Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
1929-1968
Martin Luther King, Jr. born Michael, but changed his name later to Martin. Martin attended a segregated school in Georgia and graduated high school at the age of 15. He received a B.A. in 1948, from Morehouse College, which is a distinguished Negro institution where is father and grandfather graduated. He received his doctorate in 1955. He married Coretta Scott and he had two daughters and two sons.
In 1954, he became a pastor for the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was always involved in civil rights of his race and became the member of the executive committee of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People: he was arrested, had bodily harm done to him, and his house was bombed.
His leadership was based on Gandhi's philosophies without "violence." He traveled over 6 million miles and spoke over twenty- five hundred times whenever there was injustice, protest and action. He caught the eye of the world with his massive protests. His famous letter "from Birmingham Jail" calling for a declaration of policy to allow Negros to vote and he conducted a peaceful march in Washington D.C., of 250,000 people, where he delivered his address "I Have a Dream." He exchanged views with John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson.
During his lifetime he was arrested 20x, assaulted at least 4x and was awarded 5 honorary degrees. He was named man of the Year by Time Magazine in 1963, and became a symbolic leader for American blacks and a world figure. He was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and gave the prize money of $54,123 to further the civil rights movement.
In 1954, he became a pastor for the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was always involved in civil rights of his race and became the member of the executive committee of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People: he was arrested, had bodily harm done to him, and his house was bombed.
His leadership was based on Gandhi's philosophies without "violence." He traveled over 6 million miles and spoke over twenty- five hundred times whenever there was injustice, protest and action. He caught the eye of the world with his massive protests. His famous letter "from Birmingham Jail" calling for a declaration of policy to allow Negros to vote and he conducted a peaceful march in Washington D.C., of 250,000 people, where he delivered his address "I Have a Dream." He exchanged views with John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson.
During his lifetime he was arrested 20x, assaulted at least 4x and was awarded 5 honorary degrees. He was named man of the Year by Time Magazine in 1963, and became a symbolic leader for American blacks and a world figure. He was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and gave the prize money of $54,123 to further the civil rights movement.
He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 while standing on his balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee. He was suppose to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of Memphis.
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