This biography by James Haskins covers Martin Luther King Jr.’s childhood all the way up to his assassination on April 4, 1968. Haskins also adds the back story on King’s assassin: James Earl Ray and the man hunt that ensued after the assassination. King was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He and his father were both named Michael King at birth. When the family traveled to Germany in 1934 King Senior decided to rename himself and his son after the protestant leader Martin Luther. King Junior grew up in Atlanta and attended Booker T. Washington High School. During the summer he worked at a local tobacco farm where he worked side by side with whites and experienced very little racism. Growing up, his father taught him not to accept …show more content…
When King Junior was offered the position of assistant pastor at the Ebenezer Church in Atlanta which was run by his father he declined. However he was soon after offered a head pastor position at the Dexter Avenue Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. He moved to Montgomery on September 1, 1953 with his new wife Coretta Scott. In December 1955, when Montgomery’s black leaders, formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to protest the arrest of NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) official Rosa Park for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, they selected King to lead the new group. In his new role as the primary representative of the year-long Montgomery bus boycott, King utilized the leadership abilities he had gained from his religious background and academic training to create a protest strategy that involved the mobilization of black churches and appeals for white support. Only eight percent of blacks remained taking the buses during the boycott. Since the majority of the passengers were black the companies lost money and eventually decided to lift the segregation. King pulled this off by getting taxis to pick people up at the bus station and eventually buying vehicles for the movement which were paid for with donation money from around the United States. After his success in Montgomery King felt the need …show more content…
Although King took the job he still wanted to devote most of his time to the SCLC and the freedom struggle. Later that year King was accused of tax fraud and was set to appear in court in front of an all-white jury. To King’s surprise he was found not guilty which was a very rare occurrence for accused black citizens who were generally found guilty without valid evidence. That same year King met John F. Kennedy for the first time, at this time JFK was only a presidential candidate. In 1963 King decided to march on Washington. At the end of the march King delivered his famous speech “I Have a Dream” in front of the Lincoln memorial to over two hundred thousand black and white protestors. The very next year congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed segregation in public places and discrimination in education and employment. In the same year King was awarded the Nobel Peace prize. In 1965 King and the SCLC joined the voting-rights march from Selma to Montgomery. During this march the protestors were beaten and tear gassed by police. Although the march did not go as planned the actions taken by the police built a tremendous amount of support for the voting-rights movement. Later that year congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Throughout the mid-1960’s King opposed the Vietnam War which caused many white activists to switch
King was a very influential man and sought after one goal, equality and the freedom from oppression that the African Americans in the United States endured day in and day out during this time period. King instituted many marches, rallies, boycotts, along with numerous prayer and worship sessions during the civil right movement. His work in the field of human rights enabled him to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King states, “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.” Oppression, hate, and racial injustice plagued our nation and stood out as one of the most compelling and long-term social wounds during this time period.
Martin was shot at 6:05 pm on Thursday, April 4, 1968 outside of the second floor of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Martin Luther was shot on the head and neck
King then decided ti become the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama. King was awarded his degree in 1955 and he also completed his Ph.D. King was only 25 years old when this happened. The night Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person E.D. Nixon met with Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders to plan a citywide bus boycott. Because King was young, the civil rights leaders elected him to lead the boycott. King put a new energy into the civil rights struggle in Alabama.
Martin Luther King Jr . was born in Atlanta Georgia, on January 15, 1929. His father, Martin Luther King was a pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. His mother, Alberta Williams King was also a pastor of the church. (Harris 251)His parents both being preachers impacted Martin largely by giving him an ability of being a speaker. Both Alberta and Martin Luther King was in opposition to segregation
Martin Luther King, Jr. original name as Michael King Jr. He was born in January 15, 1929 in Atlanta Georgia. He died April 4, 1968 he was only 39 years old. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist Minister and a Social Activist who led the Civil Right Movement in the United States from the Mid- 1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, TN at the Lorraine Motel which is a Museum now.
