Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born Michael King Jr. in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia to Pastor Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. His father stepped in as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in 1931 and adopted the name Martin Luther King Sr. which young Michael would adopt himself in honor of Protestant religious leader Martin Luther. Martin Luther King Jr. would later attend Morehouse College and seminary at the Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He soon married Coretta Scott in 1953 and had four children, Yolanda, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice. Dr. King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama and completed his Ph.D in 1955 at the age of 25.
Soon after Rosa Parks was arrested and released in 1955, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other local civil rights leaders planned a citywide bus boycott with King leading due to his professional standing and solid family connections. In his first speech, King declared, "We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice." After 382 days of boycotting the Montgomery, Alabama transit system, the city of Montgomery lifted the law mandating segregated public transportation. This was the first of many civil rights victories led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Over the next 13 years, Dr. King would inspire, rally, and incite change across the nation. He would visit the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi in the late 1950s, be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his non-violent resistance to racial prejudice, and, in 1965, after rallying over 20,000 protesters to march Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama, he would deliver an address titled “How Long? Not Long!” Soon after, President Johnson would sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which aimed to overcome legal barriers at state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote.
On April 4, 1968, a day after visiting a labor strike by Memphis sanitation workers and delivering his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. After being rushed to hospital, he would be formally declared dead an hour later. James Earl Ray, a convict and drifter was apprehended following a two-month international manhunt after fleeing to Canada and then England. He was later extradited back to the United States and convicted of assassinating King. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison after pleading guilty.
Following Dr. King’s assassination, President Johnson would sign the Fair Housing Act of 1968 which prohibited discrimination concerning the sale and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, and sex. It is considered the final great legislative achievement of the civil rights era and an homage to the work and life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
For additional information on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, visit https://www.justice.gov/crt/voting-rights-act-1965
For additional information on the Fair Housing Act of 1968, visit https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/progdesc/title8
Credits:
Martin Luther King Jr. Biography. Biography.com. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086
