2. Childhood and Education, 1929-1951 Martin Luther King, Jr.,
was born onTuesday, January 15, 1929, in Atlanta,Georgia. His birth
certificate listed his birth name asMichael Luther King, Jr., but
it was laterchanged to Martin; his father arranged thischange in
1935 in honor of German reformerand leader of the Protestant
ReformationMartin Luther. His grandfather and father were both
pastorat Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. King was only fifteen
when he graduatedfrom high school, having skipped from 9th to12th
grade; he attended Morehouse Collegeand graduated in 1948 with a
degree inSociology. In 1951, he got a Bachelors of Divinityfollowed
by a Ph.D. from Boston College in1955. In Boston, he met Coretta
Scott and marriedher in 1953; they had four children: YolandaDenise
(1955-2007), Martin Luther III (b.1957), Dexter Scott (b. 1961),
and BerniceAlbertine (b. 1963).
3. Becoming a Civil Rights leader, 1955 Martin Luther King, Jr.
became co-pastor of Dexter Avenue BaptistChurch in Montgomery,
Alabama, in1954. While he was serving as pastor ofthe church,
42-year-old Rosa Parkswas arrested for refusing to give herseat on
a Montgomery bus to awhite man; this occurred onThursday, December
1, 1955. On Monday, December 5, 1955, agroup of African Americans
gatheredto discuss the situation, whichstarted the Montgomery
BusBoycott.
4. Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955-1956 As the Montgomery Bus
Boycott began, 26-year-old Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was
unanimouslyelected president of the MontgomeryImprovement
Association; because of his youngage, he was chosen to lead the
boycott. African Americans participated in the boycott byrefusing
to ride public buses; as the boycottprogressed, the buses started
losing money andnearly went out of business. The situation often
involved so much risk that Dr.Kings home was bombed on Tuesday,
January30, 1956; fortunately, his wife and two-month-olddaughter
who were at home were unhurt. In February, Dr. King was arrested on
charges ofconspiracy. The boycott, meanwhile, lasted 1 year and
16days (382 days). On Friday, December 21, 1956, the SupremeCourt
ruled that racial segregation on publictransportation was
unconstitutional; blacks couldnow ride on buses wherever
theywanted, alongside whites.
5. Southern Christian LeadershipConference, 1957 The Southern
Christian LeadershipConference (SCLC) was established in 1957with
Dr. King named as its leader. Its objective was to provide
leadership andorganization in the struggle for civil rights. Dr.
King adopted the ideas of civildisobedience and peaceful protests
basedon the works of Henry David Thoreau andthe actions of Mohandas
Gandhi to lead theorganization and the struggle to endsegregation
and discrimination; thesedemonstrations and acts of
non-violencehelped lead to the passing of the Civil RightsAct of
1964 and the Voting Rights Act of1965. Leading non-violent
demonstrations rarelywere without incident; onSaturday, September
20, 1958, while goingon a book tour in New York to promote hisbook
Strive Toward Freedom, Dr. King facedthe first attempt on his life-
a dementedAfrican-American woman named Izola Currystabbed him in
his chest with a letter opener.
6. Dr. King undergoing surgery at HarlemHospital in New York,
September 1958
7. Letter from a Birmingham Jail, April 1963 As leader of the
Civil Rights Movement, Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr., was a major part
andcentral figure of many non-violent protestsas he helped in
leading the fight fordesegregation and equal rights; he wasarrested
several times, which inspired,motivated, and encouraged
African-Americans to engage in acts of civildisobedience by also
going to jail. The 60s turned the ride of the Civil RightsMovement,
beginning with the staging of thefirst sit-in on Monday, February
1, 1960, ata Woolworths lunch counter in Greensboro,North Carolina.
Later sit-ins were also staged in 1963 inBirmingham, Alabama,
(known that year asBombingham) to protest segregation inrestaurants
and eating facilities. During one of these, Dr. King was
arrested;while he was imprisoned, he wrote hisfamous letter Letter
from a BirminghamJail, in which he argued that visible
protestswould guarantee progress; he also arguedthat it was an
individuals obligation toprotest and in fact refuse to obey
unjustlaws: Injustice anywhere is a threat tojustice
everywhere.
