Martin Luther King Jr.

A QUOTE BY MARTIN LUTHER KING “I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when 22 million Negroes of the United States of America are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. I accept this award on behalf of a civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice. I am mindful that only yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama, our children, crying out for brotherhood, were answered with fire hoses, snarling dogs and even death. I am mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia, Mississippi, young people seeking to secure the right to vote were brutalized and murdered. And only yesterday more than 40 houses of worship in the state of Mississippi alone were bombed or burned because they offered a sanctuary to those who would not accept segregation. I am mindful that deliberating and grinding poverty afflicts my people and chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.” Martin Luther King’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize for Peace on December 10, 1964

Who was Martin Luther King?  Born in Atlanta on Jan. 15, 1929  Went to Morehouse College in Atlanta in  Attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pa  Became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.  Mobilized the black community during a 382-day boycott of the city's bus lines.

Martin Luther King was…  Laid the groundwork for the organization now known as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference  Became co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church.  Supported to the Memphis sanitation men's strike  Threatened national boycotts  Death came for King on April 4, 1968

Civil Rights Movement Martin Luther King, Charles K. Steele, and Fred L. Shuttlesworth establish the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which King is made the first president. The SCLC becomes a major force in organizing the civil rights movement and bases its principles on nonviolence and civil disobedience. According to King, it is essential that the civil rights movement not sink to the level of the racists and hatemongers who oppose them: "We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline," he urges.

Birmingham Bus Boycott On December 5, 1955, five days after Montgomery civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to obey the city's rules mandating segregation on buses, black residents launched a bus boycott and elected King as president of the newly-formed Montgomery Improvement Association. As the boycott continued during 1956, King gained national prominence as a result of his exceptional oratorical skills and personal courage. His house was bombed and he was convicted along with other boycott leaders on charges of conspiring to interfere with the bus company's operations. Despite these attempts to suppress the movement, Montgomery bus were desegregated in December, 1956, after the United States Supreme Court declared Alabama's segregation laws unconstitutional.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Ala.; he writes his seminal “Letter from a Birmingham Jail," arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly I have never yet engaged in a direct action movement that was "well timed," according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This "wait" has almost always meant "never." We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."

 After Birmingham, President Kennedy proposed a new civil rights bill. To show that the bill had widespread support, civil rights groups united to organize a March on Washington. Organizers hoped to draw a crowd of 100,000, but instead over 250,000 people from around the nation, arriving in more than thirty special trains and 2,000 chartered buses, descended on Washington, DC on August 28, There, they heard speeches and songs from numerous activists, artists, and civil rights leaders. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered the closing address, his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.  The day was an overwhelming success. There was no violence and the event received extensive media coverage. Although it did not have an immediate impact on Congress -- Kennedy's civil rights bill was not passed for nearly a year -- it affected in some way just about everyone who participated or watched. The March on Washington

The Promise Land "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. I won't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy tonight. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. " The Promise Land

Death of a Civil Rights Activist On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King was assassinated.

Martin Luther King's words still hold a stunning power and grace more than 30 years after his death in Memphis on April 4, The Declaration of Independence, issued on July 4, 1776, stated "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal..." Yet the new nation declaring its independence permitted the continuation of the practice of slavery for people of African heritage - a practice that continued until the Civil War in the 1860s. At the conclusion of the Civil War, much remained to be done to ensure the rights and privileges of citizenship to all Americans. As America became a more diverse nation, welcoming immigrants from around the globe, problems of racial discrimination endured for many minority group members. Women and persons with disabilities also fought for and obtained laws that provided for fairness and equality.

Racial Justice Racism=Dislike, Sad, War, Unfair The Elimination of Racism