Martin Luther King, Jr:The Peaceful Warrior
By Cyrus Soltani
https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/january-15/
Early Life and Education
Martin Luther King Jr. Was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the second child born to Martin Luther King Sr., a Baptist minister, and Alberta Williams King, a schoolteacher. He grew up in an intensely Christian house, strongly influenced by his father’s call for racial equality and social justice. He studied at Morehouse College, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 1948. From there, he went to Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951, before proceeding to acquire a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Boston University in 1955.
Civil Rights Movement
King rose to prominence in the mid-1950s as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement. He came to national notice first during the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1956, which erupted when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. King provided the leadership that, coupled with his strong and consistent advocacy for nonviolent protest, made the boycott successful; it ended with the desegregation of public buses in Montgomery.
In 1957, King co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which had the aim of bringing about civil rights through non-violent means. He traveled the country giving speeches and organizing marches against racial segregation and discrimination.
March on Washington and “I Have a Dream”
One of King’s most famous moments came on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, in which he envisioned a future where people would be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. It was one of the defining moments of the Civil Rights Movement, and it sealed King’s position as the most recognizable spokesperson for racial equality.
Nobel Peace Prize and Later Years
In 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts toward overcoming racial inequalities using methods of nonviolent resistance. He continued advocating for civil rights by now focusing on poverty and opposition to the Vietnam War. In 1968, he even started organizing the Poor People’s Campaign, which focused on economic justice and demanded improvement in the nation’s poor.
Assassination and Legacy
Tragically, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, while supporting a strike by sanitation workers. His death was a crushing blow to the Civil Rights Movement, but his legacy lived on. The work and vision of King for a more just and equal society continue to inspire people throughout the world. In 1983, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was designated a federal holiday in the United States, to be observed annually on the third Monday in January.
The work which King has done in the movement for civil rights and his unrelenting stand for nonviolence have left such an indelible mark upon history that he is one of the most highly regarded persons in the movement for equality and justice.