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The cornerstones of his activism were based on non-violence and civil disobedience, both of which were inspired by his Christian faith and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. He rose to prominence as a leader in during the Montgomery bus boycott when he was selected to take charge to desegregate the bus services. From this position, he helped organize many Civil Rights movement actions.
The most famous being the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
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It was then, on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial, that Dr. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in , and in helped organize the Selma to Montgomery marches to advocate for Black voting rights. He married Alberta in after an eight-year courtship. The newlyweds moved to A. Martin stepped in as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church upon the death of his father-in-law in He, too, became a successful minister.
A middle child, Martin Jr. The King children grew up in a secure and loving environment. Although they undoubtedly tried, Martin Jr. He strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority in his children, which left a lasting impression on Martin Jr. His baptism in May was less memorable for young King, but an event a few years later left him reeling.
In May , when King was 12 years old, his grandmother Jennie died of a heart attack. Distraught at the news, he jumped from a second-story window at the family home, allegedly attempting suicide. Growing up in Atlanta, King entered public school at age 5. He later attended Booker T. Washington High School, where he was said to be a precocious student.
He skipped both the ninth and eleventh grades and, at age 15, entered Morehouse College in Atlanta in He was a popular student, especially with his female classmates, but largely unmotivated, floating through his first two years. Influenced by his experiences with racism, King began planting the seeds for a future as a social activist early in his time at Morehouse.
At the time, King felt that the best way to serve that purpose was as a lawyer or a doctor. Although his family was deeply involved in the church and worship, King questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional displays of religious worship. But in his junior year at Morehouse, King took a Bible class, renewed his faith, and began to envision a career in the ministry.
In the fall of his senior year, he told his father of his decision, and he was ordained at Ebenezer Baptist Church in February Later that year, King earned a sociology degree from Morehouse College and began attended the liberal Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He thrived in all his studies, was elected student body president, and was valedictorian of his class in He also earned a fellowship for graduate study.
He became romantically involved with a white woman and went through a difficult time before he could break off the relationship. Mays was an outspoken advocate for racial equality and encouraged King to view Christianity as a potential force for social change. After being accepted at several colleges for his doctoral study, King enrolled at Boston University.
He completed his doctorate and earned his degree in at age A committee of scholars appointed by Boston University determined that King was guilty of plagiarism in , though it also recommended against the revocation of his degree.
As explained in his autobiography , King previously felt that the peaceful teachings of Jesus applied mainly to individual relationships, not large-scale confrontations. It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking. Led by his religious convictions and philosophy of nonviolence, King became one of the most prominent figures of the Civil Rights Movement.
He was a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and played key roles in several major demonstrations that transformed society. The effort began on December 1, , when year-old Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus to go home after work. As more passengers boarded, several white men were left standing, so the bus driver demanded that Parks and several other African Americans give up their seats.
Three other Black passengers reluctantly gave up their places, but Parks remained seated. The driver asked her again to give up her seat, and again, she refused. Parks was arrested and booked for violating the Montgomery City Code. On the night Parks was arrested, E. King was elected to lead the boycott because he was young, well-trained, and had solid family connections and professional standing.
He was also new to the community and had few enemies, so organizers felt he would have strong credibility with the Black community. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began December 5, , and for more than a year, the local Black community walked to work, coordinated ride sharing, and faced harassment, violence, and intimidation.
In addition to the boycott, members of the Black community took legal action against the city ordinance that outlined the segregated transit system. They argued it was unconstitutional based on the U. Board of Education After the legal defeats and large financial losses, the city of Montgomery lifted the law that mandated segregated public transportation.
Students, professors, intellectuals, clergymen and reformers rushed into the movement.
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Then, King turned his attention to the domestic issue that he felt was directly related to the Vietnam struggle: poverty. He called for a guaranteed family income, he threatened national boycotts, and he spoke of disrupting entire cities by nonviolent "camp-ins. King interrupted these plans to lend his support to the Memphis sanitation men's strike.
He wanted to discourage violence, and he wanted to focus national attention on the plight of the poor, unorganized workers of the city. The men were bargaining for basic union representation and long-overdue raises. But he never got back to his poverty plans. While standing outside with Jesse Jackson and Ralph Abernathy, King was shot in the neck by a rifle bullet.
His death caused a wave of violence in major cities across the country. However, King's legacy has lived on. Center for Non-Violent Social Change.
Biography of martin luther king: Martin Luther King, Jr., was a visionary leader and advocate for equality who spearheaded the civil rights movement in America through nonviolent protests, inspiring lasting change and leaving an enduring legacy.
Today it stands next to his beloved Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. His birthday, Jan. Part I: Martin Luther King Jr. Part II: Voting rights becomes the focus of King and other civil-rights leaders. They organize protests across the nation, bringing more attention to their efforts - and more violent responses from opponents. Part III: King's opposition to the Vietnam War makes headlines while his battle for civil rights continues.
But on April 4, , an assassin's bullet ends his crusade.
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I Have a Dream. The famous speech delivered in to more than , civil-rights marchers at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. I've Been to the Mountaintop. King gave this speech, saying "I may not get there with you," the day before he was assassinated. Letter From a Birmingham Jail. King felt compelled to respond to those who would advise African Americans to wait patiently for justice.
He outlines the reasons for his peaceful approach in this letter.
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King sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest. He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington , which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
Did you know? The final section of Martin Luther King Jr. A gifted student, King attended segregated public schools and at the age of 15 was admitted to Morehouse College , the alma mater of both his father and maternal grandfather, where he studied medicine and law. Benjamin Mays, an influential theologian and outspoken advocate for racial equality.
After graduating in , King entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree, won a prestigious fellowship and was elected president of his predominantly white senior class. King then enrolled in a graduate program at Boston University, completing his coursework in and earning a doctorate in systematic theology two years later.
The King family had been living in Montgomery for less than a year when the highly segregated city became the epicenter of the burgeoning struggle for civil rights in America, galvanized by the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of Activists coordinated a bus boycott that would continue for days.