Martin Luther KingJr. (1929-1968) was a Baptist pastor and a leading black leader in the fight against racial discrimination in the United States.
A political activist, Martin demanded decent wages and more jobs for the black population. In addition, he defended women's rights and was against the Vietnam War.
Biography of Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta on January 15, 1929. Both his grandfather and father were pastors of the Baptist church, and Martin decided to follow this path.
Graduated in sociology at "Morehouse College"in 1948 Martin Luther King continued his studies at the Theological Seminary Crozer, in 1951. Later, in 1955, he earned a doctorate in Systematic Theology from Boston University. There, he would meet his future wife, Coretta Scott King, with whom he would have four children.
During his childhood and adolescence, he lived the segregationist politics that prevailed in the state of Atlanta. Therefore, from the beginning of his career, King was an activist within the black movement that fought for civil equality between blacks and whites.
After his theological studies, King served as a pastor at a church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was a member of the "National Association for the Advancement of People of Color" (NAACP).
King was one of the leaders in 1955 of the Montgomery city bus boycott. The act of protest began as a result of the Rosa Parks case, a black woman who was arrested for refusing to give up her place to a white man on the bus.
The boycott lasted 382 days and was successful when the US Supreme Court outlawed racial discrimination on public transport. However, during this time, King was arrested, his house bombed and several attacks suffered.
In addition, Martin was one of the founders of the 1957 "Southern Christian Leadership Conference" (SCLC) and was its first Chair. At first, CLCS was made up of black communities linked to Baptist churches, and King led it until his death.
Death of Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, while preparing for yet another civilian march.
There is still doubt about the real authorship of this crime, since King was hated by racist groups spread across the South of the United States.
Posthumous Tributes to Martin Luther King
Martin was posthumously honored with the “Presidential Medal of Freedom” in 1977 and the “Gold Medal” of the US Congress in 2004.
Additionally, in 1986, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a US federal holiday.
Luther King and the non-violence strategy
His fighting strategy was the method of non-violence and the preaching of love for others, inspired by Christian ideas. Likewise, he practiced the civil disobedience used by Mahatma Gandhi during India's independence.
By opting for peaceful revolution, Luther King provoked the wrath of authorities and racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, who violently attacked their supporters and King himself.
He also encountered resistance among other black activist groups who used violent methods and/or speeches such as the “Black Panthers” and the Muslim Malcon-X.
Speech: I have a dream
The most important civil demonstration promoted by King was the "March on Washington" in 1963, which brought together 250,000 people. In addition, there were characters like Rosa Parks and artist Josephine Baker.
At this moment he made the famous speech "I have a dream" (I Have a Dream):
I tell you today, my friends, that despite the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its belief: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day in the Red Mountains of Georgia the children of former slaves and the children of former slaveholders will be able to sit at the table of the fraternity.
I have a dream that one day the state of Mississippi, a desert state, suffocated by the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged on the color of their skin, but on the quality of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, with its evil racists, whose lips the governor now utters words of refusal, will be turned into a condition where little black boys, and black girls, can hold hands with other little white boys, and white girls, walking together, side by side, like brothers and sisters.
Watch the speech in full:
Martin Luther King Phrases
- What worries me is not the scream of the bad guys. It's the silence of the good guys.
- In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
- If a man hasn't found anything he would die for, he's not ready to live.
- Whoever accepts evil without protest, cooperates with it.
- We learn to fly like birds and swim like fish, but we don't learn to live together like brothers.
See too: Phrases for Black Consciousness Day
Curiosities about Martin Luther King
- His legal name at birth was "Michael King".
- Martin was the youngest man to receive the "Nobel Peace Prize" in 1964.
- He was detained 20 times and attacked 4 more, always for denouncing some injustice against African descendants.
- James Earl Ray, the alleged murderer of Martin Luther King Jr, confessed to the crime, but soon afterwards repudiated his confession.
Be sure to read other texts about personalities:
- Black conscience day
- Brazilian Black Personalities
- Inspiring Black Women
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Nelson Mandela
