King, Martin Luther, Jr. (1929-1968), American clergyman and Nobel
laureate, one of the principal leaders of the American civil rights movement and a
prominent advocate of nonviolent resistance to racial oppression.
Education and Early Life
King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929, the eldest son of Martin Luther
King, Sr., a Baptist minister, and Alberta Williams King. He entered Morehouse College at
the age of 15 and was ordained a Baptist minister at the age of 17. Graduating from Crozer
Theological Seminary as class president in 1951, he then did postgraduate work at Boston
University.
King's studies at Crozer and Boston led him to explore the works of the Indian nationalist
Mohandas K. Gandhi, whose ideas became the core of his own philosophy of nonviolent
protest. While in Boston, he met Coretta Scott of Marion, Alabama. They were married in
June 1953, and the following year King accepted an appointment as pastor of the Dexter
Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
Civil Rights Leadership
On a visit to India in 1959 King was able to work out more clearly his understanding of
Satyagraha, Gandhi's principle of nonviolent persuasion, which King had determined to use
as his main instrument of social protest. The next year he gave up his pastorate in
Montgomery to become copastor (with his father) of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta,
a strategic move that enabled him to participate more effectively in the national
leadership of the burgeoning civil rights movement.
At that time black leadership was undergoing a radical transformation. Having once focused
on litigation and reconciliation, it was now demanding change “by any means
possible.” Differences of ideology and jurisdiction between the SCLC and other groups
were inevitable, but King's prestige ensured that nonviolence, although not universally
popular, remained the official mode of resistance. In 1963 he led a massive civil rights
campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, and organized drives for black voter registration,
desegregation, and better education and housing throughout the South. During these
nonviolent campaigns he was arrested several times. He led the historic March on
Washington, August 28, 1963, where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream”
speech. In 1964 King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Assassination
King's subsequent preoccupation with Vietnam and his determination to lead a Poor People's
March on Washington combined with shifting public priorities to challenge his leadership.
He was near exhaustion from stress, and his speeches increasingly alluded to his possible
death. He was undeterred, however, for as he put it on April 3, 1968, he had “been to
the mountain top and seen the Promised Land.” The following day King was shot and
killed in Memphis, Tennessee. Some 100,000 people attended his funeral in Atlanta. A white
escaped convict, James Earl Ray, was arrested for the murder; he pleaded guilty and in
March 1969 was sentenced to 99 years in prison. In 1983 the third Monday in January was
designated a federal legal holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday; his
Atlanta birthplace and gravesite were made a national historic site.
"King, Martin Luther, Jr.," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft
Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.
Other Links of interest
I have a dream - text of the famous
speech.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
Dr. Martin Luther King Timeline
