urgent question is, 'What negative aspect 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 16, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

January 14, 2025

Original Published Date

November 9, 2009