In the wake of his death, a wave of riots swept major cities across the country, while President Johnson declared a national day of mourning. Upset because he had learned of her fatal heart attack while attending a parade without his parents’ permission, the 12-year-old King attempted suicide by jumping from a second-story window. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking before some 25,000 Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights marchers outside the Alabama state capitol building on March 25, 1965, in Montgomery. Martin Luther King Obama Wall Art - 8x10 Dream Photo Poster - Unique Home Decor or Gift - MLK, Black History Month, African American, Civil Rights, Pride, Teacher, Classroom - … Learn more. Activists coordinated a bus boycott that would continue for 381 days. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. All Rights Reserved. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, the second child of Martin Luther King Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a U.S. federal holiday since 1986. He was shocked by how peacefully the races mixed in the North. People had gathered to hear Martin Luther King, Jr., who was back in Memphis to offer inspiration for an ongoing struggle that had celebrated recent victories. Dr. King has seven nieces and nephews. READ MORE: 7 Things You May Not Know About MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech. According to Garrow, Martin Luther King, Jr. was present in a hotel room when his friend and fellow pastor Logan Kearse — who died in 1991 — raped a … Martin Luther King, Jr., was a Baptist minister and social rights activist in the United States in the 1950s and ’60s. READ MORE: For Martin Luther King Jr., Nonviolent Protest Never Meant ‘Wait and See’. Martin Luther King, Jr., influenced people around the world. While his “I Have a Dream” speech is the most well-known piece of his writing, Martin Luther King, Jr. was the author of multiple books, include “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength to Love,” “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” and the posthumously published “Trumpet of Conscience” with a foreword by Coretta Scott King. The final section of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s eloquent and iconic “I Have a Dream” speech is believed to have been largely improvised. Martin Luther King Jr. Biographical M artin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. After years of campaigning by activists, members of Congress and Coretta Scott King, among others, in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a U.S. federal holiday in honor of King. ", “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”, “Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.”, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”, "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). That August, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed the right to vote—first awarded by the 15th Amendment—to all African Americans. The intention behind the holiday is to commemorate this great man’s life, and recommit to his call to fight for justice everywhere. On the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Dr. King's Grandchildren. Committed to fighting racial inequality, Mays accused the African American community of complacency in the face of oppression, and he prodded the Black church into social action by criticizing its emphasis on the hereafter instead of the here and now; it was a call to service that was not lost on the teenage King. Martin Luther King was a sexual predator, newly-released FBI evidence suggests Martin Luther King was a sexual predator, newly … He was the average of three brothers born of the marriage of Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. The family lived on Auburn Avenue, otherwise known as “Sweet Auburn,” the bustling “Black Wall Street,” home to some of the country’s largest and most prosperous Black businesses and Black churches in the years before the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King had his first experience of segregation at just six years old, when he was told he … A Baptist minister and founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King had led the civil rights movement since ...read more, Every night in November 1968, National Guardsmen circled the streets in Wilmington, Delaware, armed with loaded rifles and ready to put down racial violence in the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods. In 1934, however, his father, a pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, traveled to Germany and became inspired by the Protestant Reformation leader Martin ...read more, On January 15, the United States celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 50 years on from his assassination in 1968. Martin Luther King, Jr., Baptist minister and social activist who led the U.S. civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his death in 1968. In America there is a holiday called Martin Luther King Day. He never forgot the time when, at about age six, one of his white playmates announced that his parents would no longer allow him to play with King, because the children were now attending segregated schools. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, an event that sent shock waves reverberating around the world. Childhood Martin Luther King. He advocated for peaceful approaches to some of society’s biggest problems. The same year Coretta Scott King founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center of Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta as a memorial to her husband. The Ronnie Lott Director, Martin Luther King, Jr., Research & Education Institute, and Martin Luther King Jr. Centennial Professor, Stanford University. Luther King was originally christened Michael King Jr. (his father’s birth name). The King family had been living in Montgomery for less than a year when the highly segregated city became the epicenter of the burgeoning struggle for civil rights in America, galvanized by the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954. “I have a dream that my four little 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.”The speech that remains Martin Luther King Jr.’s most famous oration — one of the most famous orations in American history, if not world history — is that well-known for a good reason, Calloway-Thomas says. Martin Luther King, Jr., grew up as the middle child of Michael (later Martin Luther) King, Sr., and Alberta Williams King. “Negroes and whites go [to] the same church,” he noted in a letter to his parents. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. ", “I have decided to stick with love. In 1953 King married Coretta Scott, and the two had four children: Yolanda, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. Held on August 28 and attended by some 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the event is widely regarded as a watershed moment in the history of the American civil rights movement and a factor in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Jan 22, 2021 - Information and learning activities for Martin Luther King Day; primarily for preschoolers through early elementary at home or in the classroom. Named for her late aunt, Yolanda is the daughter of Martin Luther King III and was 10 years old as of 2019. Explore the life and accomplishments of American Baptist minister and social activist Martin Luther King, Jr. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Yolanda King died in 2007, but the other three are still alive as of December 2019. Along with his older sister Christine and younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams, he grew up in the city’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood, then home to some of the most prominent and prosperous African Americans in the country. James Earl Ray, an escaped convict and known racist, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. The SCLC motto was “Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed.” King would remain at the helm of this influential organization until his death. The Kiboomers! Martin Luther King, Jr. was a well-known civil rights activist who had a great deal of influence on American society in the 1950s and 1960s. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr, The History Learning Site - Biography of Martin Luther King. King knew that storms pass and that joy comes in ...read more, On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the entire nation pauses in remembrance of a civil rights hero. Martin Luther King, Jr., is known for his contributions to the American civil rights movement in the 1960s. During a month-long trip to India in 1959, he had the opportunity to meet family members and followers of Gandhi, the man he described in his autobiography as “the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change.” King also authored several books and articles during this time. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s niece has said he was a Republican, but the civil-rights leader's party affiliation remains a mystery to scholars. The speech and march cemented King’s reputation at home and abroad; later that year he was named “Man of the Year” by TIME magazine and in 1964 became, at the time, the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. There are over 730 streets in the United States named after Martin Luther King, Jr. King also advocated for nonviolent methods of protest, and he organized and staged countless marches and boycotts. Why MLK's Right-Hand Man, Bayard Rustin, Was Nearly Written Out of History, For Martin Luther King Jr., Nonviolent Protest Never Meant ‘Wait and See’, 7 Things You May Not Know About MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Why Martin Luther King’s Family Believes James Earl Ray Was Not His Killer. “If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do … Martin Luther King, Jr., original name Michael King, Jr., (born January 15, 1929, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.—died April 4, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee), Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and, at the time, he was the youngest person to have done so. In his role as SCLC president, Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled across the country and around the world, giving lectures on nonviolent protest and civil rights as well as meeting with religious figures, activists and political leaders. His leadership was fundamental to that movement’s success in ending the legal segregation of African Americans in the South and other parts of the United States. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, the second child of Martin Luther King Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher. Dr. King was very clever. The couple wed in 1953 and settled in Montgomery, Alabama, where King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Must-Reads. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Did you know? Arrested for his involvement on April 12, King penned the civil rights manifesto known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” an eloquent defense of civil disobedience addressed to a group of white clergymen who had criticized his tactics. Martin Luther King Jr. was targeted by the FBI for being “the most dangerous Negro of the future in … King’s mentor at Morehouse was the college president, Benjamin Mays, a social gospel activist whose rich oratory and progressive ideas had left an indelible imprint on King’s father. According to the King Center, the civil rights leader went to jail …