8. I Have a Dream Speech, August 1963 On Wednesday, August 28,
1963, Dr. King and otherCivil Rights leaders led the March on
Washington forJobs and Freedom; it was the biggest demonstrationof
its kind in Washington, D.C., up to this time and anestimated
250,000 demonstrators participated. In this march, King delivered
his inspiring I Have aDream speech, his most famous one,
whilespeaking from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Following the
success of the march, Dr. King andother leaders met with President
John F. Kennedyand asked him for many things like an end
tosegregation in public schools, greater protection
forAfrican-Americans, more effective civil rightslegislation, and
on down the line. Unfortunately, tragedy struck three and a half
weekslater when another bombing, again inBirmingham, this time at
the 16th Street BaptistChurch, killed four young black girls
onSunday, September 15. On Friday, November 22, President Kennedy
wasassassinated by a Communist sympathizer, LeeHarvey Oswald, in
Dallas, Texas; Texas GovernorJohn B. Connally was wounded, but
survived. VicePresident Lyndon B. Johnson, a supporter of theCivil
Rights movement like Kennedy, became the36th President.
9. Man of the Year and Nobel Peace Prize, 1964 Dr. King was
named Time MagazinesMan of the Year in 1964; with thishonor, he had
become part of theworld stage. Also in 1964, he met with Pope
PaulVI and was honored as the recipientof the Nobel Peace Prize
onWednesday, October 14, (ironicallycoinciding with the change
ofleadership in the Soviet Union fromNikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev
toLeonid Ilyich Brezhnev) becoming theyoungest to receive it at the
age of 35. He was awarded the prize onThursday, December 10, saying
in hisacceptance speech, I accept theNobel Prize for Peace at a
momentwhen 22 million Negroes of the UnitedStates of America are
engaged in acreative battle to end the long night ofracial
injustice. Dr. King gave the whole amount of theprize money to aid
with the Civil Rightsmovement.
10. Dr. King sitting along the pulpit of EbenezerBaptist
Church, Sunday, November 8, 1964
11. Dr. Kings Nobel Peace Prize AcceptanceSpeech, Thursday,
December 10, 1964
12. Selma, Alabama, 1965 On Sunday, March 7, 1965, a group
ofdemonstrators attempted to organize amarch from Selma to
Montgomery; Dr. Kingdid not attend because he preferred delayingit
to the following day. The march was very important because itwas
met with police brutality, which wascaptured on film; these images
had a bigimpact on those who were not directlyinvolved in the
resulting fight in a publicoutcry for change. Two weeks later, the
march was reattemptedand the demonstrators made it toMontgomery on
Thursday, March 25, wherethey heard Dr. King speak at the Capital.
With the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the victoryof Lyndon B. Johnson
over his Republicanopponent Barry M. Goldwater in the
1964presidential election, the peaceful marchfrom Selma to
Montgomery, and the VotingRights Act of 1965, both 1964 and
1965were successful years for the Civil RightsMovement in many
respects.
13. Dr. King with President Johnson, March 1966
14. Opposition to the Vietnam War andBeyond Vietnam Speech,
1967 After 1965, Dr. King retained hiscommitment to non-violence
and thefight for Civil Rights, in spite ofconstant death threats;
he was struckby a stone in Chicago in the summerof 1966 during the
Chicago FreedomMovement. By 1967, Dr. King had become a criticof
the War in Vietnam and wasstrongly opposed to Americaninvolvement
in that war. On Tuesday, April 4, 1967, hedelivered a speech Beyond
Vietnamto a crowd of 3,000 at the RiversideChurch in New York; in
it, he said thereis a mutual link forming between thecivil rights
and peace movements. He put forward a plan where theUnited States
would cease bombing inNorth and South Vietnam.
