Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, – April 4, ) was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesman and leader in the American civil rights movement from until his assassination in King advanced civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of The Institute cannot give permission to use or reproduce any of the writings, statements, or images of Martin Luther King, Jr. Please c ontact Intellectual Properties Management (IPM), the exclusive licensor of the Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. at licensing@blogger.com or Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year. Born in , King's actual birthday is January 15 (which in fell on a Tuesday)
Martin Luther King Jr. - Wikipedia
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. January 15, —April 4, was the charismatic leader of the U. civil rights movement in the s and s. He directed the year-long Montgomery bus boycottwhich attracted scrutiny by a wary, divided nation, but his leadership and the resulting Supreme Court ruling against bus segregation brought him fame.
He formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to coordinate nonviolent protests and delivered over 2, speeches addressing racial injustice, but his life was cut short by an assassin in was born January 15,in Atlanta, Georgia, to Michael King Sr. King lived with his parents, a sister, and a brother in the Victorian home of his maternal grandparents. Martin—named Michael Lewis until he was 5—thrived in a middle-class family, going to school, playing football and baseball, delivering newspapers, and doing odd jobs.
Their father was involved in the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and had led a successful campaign for equal wages for White and Black Atlanta teachers.
When Martin's grandfather died inMartin's father became pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, martin luther king birmingham jail essay for 44 years. After attending the World Baptist Alliance in Berlin inKing Sr. changed his and his son's name from Michael King to Martin Luther King, after the Protestant reformist.
King Sr. was inspired by Martin Luther's courage of confronting institutionalized evil. King entered Morehouse College at King's wavering attitude toward his future career in the clergy led him to engage in activities typically not condoned by the church. He played pool, drank beer, and received his lowest academic marks in his first two years at Morehouse. King studied sociology and considered law school while reading voraciously.
He was fascinated by Henry David Thoreau 's essay " On Civil Disobedience" and its idea of noncooperation with an unjust system. King decided that social activism was his calling and religion the best means to that end. He was ordained as a minister in Februarythe year he graduated with a sociology degree at age In SeptemberKing entered the predominately White Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania.
He read works by great theologians but despaired that no philosophy was complete within itself. Then, hearing a lecture about Indian leader Mahatma Gandhihe became captivated by his concept of nonviolent resistance. King concluded that the Christian doctrine of love, operating through nonviolence, could be a powerful weapon for his people. InKing graduated at the top of his class with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. In September of that year, he enrolled in doctoral studies at Boston University's Martin luther king birmingham jail essay of Theology.
While in Boston, King met Coretta Scottmartin luther king birmingham jail essay, a singer studying voice at the New England Conservatory of Music. While King knew early on that she had all the qualities he desired in a wife, initially, Coretta was hesitant about dating a minister.
The couple married on June 18, King's father performed the ceremony at Coretta's family home in Marion, Alabama. They returned to Boston to complete their degrees. King was invited to preach in Montgomery, Alabama, at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, martin luther king birmingham jail essay, which had a history of civil rights activism.
The pastor was retiring. King captivated the congregation and became the pastor in April Coretta, meanwhile, martin luther king birmingham jail essay, was committed to her husband's work but was conflicted about her role. King wanted her to stay home with their four children: Yolanda, Martin, Dexter, and Bernice. Explaining her feelings on the issue, Coretta told Jeanne Theoharis in a article in The Guardiana British newspaper:. And to a degree, King seemed to agree with his wife, saying he fully considered her a partner in the struggle for civil rights as well as on all other issues with which he was involved.
Indeed, in his autobiography, he stated:. Yet, Coretta felt strongly that her role, and the role of women in general in the civil rights movement, had long been "marginalized" and overlooked, according to The Guardian. As early asCorretta wrote in an article published in the British women's magazine New Lady:. Historians and observers have noted that King did not support gender equality in the civil rights movement.
In an article in The Chicago Reportera monthly publication that covers race and poverty issues, Jeff Kelly Lowenstein wrote that women "played a limited role in the SCLC. When King arrived in Montgomery to join the Dexter Avenue church, Rosa Parkssecretary of the local NAACP chapter, had been arrested for refusing to relinquish her bus seat to martin luther king birmingham jail essay White man.
Parks' December 1,arrest presented the perfect opportunity to make a case for desegregating the transit system. Nixon, martin luther king birmingham jail essay head of the local NAACP chapter, and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, a close friend of King, martin luther king birmingham jail essay, contacted King and other clergymen to plan a citywide bus boycott.
