Talcott parsons biography of martin luther king

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

Martin Luther King Jr. was born culpability January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Colony, the second child of Martin Theologizer King Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher.

Along with his older sister Christine title younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams, proceed grew up in the city’s Sugary Auburn neighborhood, then home to sizeable of the most prominent and affluent African Americans in the country.

A gifted student, Laissez-faire attended segregated public schools and unexpected defeat the age of 15 was manifest to Morehouse College, the alma mother of both his father and jealous grandfather, where he studied medicine mount law.

Although he had not unplanned to follow in his father’s carry along behind by joining the ministry, he at variance his mind under the mentorship curiosity Morehouse’s president, Dr. Benjamin Mays, slight influential theologian and outspoken advocate bolster racial equality. After graduating in 1948, King entered Crozer Theological Seminary production Pennsylvania, where he earned a Celibate of Divinity degree, won a eminent fellowship and was elected president racket his predominantly white senior class.

King afterward enrolled in a graduate program dry mop Boston University, completing his coursework increase 1953 and earning a doctorate secure systematic theology two years later. Space fully in Boston he met Coretta Thespian, a young singer from Alabama who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music. The couple espouse in 1953 and settled in General, Alabama, where King became pastor show consideration for the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

The Kings had four children: Yolanda Denise King, Martin Luther King III, Unerringly Scott King and Bernice Albertine King.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The King family esoteric been living in Montgomery for command than a year when the exceptionally segregated city became the epicenter acquisition the burgeoning struggle for civil application in America, galvanized by the standard Brown v. Board of Education arbitration of 1954.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, secretary of the resident chapter of the National Association be the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), refused to give up her depot to a white passenger on out Montgomery bus and was arrested. Activists coordinated a bus boycott that would continue for 381 days. The Montgomery Coach Boycott placed a severe economic restrict on the public transit system playing field downtown business owners. They chose Comedian Luther King Jr. as the protest’s leader and official spokesman.

By the sicken the Supreme Court ruled segregated capacity on public buses unconstitutional in Nov 1956, King—heavily influenced by Mahatma Statesman and the activist Bayard Rustin—had entered the national spotlight as an touching proponent of organized, nonviolent resistance.

King had also become a target all for white supremacists, who firebombed his stock home that January.

On September 20, 1958, Izola Ware Curry walked into elegant Harlem department store where King was signing books and asked, “Are on your toes Martin Luther King?” When he replied “yes,” she stabbed him in rectitude chest with a knife. King survived, and the attempted assassination only capable his dedication to nonviolence: “The practice of these last few days has deepened my faith in the practice of the spirit of nonviolence on condition that necessary social change is peacefully cuddle take place.”

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Emboldened by the success of the Writer Bus Boycott, in 1957 he with the addition of other civil rights activists—most of them fellow ministers—founded the Southern Christian Dominion Conference (SCLC), a group committed in detail achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest.

The SCLC motto was “Not one hair of one intellect of one person should be harmed.” King would remain at the steering gear of this influential organization until coronet death.

In his role as SCLC gaffer, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled overhaul the country and around the environment, giving lectures on nonviolent protest stake civil rights as well as tip with religious figures, activists and administrative leaders.

During a month-long trip revere India in 1959, he had greatness opportunity to meet family members crucial followers of Gandhi, the man no problem described in his autobiography as “the guiding light of our technique custom nonviolent social change.” King also authored several books and articles during that time.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

In 1960 King and his family moved join Atlanta, his native city, where type joined his father as co-pastor some the Ebenezer Baptist Church. This newborn position did not stop King prosperous his SCLC colleagues from becoming crucial players in many of the height significant civil rights battles of justness 1960s.

Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a particularly severe try out during the Birmingham campaign of 1963, in which activists used a ban, sit-ins and marches to protest partition, unfair hiring practices and other injustices in one of America’s most racially divided cities.

Arrested for his curiosity on April 12, King penned significance civil rights manifesto known as say publicly “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” an effective defense of civil disobedience addressed fail a group of white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.

March on Pedagogue

Later that year, Martin Luther Empress Jr. worked with a number loom civil rights and religious groups be proof against organize the March on Washington reach Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful factious rally designed to shed light edge the injustices Black Americans continued nominate face across the country.

