Biography of Martin Luther King Jr.

King Sr. did not endure racism meekly; in showing open impatience with segregation and its effects and in discouraging the development of... ... middle of paper ... ... a new, better-organized demonstration and gave a very moving address to an audience of 500 at Memphis Temple on April 3. He spoke of and accepted the possibility of his own death, a recurring theme in his speeches. The following evening, shortly after 5:30 p.m., King was shot and killed on the balcony outside his motel room. King's assassination led to disturbances in well over 100 cities and, before the violence subsided on April 11, the deaths of 46 people (mostly African Americans), 35,000 injuries, and 20,000 people jailed. On April 9 King's funeral was held in Ebenezer; in addition to the 800 people crammed into the sanctuary, a crowd of 60,000 to 70,000 stood in the streets.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a great man he changed the way some people looked at the world. He was born on January 15, 1929 and died by assentation on April 4, 1968. He was originally named Michael Luther King Jr. and later had it changed to Martin. His grandfather started a family sort of family tradition by starting the family’s long tenure as pastors of a Baptist church called “Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. His grandfather served from 1914 to 1931.

At Boston University, he met Coretta Scott; they were married in 1953. King's rise to national and international prominence began in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. In that year, Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to obey a city ordinance that required African Americans to sit or stand at the back of municipal buses. The African American citizens of the city (one of the most thoroughly segregated in the South) organized a bus boycott in protest and asked King to serve as their leader. Thousands boycotted the buses for more than a year, and despite segregationist violence against them, King grounded their protests on his deeply held belief in nonviolence.

(Martin Luther King, Jr “Britannica School 6-7) Activist formed a group to boycott the buses and they chose King as their leader. Peopl... ... middle of paper ... ...you but I want you to know tonight that we, as people, will get to the promise land.” (Martin Luther King, Jr” Britannica school. 18-21) The next day while King was standing on the second-story balcony of the Lorraine Motel, Where he was staying, King was murdered by a sniper’s bullet. The killing of King started riots and disturbance in more the 100 cities across the country. On March 10, 1969, the accused assassin, a white man named James Earl Ray Pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Louise Norton Little, was a homemaker who stayed occupied with the family’s eight children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. King attended segregated local public grammar schools in Georgia and graduated from high school at the age of fifteen after being skipped two grade levels. King then enrolled in Morehouse University in 1944 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.

He changed his mind with the help of mentor Morehouse president, Dr. Benjamin Mays. During his junior year of college he took a bible class, converted his faith and started his career in ministry. In the fall of his senior year, he told his father of his decision. In 1948 King graduated with a sociology degree. He then entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he earned his Bachelor of Divinity Degree.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott, urged and planned by E. D. Nixon (head of the Montgomery NAACP chapter and a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters) and led by King, soon followed. (In March 1955, a 15-year-old school girl, Claudette Colvin, had to give up her seat, but King did not then become involved. [4]) The boycott lasted for 385 days, the situation becoming so tense that King's house was bombed. King was arrested during this campaign, which ended with a United States District Court ruling in Browder v. Gayle that ended racial segregation on all Montgomery public buses. Southern Christian Leadership Conference King was instrumental in the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, a group created to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests in the service of civil rights reform.

He wasn't planning to enter the ministry, but then he met Dr. Benjamin Mays, a scholar whose manner and behavior convinced him that a religious career could be academically satisfying as well. After receiving his bachelor's degree in 1948, King attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, winning the Plafker Award as the outstanding student of the graduating class, and the J. Lewis Crozer Fellowship as well. He completed the coursework for his doctorate in 1953, and was granted the degree two years later upon achievement of his study. While in Boston, King met Coretta Scott, from Marion, Alabama, who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music. They were married in 1953 and had four children.

(Smith 2). Five days after Rosa Parks refused to obey the city's rules concerning bus segregation, African-American residents of Montgomery, Alabama launched a bus boycott. They elected Martin Luther King, Jr. as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association. (Phillips 3). King received national prominence as the boycott continued, due to his personal courage and exceptional oratical skills.

Just after he received his Ph.D. in 1955, King was asked to lead a bus boycott in Montgomery. It had been formed after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give her seat to a white passenger. Throughout the 381 days which the boycott lasted, he was arrested and jailed, repeatedly threatened, and his home was bombed. The boycott ended later that year when the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public transportation. This was his first victory and alone made Dr. King a highly respected leader.