Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." (S. King 17) These are the words made famous by a man who was one of the greatest civil rights leaders of our time.

Michael Luther King Jr. was born in the city of Atlanta, Georgia on January 15th, 1929. The second child of Michael Luther King Sr. and Alberta Christine Williams King, Michael was to become one of the most widely respected civil rights leaders in our country's history (#1).

Michael lived a very sheltered childhood in a middle class family. His house was located in a white neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia (Dubovoy 113). Even being sheltered couldn't keep him away from experiencing some racist situations. All of his friends, and even his best friends, were white. One of King's worst racist experiences occurred in first grade. While playing with his friends outside they suddenly turned on him and wouldn't play with him "because we're white and you're colored." (Dubovoy 114) King was devastated and he ran home in tears. It was his grandmother who was there to comfort him, explained to him what racism was, and told him about how African Americans struggle everyday for their freedom (Dubovoy 114).

Michael's father was a self-made businessman, an activist, and a pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. His mother stayed home and took care of him and his siblings. Michael Sr. had his own ways of expressing how he felt about segregation and he had unorthodox methods of protesting against segregation. One time while on his way to register to vote Michael Sr. rode the "whites only" elevator up the building to the registration booth. His father also helped found the Atlantic branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and also won the fight for equal pay for Black teachers in Atlanta.

King was highly educated for an African American in his days, having received his high school diploma at the age of fifteen (#2). He later attended Morehouse University in Atlanta, succeeding his father and his grandfather, where he graduated and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948. While attending Morehouse he became an admirer of the college president, Benjamin Mays, and professor George D. Kelsey. Both men influenced Michael to become a minister. Upon graduation from Morehouse, Michael and his father both decided to legally change their names to Martin, like Martin Luther who formed the Lutheran Church (#1).

At the age of eighteen Martin asked his father to ordain him. This decision surprised his Martin Sr. because Martin has previously been set on not becoming a minister. After leading evening prayers with his church group, Martin felt a calling to God. Becoming a Baptist minister took very little, if any training but Martin was determined to learn more about his faith and receive full teaching from a seminary. He them enrolled into Crozer Theological Seminary (#2).

At Crozer, King studied with many white men, which was a good experience for him. King stunned all of his teachers with his high intellect and his passion to always want to learn more. While at Crozer he was struck by the peaceful practices and traditions of Mahatma Gandhi (Dubovoy 116).

After attending Crozer Seminary, Martin moved onto Boston University to earn a PhD in Systematic Theology. While at Boston, he preached in many black churches around the city and in doing this he ended up finding his future wife.

Martin met Coretta in 1952 after one of his church services and fell in love with after just one meeting. After 18 months of dating Martin finally proposed to Coretta (Dubovoy 118). On June 18th, 1953, Martin wed Coretta Scott King, who would be one of Martin's strongest supporters. The two had four children together Yolanda, Martin Luther the third, Dexter, and Bernice (#2). The children influenced Martin to write one of the most inspirational speeches of the Civil Rights Era.

King was a man with very strong morals. Even after being a victim of violent acts he strongly suggested to stay peaceful. In 1957, King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; an organization formed for the Civil Rights movement, and furthered its cause (#3).

In 1959, Martin left the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church to become a co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Church (and remained there until his death in 1968) (King 86). Towards the end of the 50s, Martin Luther King Jr. was considered the spokesman and leader of the whole Civil Rights Movement.

Although King was all about peace there were many people in power that had a hate for him. J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI at the time, had a very aggressive passionate hate for King for very unknown reasons. He began investigating King in 1961 and accused him of being a communist, as well as an adulterer (Dubovoy 124). For about a year the FBI could not find anything on King until in 1962 it was found that one of King's most trusted friends, Stanley Levison, was involved the Communist Party USA (#1). After the discovery King's phone lines were illegally tapped at home as well as at work. Along with his home and work phones being tapped, the FBI would follow him anywhere he traveled (#4). No matter how hard Hoover tried he could not find anyone to generate any evidence of King being a communist. Even the people who had no love for King were unable to give evidence. In the long run Hoover's investigation of King went nowhere. There was no evidence to prove anything and Hoover's efforts were a lost cause. Though the actions of Hoover were illegal they were not brought into public until after his death in 1972 (Dubovoy 125).

After being imprisoned in Birmingham for taking part in a protest march, King wrote his famous letter 'Letter from Birmingham Jail,' in which he defended his civil rights acts. After his release he began his March on Washington D.C. on August 28th, 1963. On that day, during the march, King gave the speech that touched the lives of every American. The "I Have A Dream Speech" was given to a crowd of over 250,000 people and aired on national television (World Book 321). After that speech, President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. "The Act prohibited racial discrimination in public places and called for equal opportunity in employment and education."

That same year, Martin won the Nobel Peace Prize for his leading role in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1965, He continued his Civil Rights Movement, organizing a march to Selma, Alabama (World Book 322). The march protested the white officials not allowing African American citizens to register