CHAT post on MLK's Assassination 50th Anniversary (A year later)
MLK was born Michael King Jr. on January 15th 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia to Michael Senior and Alberta Williams King. In 1934, his father, who had taken the role as pastor at the Ebenezer’s Baptist Church in Atlanta from his grandfather, was inspired after a trip to Germany by the Protestant Reformation leader, Martin Luther, and had his and his young son’s name changed.
Martin attended a segregated school, Booker T. Washington High School, where his skills as a great speaker became evident on his debate team. In his junior year, he won an oratorical contest sponsored by the Negro Elks Club in Dublin, Georgia. When he was returning home with his teacher from the contest, both were told by the bus driver to stand to make seats for the white passengers. A young headstrong Martin wanted to refuse but his teacher convinced him that he should abide because the consequences would be an arrest. King said that during this incident, he was "the angriest I have ever been in my life."
At the age of 15, after skipping grades 9 and 12, King began his higher education at his grandfather and father’s alma mater, Morehouse College in 1944. At this time, Martin was questioning his faith but, with the help of the school’s president, theologian Benjamin E. Mays, he decided to follow in his father and grandfather’s footsteps. He was ordained before graduating Morehouse with a degree in sociology.
Martin took his first steps into activism at this time as well by writing a letter to the editor of the Atlanta Constitution. In the letter he stated that African Americans were “entitled to the basic rights and opportunities of American citizens.”
After graduating Morehouse, King went on to attend Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania from which he graduated 3 years later in 1951 with a bachelors of divinity. He then went to Boston University to work on his doctorate.
On June 18, 1953, he married Coretta Scott, who he met while in Boston. Scott was a student and aspiring singer studying at the New England Conservatory of Music. The couple parented 4 children and in 1954 King was named pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery.
In 1955, King received his PhD in systematic theology from Boston university. His dissertation was titled “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman” and during his studies he worked as an assistant minister at the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
In March 1955, a 15 year old girl named Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. One can only imagine how this brought up the old feelings King had from his incident went he was a teen having that urge to refuse giving up his seat on his trip back from winning his oratorical contest, as he was on the committee of the Birmingham african american community that looked into whether or not they could make a case.
However, it was decided, because Colvin was a minor, that they’d wait for another occurrence to pursue and in Dec that same year, Rosa Parks, became just that. These two incidents led to the 381 day Montgomery Bus Boycott in which King was chosen by the community to lead.
During the boycott, on January 30, 1956, King’s house was bombed as his wife Coretta and a fellow congregation member, Mary Lucy William’s was in it. Luckily the two heard what sounded like a brick striking the floor of the front porch and moved to the back of the house for safety before the explosion. Martin was also arrested and subject to much abuse during the boycott and beyond.This did not deter him or his family.
On September 30th 1956, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the protesters stating that the segregation of the Alabama bus system was unconstitutional. King’s methods of non-violent protest and this win solidified him as a major figure in the civil right’s movement.
King, along with about 60 other ministers and activists formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. With Martin as president, the SCLC began conducting demonstrations and registered people to vote all over the south. King was inspired by both his faith and the teachings of the Indian activist, Mahatma Ghandi, to used non-violent methods, such as protests, boycotts and sit-ins, even when these were met with violent attacks on himself, his family and his fellow protesters.
From 1957 to 1968, he traveled all over the country, delivering over 2500 speeches and writing 5 books and countless articles. His most famous speech is called “I have a dream” and was delivered symbolically at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 in front of over 250,000 people. During this speech he made a proclamation that people should not be judged by the color of their skin but rather by the content of their character.
During this time, sadly, the bombing was not the only attempt on his and his family’s life and he was also arrested almost 30 times. Most of these were from trumped up charges such as the time in 1956 in Montgomery when he was arrested for driving 30 miles per hour in a 25 miles per hour zone.
Because of his pursuit to champion the rights of those who had very little, at the age of 35, Martin Luther King Jr. became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He also had been honored by leaders from all over the world.
In April of 1968, MLK was in Memphis to lead a protest for striking sanitation worker’s rights, he delivered his speech titled “I’ve been to the Mountaintop”. In the speech, he talks of how if God gave him the opportunity to live at any time in history, he would choose right where he was. He goes on to say
“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!”
This would be the last speech he would give as the next day, on April 4th 1968, while standing on his motel room’s balcony, he was shot and killed.
Though he died that day, his legacy lives on and, sadly, 50 years later we are still fighting for equality in this country and around the world but we always have his words and the content of his own character to guide us through the fight. And fight we will, for some day every single person will all be able to declare “Free at last. Free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
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