Who is Martin Luther King?
He is known worldwide for his rhetoric against violence and racism. In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1977, 9 years after his death, he was awarded the Presidential Freedom Award by former US President Jimmy Carter and Martin Luther King Day was celebrated in his honor. King's best known and most influential speech is "I Have a Dream".
He graduated from Morehouse College of the Arts, Department of Sociology (1948). He received his Bachelor of Divinity from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1951. In 1955, he earned a doctorate in philosophy from Boston University. In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of Dexter Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He led the Montgomery bus boycotts. The bus boycotts were caused by segregation in the country. There were boycotts after tensions arose when Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white woman. Black uprisings began. Martin Luther King ended his action when the US government stopped segregation on buses.
Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968.
Every year since 1986, on King's birthday, on the third Monday of January in the United States, the civil rights leader and the ideals he stood for throughout his life are commemorated, discussed and King's love for peace is expressed.
Family and Background
Martin was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Martin Luther King and Alberta Williams King. According to Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth records, his birth name was Michael. After high school, he attended Marehouse College. Here he was influenced by Benjamin Mays, who was the president and also a civil rights leader. In 1948, he graduated with a degree in Sociology. Later, in 1951, he graduated 1st in his class at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. In 1955, he earned a master's degree in Systematic Theology from Boston University.
King married Coretta Scott in 1953. King's father performed the wedding at the home of the bride's father. King and Scott had four children: Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott and Bernice Albertine. King's four children followed in their father's footsteps and became civil rights activists. Coretta Scott died on January 30, 2006.
Civil rights activism
In 1953, at the age of 24, King became pastor of the most important black church, the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give her seat to a white person when she was required by Jim Crow laws to do so. In response, King organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott lasted 382 days and the situation became so tense that King's house was bombed. During this boycott, King was arrested. The boycott continued until the US Supreme Court declared racial segregation on interstate buses and other transportation illegal.
After the boycott, King was instrumental in the 1957 founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization that sought to unite black churches and peacefully demonstrate for civil rights reform. King played an important role in this organization until his death. King was a follower of the philosophy of non-violent civil disobedience practiced by Mahatma Gandhi and applied it in demonstrations by the SCLC.
King organized and led demonstrations for black suffrage, the end of segregation, workers' rights and other fundamental rights. All these rights became part of American law with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
March on Washington
King is perhaps most famous for his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom".
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
King, representing the SCLC, was among the leaders of the civil rights organizations instrumental in organizing the so-called "Big Six," the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
The march, which drew 250,000 people, was initially conceived as an opportunity to highlight the plight of blacks in the South and for march organizers to air their grievances in the nation's capital. The march organizers intended to criticize the federal government's inability to ensure the rights and safety of blacks and civil rights workers in the South. However, the group bowed to pressure and influence from the US president, and the demonstration took a much softer tone.
As a result, some civil rights activists felt that the demonstration presented an inaccurate picture of racial harmony, stripped of unwanted parts. Malcolm X called the demonstration "Farce on Washington".
King wrote and spoke many times during his tenure. His 1963 "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is a passionate demonstration of his quest for justice.
In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Prize at the youngest age for non-violent resistance to overturn racial prejudice in the United States.
"Bloody Sunday"
King and the SCLC, with partial participation of the SCNC, attempted to organize a march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery on March 25, 1965. On March 7, the first attempt was canceled due to violence by the opposing crowd and police. From that date on, the day became known as "Bloody Sunday".
The police violence against the demonstrators was widely publicized and the images caused outrage in the community.
Chicago
In 1966, after successes in the South, King and other Civil Rights activists sought to spread the movement to the North. Their first target was the city of Chicago. King and Ralph Abernaty, both middle-class men, moved to the slums of Chicago to show their support for the poor and as an educational experiment.
The movement's desire for radical change grew and some large marches were planned and carried out. Some of these marches took place in the following neighborhoods: Bogan, Belmont-Cragin, Jefferson Park, Evergreen Park (a suburb of Chicago), Gage Park and Marquette Park, among others.
He Opposed US Policy on the Vietnam War
Beginning in 1965, King began to express doubts about the US role in the Vietnam War. On April 4, 1967, at Riverside Church in New York City - exactly one year before he was assassinated - King delivered a speech titled Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. In his speech, King spoke forcefully against America's role in the war, saying that America was in Vietnam to "turn it into an American colony" and calling the United States "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today".
At the same time, he argued that the country needs a more general and broad moral change:
"A truly revolutionary shift in moral values would be a disturbing thing to do about the stark contrast between poverty and prosperity. This change would look across the sea with righteous indignation and see the capitalist individuals of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America for the sole purpose of making profits without any regard for the social development of those countries, and say: "This is not fair."
Regarding Vietnam, King stated that North Vietnam "did not send large numbers of troops and supplies until tens of thousands of American troops arrived". King also praised North Vietnam's land reform. King also accused the US of killing 1 million Vietnamese, mostly "children". This speech was a reflection of King's evolving political stance.
In April 1968, King addressed an excited crowd at the Mason Temple as if he knew what was about to happen to him:
"It doesn't matter what happens to me after this hour. Some people have started talking about what might be done to me by some of our sick white brothers and sisters. I want to live a long life like everybody else. It is important to live a long life, but I am not interested in that now. I just want to do God's will. And he gave me permission to go up this mountain. And I looked around, I saw the Promised Land, and I may not be able to go there with you. But tonight I want you to know that we as a people will reach that Promised Land. That's why I'm happy tonight, I'm not worried about anything, I'm not afraid of anyone, my eyes have seen the Glory of the coming of God!"
King died the next day, assassinated.
Assassination
In March 1968, King traveled to Memphis to support black health care workers. AFSCME Local 1733, representing black health care workers, had been on strike since March 12, demanding higher wages and better treatment. For example, unlike white workers, black workers were not paid when sent home due to bad weather and were paid less than white workers.
On April 3, King addressed a crowd in Memphis and delivered a speech called "I've been to the Mountaintop".
At 6 p.m. on April 4, King was shot and killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Friends in the motel room heard gunshots and ran to the balcony, where they found King shot in the throat. He died at 7:04 a.m. at St. Joseph's Hospital. The assassination sparked riots in more than 60 cities. 5 days later, US President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a day of mourning. On the same day, a crowd of 300,000 people attended his funeral. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, representing the President, attended the funeral.
Two months after King's assassination, escaped convict James Earl Ray was caught at Heathrow Airport in England trying to leave the UK on a false passport. Ray was soon extradited to the United States. Ray was charged with King's murder and confessed to the assassination on March 10, 1969. Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