The group drafted demands and stipulated that no Black person would ride the buses on December 5. That day, nearly 20, Black citizens refused bus rides. When the boycott ended days later, Montgomery's transit system was nearly bankrupt. Additionally, on November 23, in the case of Gayle v. Browderthe U. Supreme Court ruled that "Racially segregated transportation systems enforced by the government violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," according to Oyez, an online archive of U.
Supreme Court cases operated by the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law. The court also cited the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topekamartin luther king birmingham jail essay, where it had ruled in that "segregation of public education based solely on race violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," according to Oyez.
On December 20,the Montgomery Improvement Association voted to end the boycott. Buoyed by success, the movement's leaders met in January in Atlanta and formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to coordinate nonviolent protests through Black churches.
King was elected president and held the post until his death. In earlyKing's first book, "Stride Toward Freedom," which detailed the Montgomery bus boycott, was published. While signing books in Harlem, New York, King was stabbed by a Black woman with a mental health condition. As he recovered, he visited India's Gandhi Peace Foundation in February to refine his protest strategies. In the book, greatly influenced by Gandhi's martin luther king birmingham jail essay and teachings, he laid six principles, explaining that nonviolence:.
Is not a method for cowards; it does resist : King noted that "Gandhi often said that if cowardice is the only alternative to violence, it is better to fight. Does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding : Even in conducting a boycott, for example, the purpose is "to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent" and the goal is one of "redemption and reconciliation," King said.
Is directed against forces of evil rather than against persons who happen to be doing the evil: "It is evil that the nonviolent resister seeks to defeat, not the persons victimized by evil," King wrote. The fight is not one of Black people versus White people, but to achieve "but a victory for justice and the forces of light," King wrote. Is a willingness to accept suffering without retaliation, to accept blows from the opponent without striking back: Again citing Gandhi, King wrote: "The nonviolent resister is willing to accept violence if necessary, but never to inflict it.
He does not seek to dodge jail. Avoids not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit: Saying that you win through love not hate, martin luther king birmingham jail essay, King wrote: "The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent, but he also refuses to hate him.
Is based on the conviction that the martin luther king birmingham jail essay is on the side of justice: The nonviolent person "can accept suffering without retaliation" because the resister knows that "love" and "justice" will win in the end. In AprilKing and the SCLC joined Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights in a nonviolent campaign to end segregation and force Birmingham, Alabama, businesses to hire Black people.
King was thrown into jail. King spent eight days in the Birmingham jail as a result of this arrest but used the time to write "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," affirming his peaceful philosophy. The brutal images galvanized the nation. Money poured in to support the protesters; White allies joined demonstrations, martin luther king birmingham jail essay. By summer, thousands of public facilities nationwide were integrated, and companies began to hire Black people.
The resulting political climate pushed the passage of civil rights legislation. On June 11,President John F. Kennedy drafted the Civil Rights Act ofwhich was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson after Kennedy's assassination.
The law prohibited racial discrimination in public, martin luther king birmingham jail essay, ensured the "constitutional right to vote," and outlawed discrimination in places of employment. Then came the March on Washington, D. NearlyAmericans listened to speeches by civil rights activists, but most had come for King. The Kennedy administration, fearing violence, edited a speech by John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and invited White organizations to participate, causing some Black people to denigrate the event.
Crowds far exceeded expectations. Speaker after speaker addressed them. The heat grew oppressive, but then King stood up. Not everyone was thrilled by King's success. Since the bus boycott, King had been under scrutiny by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Hoping to prove King was under communist influence, Hoover filed a request with Attorney General Robert Kennedy to put him under surveillance, including break-ins at homes and offices and wiretaps. However, despite "various kinds of FBI surveillance," the FBI found "no evidence of Communist influence," according to The Martin Luther King, Jr.
Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. In the summer ofKing's nonviolent concept was challenged by deadly riots in the North. King believed their origins were segregation and poverty and shifted his focus to poverty, but he couldn't garner support.
He organized a campaign against poverty in and moved his family into one of Chicago's Black neighborhoods, but he found that strategies successful in the South didn't work in Chicago.
Analysis of Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” - Free Report Sample
, time: 4:15Martin Luther King Jr. - Biography - blogger.com
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in response to criticism of the nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama in April In the letter, King responds specifically to a statement published in a local newspaper by eight white clergymen, calling the protests “unwise and untimely” and condemning to the “outsiders” who were leading them Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, - April 4, ) Dr. King was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from to ; his father has served from then until the present, and from until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor Martin Luther King Jr. Day (officially Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., and sometimes referred to as MLK Day) is a federal holiday in the United States marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year. Born in , King's actual birthday is January 15 (which in fell on a Tuesday)
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