birth and education Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Both his grandfather and father served as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Georgia Alabama

Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, He received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated.

He received a doctor’s degree at Boston University in In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.

In 1954, Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.Alabama King had always been a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

In Montgomery, Alabama, segregation was a part of everyday life. For example, black people could not sit in the front of the bus, regardless of whether the seats were empty or not. If the bus was full and a white person wanted to sit, the black person would have to give up their seat.

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to obey the bus driver 's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott, urged and planned by civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., soon followed.

Nearly 100% of blacks participated in the campaign. Instead of taking a bus, people had used other ways of transportation such as walking, using cabs, getting rides in private cars and some even rode mules to work.

During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, and he was subjected to personal abuse.

However, at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.

The Supreme Court of the United States declared that Alabama's racial segregation laws for buses unconstitutional.

Lasting for 382 days, the boycott officially ended December 20, 1956.

The ultimate success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott made King a national hero.

Dr. King’s philosophy King had been a follower of Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolent social protest. He strongly believed that nonviolent resistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.

King’s efforts during 1957~1968

In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and sent to jail because he and others were protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. A court had ordered that King could not hold protests in Birmingham. Birmingham in 1963 was a hard place for blacks to live in. Everything was segregated. Blacks faced constant discrimination and the constant threat of violence.

In the Letter from Birmingham Jail, King claimed that it was his moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. The letter includes the famous statements: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

In 1963, he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C. The march made specific demands: an end to racial segregation and fair employment of blacks.

In front of the Lincoln Memorial, King delivered his most famous speech “I have a dream.” More than a quarter million people of diverse ethnicities attended the event, At that time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington's history.

“…I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.”

“…I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

In 1963, King was named Man of the Year by Time magazine and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.

In the 11-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over 2500 times. He was arrested over 20 times and assaulted at least four times. Because of his efforts, in 1965, Voting Rights Acts granted blacks the right to vote.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, he was assassinated. He was only 39 at the time of his death.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States holiday, observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King's birthday, January 15.

Biography of Dr. King