He was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia.
His parents were Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King.
His birth name was Michael.
He was vert smart,
He skipped grades in school.
He entered college at the age of 15.
By 19, he had his bachelor's degree in sociology.
His father wanted him to be a minister, and after some soul-searching, he decided the same.
He attended seminary school in Pennsylvania, graduating with his PhD by age 25.
He was an American Baptist minister and activist.
He became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the civil rights movement from 1954 until his death in 1968.
He advanced civil rights with non violence and civil disobedience.
He helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today."
The FBI felt his speech was too empowering for black communities and wanted to avoid civil unrest.
They began threatening Dr. King.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance.
He donated all the proceeds from that prize to the Civil Rights Movement.
In 1968, he was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.
His mother was killed too.
June 30, 1974, as Alberta Williams King played the organ at a Sunday service inside Ebenezer Baptist Church, Marcus Wayne Chenault Jr. rose from the front pew, drew two pistols and began to fire shots.
One of the bullets struck and killed her.
She died steps from where her son had preached nonviolence.
No comments:
Post a Comment