By Noah Brasseur
Monday, Jan 16, is designated Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States this year. In his honor, take a dive into his history and accomplishments.
Born Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, as Michael King, Jr., he was the second child of three, and his father was a Baptist pastor.
As part of his ministry, King Sr. traveled to Germany to visit sites connected with Martin Luthor, the 16th century reformist. Afterward, King Sr. would rename both himself and his son Martin Luthor.
As a young boy, King would befriend a white neighbor around his age. When the pair started schooling, they were separated into segregated schools. The neighbors eventually banned him from speaking with their son, as he was Black.
King reportedly declared he was going to hate every white person from then on out. His parents told him it was his duty as a Christian to love everyone. His father did not tolerate injustices, however, and notably led a protest in 1936 against voting discrimination.
As King Jr. aged, he developed a reputation for his public speaking ability. He gave his first public speech in his junior year as part of a competition. He spoke out against the racist discrimination present in the United States, and won first place.
On the bus ride home from the contest, he was forced to stand so the white contestants could sit. He would later refer to it as “the angriest I have ever been in my life.”
King would join Morehouse College at the age of 15. With World War II raging, many college-aged men were fighting in Europe or Asia, so the college elected to widen their admissions to younger men. That summer, he and other students traveled to Connecticut for work. It was his first time in a desegregated society, and he frequently wrote home in awe that he could freely attend white restaurants and churches.
“Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
At 18, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a minister. His aim was to be a minister with “a respectful force for ideas, event social protest.”
After graduating Morehouse, King joined Crozer Theological Seminary. There, he met and began dating a second-generation German immigrant. He had plans to marry her, but broke it off over fears that the interracial marriage would not be accepted in society and he would not be able to preach.
After that, he joined Boston College, where he earned his Ph.D. He also met Coretta Scott, whom he would later marry in 1953.
It was not until 1955 that King’s social activism began to take shape. As a minister, he had been assigned to Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. That December, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white person. The other ministers asked King to lead a boycott in response, which he hesitantly accepted.
The protest lasted a full year, during which his home was bombed and he was arrested. The events drew national media coverage, and his notoriety blossomed. The boycott would only end when a court declared racial segregation on buses illegal.
King giving a speech on his porch after his home was bombed. Photo provided by AP.
Following his success, he would help found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC, in 1957. The group’s purpose was to organize Black churches to conduct nonviolent protests against discrimination. That same year, under their banner, King would give his first national address.
After two years of activism, King chose to return to his hometown. He stayed there without incident until 1960, when he partook in a sit-in to protest the 1960 elections ignoring civil rights. He was among several who were arrested. Unlike the others, however, king was not released after a few days, and was instead sent to Georgia State Prison.
The move once again drew national attention. Candidate John F. Kennedy exerted pressure to release King, which proved effective. The sit-ins would continue for another few months, but ultimately reached their goal.
King had learned how to capture the nation’s eyes. In April of 1963, he and the SCLC organized the Birmingham Campaign, which was intended to cause mass arrests while staying nonviolent. During the protest, the police opted to use water jets and dogs. The images were broadcast, and many Americans rallied around the movement.
After his success, and more famous than he’d ever been, King joined the March on Washington in 1963. There, he would give a 17-minute speech that would become known as “I Have a Dream.” Notably, the most famous lines were spontaneous and not written beforehand.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. ‘” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The CIA, FBI, and NSA would begin actively monitoring his activity shortly afterward.
King would continue campaigning throughout the nation for the next few years, including in Florida, New York, and Maine. It was during his Florida campaign that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. Over the next few years, he also became an active and outspoken critic of the Vietnam War, as well as economic disparities.
In late March of 1968, King traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, in a bid to support Black workers on strike. He booked a room at the Lorraine Motel and delivered his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech on April 3. The following day, at 6:01 p.m., he was shot in the cheek by James Earl Ray. King was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m.
Though he died, the effects he had on the coutnry were still clearly felt. His assassination is regarded as one of the reasons the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was able to pass, and his ideals and methods of nonviolence are still admired and practiced today.
On Nov. 2, 1983, the federal government recognized Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday. It is observed the third Monday in January.
“We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.