15. Opposition to the Vietnam War andBeyond Vietnam Speech,
1967 cont. Despite being sympathetic to President Johnsons
GreatSociety, Dr. King became increasingly critical of U.S.
involvementin Vietnam; as the public became more aware of Dr.
Kingscriticism, his relationship with the Johnson
administrationworsened. Dr. King came to regard U.S. intervention
in Southeast Asia asmore than imperialism; in addition, he believed
the Vietnam Warcaused money and attention to turn away from
domesticprograms created to help poor blacks. Furthermore, King
said in Beyond Vietnam: The war was doingfar more than devastating
the hopes of the poor at home Wewere taking the black young men who
had been crippled by oursociety and sending them eight thousand
miles away toguarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had
not found insouthwest Georgia and East Harlem.
16. Poor Peoples Campaign, 1967-1968 Early in 1968, Dr. King
and other civil rightsleaders organized and planned the PoorPeoples
Campaign (it was set up inNovember 1967) in Washington, D.C. ,
forthe spring of that year; the campaign wasorganized to demand
that PresidentJohnson aid the poor in getting jobs, healthcare and
good homes. In March, Dr. King, along with advisorsRalph Abernathy,
Jesse Jackson, andAndrew Young, went to Memphis; a marchwas held on
Thursday, March 28, whichturned violent. Dr. King returned to
Memphis onWednesday, April 3, and skipped a rally thatwas held in
the afternoon; that night, hedelivered what would be his
lastspeech, Ive Been to the Mountaintop, inwhich he said: Like
anybody, I would like tolive - a long life; longevity has its
place. ButIm not concerned about that now. I just wantto do Gods
will. And Hes allowed me to goup to the Mountaintop. And Ive looked
over.And Ive seen the Promised Land. I may notget there with you.
But I want you to knowtonight, that we, as a people, will get to
thePromised Land. So Im happy, tonight. Imnot worried about
anything. Im not fearingany man. Mine eyes have seen the glory
ofthe coming of the Lord!.
17. Assassination, April 1968 On Thursday, April 4, as he
stoodon the second-floor balcony of theLorraine Motel, Dr. King
wasstruck by a single bullet, whichdamaged more than half of
hisface and cut into his neck. Only an hour later, he waspronounced
dead at St. JosephsHospital after a failed surgery. In the wake of
Dr. Kingsdeath, riots erupted in severalcities across the country.
In Indianapolis, Senator Robert F.Kennedy, brother of the
slainPresident Kennedy, managed toprevent a riot by asking
thepeople to say a prayer for thecountry. Dr. Kings funeral was
held inAtlanta on Tuesday, April 9, atEbenezer Baptist Church.
18. Dr. Kings funeral procession in Atlanta, April1968
19. Poor Peoples Campaign after Dr.Kings death, May 1968 After
Dr. King died, Ralph Abernathy was chosen to succeed him asleader
of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and tolead the
Poor Peoples Campaign in Dr. Kings place. Thousands of people took
part in the march on Sunday, May 12,1968. As he led the way for
demonstrators, Abernathy said: We comewith an appeal to open the
doors of America to the almost 50 millionAmericans who have not
been given a fair share of Americaswealth and opportunity, and we
will stay until we get it. Even though as many as 50,000 people
marched, the PoorPeoples campaign was viewed as a failure by those
who had growntired of protesting and did not see these protests
meet withchanges.
20. Posthumous awards and federal holiday Dr. King was
posthumouslyawarded the Presidential Medal ofFreedom in 1977 by
PresidentJimmy Carter, in the presence ofDr. Kings wife and father
and theCongressional Gold Metal in2004. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
wassigned into law as a federalholiday on Monday, January20, 1986,
almost 18 years afterhis death; it was observed for thefirst time
in all 50 states onMonday, January 17, 2000.
21. Bibliography
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/afamerpeople/p/mlking.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/martin-luther-king-jr-speaks-out-against-the-war
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91626373
Tribute to Dr. King:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56mjwycKuXA