On April 4, 1968, just after 6 p.m., Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside of his second story room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN. Dr. King was in Memphis supporting a sanitation workers’ strike and was on his way to dinner when a bullet suddenly struck him in the jaw, while he was on the balcony (Day). The bullet struck him in the right jaw, severed his spine and came to rest in his shoulder blade. Approximately one hour after being shot, Dr. King was pronounced deceased at the St. Joseph Hospital at 7:05 p.m. ("The Truth About Martin Luther King Jr.'S Assassination").
She was a young singer and musician, who went to New England Conservatory School in Boston. They married in June 1953 and later had4 children. A year later king became a pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery. King was elected to lead the bus boycott because he was young, well trained with strong family connections. Martin Luther King put a fresh, new energy into the civil rights struggle in Alabama.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only light can do that." Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1953 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was a baptist minister, dad, humanitarian, and leader in the African American civil rights movement. For his Washington March 250,000 people came to that.
The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr In early April 1968, shock waves reverberated around the world with the news that U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. A Baptist minister and founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King had led the civil rights movement since the mid-1950s, using a combination of powerful words and non-violent tactics such as sit-ins, boycotts and protest marches (including the massive March on Washington in 1963) to fight segregation and achieve significant civil and voting rights advances for African Americans. His assassination led to an outpouring of anger among black Americans, as well as a period of national mourning that helped speed the way for an equal housing bill that would be the last significant legislative achievement of the civil rights era.
King Sr. served as a pastor, and both he and Alberta were loving and protective of King Jr. and his sister. From a young age, King Jr. was taught that all humans were equal and racism was unacceptable. This was the ground base for his later life. TRANSITION Martin Luther King Jr. was not very religious growing up. He struggled and questioned the ideas of religion, and later refuted pursuing a religious career.
Kevin luna English Ms spieler May 28 Tittle On august 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr., delivered a speech to a massive group of civil rights marchers gathered around the Lincoln memorial in Washington DC. In his speech, “I have a dream”, he believed that all men were created equally no matter their , race, sexual orientation, and so on. Martin luther king jr lived in a time where blacks and white were segregated and the black people were discriminated and treated unequally for their race but it wasn't just black people who were treated unequally .
They were often intimidated, and gerrymandering and other forms of corruption were used against them.” King knew that something had to be done, so he gathered the people of good will and “led a 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery and spoke triumphantly before the state capitol building in Montgomery.” “On May 4, 1966, well over eighty percent of registered African Americans in the state of Alabama voted in that state’s Democratic Primary. This was a clear signal that the movement toward political equality was beginning to catch up with the quest for social equality.” “On April 3, 1968, King delivered what would be his last public address.
On August 28, 1963 held a march on Washington, in which nearly 300,000 people followed Martin Luther King to the Lincoln Memorial where he delivered his historic “I Had a Dream Speech”. The Jim Crow Laws were repealed at the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which Martin Luther King attended. Sadly, his life was cut short when he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4,
To make the world a better place, it is important to recycle and spread awareness about segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist Minister and a social activist who played a key role in the American Civil Rights Movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. The Civil Rights leader by his father,was born Michael King Jr. on January 25, 1929. However, his name was to be changed, in lieu of Martin Luther,a German professor. King was such a gifted student that he enrolled at college at 15 years old in 1944 at Morehouse College, the Alma mater of his father and maternal grandfather.
Martin Luther King, Jr. originally born as Michael King Jr, was born on January 15th, 1929 in Atlanta Georgia to his father Michael “Martin” Luther King Sr., a Baptist minister, and his mother Alberta Williams-King. Martin Luther King Jr., also became a Baptist minister and later a social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950’s until his death by assassination on April 4th, 1968. Dr. King died far too young at the age of thirty-nine. King was the main activist behind the end of legal segregation as the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which practiced non-violence in everything they did, including the March on Washington in 1963. He is most known for his