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The Life of Dr. Martin

Luther King, Jr.

By Mr. Buckman’s Second GradeTrombly School

Grosse Pointe, Michigan

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He liked to play baseball, basketball and football. He liked to sing in his father’s church.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Martin’s dad was a minister. His mom was a teacher. His brother was named Daniel. His sister was named Christina. He liked to read when he was little. He liked to play.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Young Martin played in his backyard with his friends. One day he was told that two of his friends would no longer play with him because they were white and he was black. He saw signs that said “white only,” so he could not go to a lot of different places. He felt very sad. Martin wanted to know just why white and black people couldn’t just come together and be friends.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Martin could not go where his white friends could go. He had to go to different restrooms. He could not go to very many restaurants. Martin had to go to different libraries and a different school. Martin was very sad.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Martin said love is the key to the problems of the world. Martin talked to his grandma for hours and hours. Martin believed that love solves everything.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Martin loved to read. Sometimes Martin didn’t read from books but he read from his memory in front of the mirror. Martin liked to read about black leaders from a long time ago. When Martin gave a speech, he read from a script.

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When he read, he was always full of questions. And he was always thinking about how black people and white people can come together. And he liked to talk about ideas, too.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great student. He finished high school two years early. At Morehouse College, Martin decided to become a minister. After he graduated, he studied for a doctorate at Boston University.

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Martin married Coretta Scott. Martin met Coretta at Boston University. They married in 1953. Martin got married while at Boston University. They had four children.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Dr. King moved to Montgomery, Alabama, in September of 1954 to become the minister at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Martin practiced speeches in front of a mirror. So he could get better at speeches. He was a minister and he was able to tell everybody what he felt.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Martin saw people that were treated differently from each other. Black people had to go to separate drinking fountains. People had to go to different restaurants. Black people had to go upstairs at the movies.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Bus boycott was started in Montgomery, Alabama after an African-American woman, Rosa Parks, is arrested for not giving up her seat to a white person when he asked her to.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Dr. King became active in the Civil Rights Movement. Because he was active in the Montgomery Bus Strike and supported it, Dr. King was arrested and put in jail for driving 5 miles an hour faster than the speed limit.

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In the year 1954, Martin was beginning his first job as a minister in Montgomery, Alabama. Black and white people had to ride in different places on buses. Martin helped lead a peaceful protest. Black people throughout the whole city chose to boycott riding the buses. They didn’t ride on many buses.

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Dr. King said there is a time when people get tired of getting pushed around. The bus protests lasted almost a whole year. When it was done, there were not signs saying where anyone had to sit on the buses.

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Someone threw a bomb at his house and his brother’s house. Some people were mad at Martin Luther King because he wanted to change the laws of how people were treated.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. thought that hurting someone was wrong, so he fought back with love. He also cared for all people, no matter what color they were.

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Martin Luther King found that he was judged by the color of his skin and not what he knew. He was tried of taking orders. He wanted to be friends with everybody.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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Martin worked very hard at giving speeches. He delivered his “I have a Dream” speech to more than 200,000 people in Washington, D. C. He had many speeches in his life. Most speeches he fought for freedom. He learned much about speeches from his dad.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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King leads many non-violent protests about the way African Americans were being treated unfairly. In Birmingham, Alabama, Martin was Arrested after demonstrating when a judge said he could not. King writes a “Letter From Birmingham Jail” that told his views about how America should treat all people.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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In December 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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On August 28, 1963 in Washington D.C., he gave his famous “I have a Dream” speech. Hundreds of thousands of people, both black and white, came to see him. This speech was very special. A crowd as big as this had never happened before in Washington.

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In that big, important speech, he said “I have a dream that this nation will rise up and live the true meaning of this creed.” He was a powerful speaker.

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Martin lead marches for freedom all over the South. He lead huge marches. Some people did not like Martin’s words or ideas. But still people did join Martin Luther King’s marches.

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Martin made a speech about one day in Alabama, little black boys and white girls will join hands with white boys and black girl as sisters and brothers. He believed all Americans should be treated the same.

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Martin was killed in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. James Earl Ray shot Martin because he was scared of Martin’s ideas of treating all people the same. Many people went to his funeral.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. - Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade

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America celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day every year on the third Monday of January. The holiday was first celebrated in 1983. It is to honor Martin and his ideas. Today, some people are making a memorial for him to be built in Washington, D. C. near the Potomac River.

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The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Presentation Authors and Illustrators of Mr. Buckman’s Second Grade 2003-04

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