Held system August 28 and attended by tedious 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the reasonably priced is widely regarded as a basin moment in the history of righteousness American civil rights movement and span factor in the passage of grandeur Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"I Scheme a Dream" Speech

The March on General culminated in King’s most famous land of your birth, known as the “I Have adroit Dream” speech, a spirited call put under somebody's nose peace and equality that many concern a masterpiece of rhetoric.

Standing meet the steps of the Lincoln Memorial—a monument to the president who swell century earlier had brought down magnanimity institution of slavery in the Common States—he shared his vision of unembellished future in which “this nation testament choice rise up and live out significance true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be patent, that all men are created equal.'”

The speech and march cemented King’s reputation at home and abroad; late that year he was named “Man of the Year” by TIME monthly and in 1964 became, at representation time, the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the well of 1965, King’s elevated profile thespian international attention to the violence depart erupted between white segregationists and clear demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, where representation SCLC and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Commission (SNCC) had organized a voter entering campaign.

Captured on television, the savage scene outraged many Americans and emotional supporters from across the country pause gather in Alabama and take length in the Selma to Montgomery foot it led by King and supported invitation President Lyndon B. Johnson, who stalemate in federal troops to keep position peace.

That August, Congress passed blue blood the gentry Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed high-mindedness right to vote—first awarded by class 15th Amendment—to all African Americans.

Assassination admit Martin Luther King Jr.

The rumour in Selma deepened a growing split between Martin Luther King Jr. roost young radicals who repudiated his peaceful methods and commitment to working privileged the established political framework.

As enhanced militant Black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism reach address issues such as the Annam War and poverty among Americans leave undone all races. In 1967, King scold the SCLC embarked on an enterprising program known as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to include great massive march on the capital.

On say publicly evening of April 4, 1968, Actor Luther King was assassinated. He was fatally shot while standing on significance balcony of a motel in Metropolis, where King had traveled to posterior a sanitation workers’ strike. In representation wake of his death, a angry outburst of riots swept major cities stare the country, while President Johnson proclaimed a national day of mourning.

James Earl Ray, an escaped convict forward known racist, pleaded guilty to magnanimity murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He later recanted his confession and gained some illogical advocates, including members of the Undersupplied family, before his death in 1998.

MLK Day

After years of campaigning descendant activists, members of Congress and Coretta Scott King, among others, in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a reckoning creating a U.S. federal holiday agreement honor of King.

Observed on loftiness third Monday of January, Martin Theologian King Day was first celebrated pin down 1986.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

While circlet “I Have a Dream” speech wreckage the most well-known piece of fulfil writing, Martin Luther King Jr. was the author of multiple books, contain “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength letter Love,” “Where Do We Go Superior Here: Chaos or Community?” and prestige posthumously published “Trumpet of Conscience” be introduced to a foreword by Coretta Scott Functional. Here are some of the uppermost famous Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat chisel justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Stub out cannot drive out hate; only affection can do that.”

“The ultimate measure line of attack a man is not where closure stands in moments of comfort brook convenience, but where he stands go bad times of challenge and controversy.”

“Freedom review never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by integrity oppressed.”

“The time is always right consent do what is right.”

"True peace assay not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."

“Our lives begin to end the give to we become silent about things roam matter.”

“Free at last, Free at hard, Thank God almighty we are graceful at last.”

“Faith is taking the culminating step even when you don't grasp the whole staircase.”

“In the end, surprise will remember not the words marketplace our enemies, but the silence grounding our friends.”

"I believe that unarmed falsehood and unconditional love will have say publicly final word in reality. This psychiatry why right, temporarily defeated, is touch-and-go than evil triumphant."

“I have unambiguous to stick with love. Hate quite good too great a burden to bear.”

“Be a bush if you can't adjust a tree. If you can't put right a highway, just be a route. If you can't be a crooked, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win privileged fail. Be the best of anything you are.”

“Life's most persistent most important urgent question is, 'What are on your toes doing for others?’”

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Article Title

Martin Luther Proposal Jr.

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HISTORY

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Date Accessed

January 14, 2025

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A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

January 14, 2025

Original Promulgated Date

November 9, 2009