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Martin Luther King, Jr. Biography
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Biography: Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Born 1929, Died 1968
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, where his father was pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Martin Luther King, Jr. attended locally segregated elementary and high schools. He received his B.A. from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1948. His education continued at Crozer Theological Seminary and Boston University, from which he received his Ph.D. in theology in 1955. While obtaining his education, Martin Luther King, Jr. became greatly impressed by the teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi who advocated passive, nonviolent methods of protest.
While in Boston, Martin Luther King, Jr. met and married Coretta Scott. They had two sons and two daughters.
In 1954 Martin Luther King, Jr. accepted the pastorate of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. It was here that King directed a boycott of the segregated bus system. The boycott, which lasted 382 days, ended on December 21, 1956 when the United States Supreme Court declared the laws requiring segregation on the city buses to be unconstitutional.
In 1957 Martin Luther King, Jr. helped form and was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King traveled extensively speaking and assisting other communities in the organization of protests against racial discrimination.
In 1960 Martin Luther King, Jr. became co-pastor with his father of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
Martin Luther King, Jr. led a massive protest campaign in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. Here his nonviolent tactics were put to the test. Police brutality against the marchers aroused sympathy for the blacks. King was arrested and while jailed wrote his inspiring “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”.
Later in 1963 Reverend King spoke at the historic, peaceful March on Washington where he delivered his powerful “I Have a Dream” speech.
In December 1964 Martin Luther King, Jr. became the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. After receiving his award, King continued leading voter registration drives in the South and campaigns against discrimination in the North.
On April 4, 1968 while standing on a balcony outside his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by a sniper. Dr. King's birthday, January 15, is celebrated as a national holiday.
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