Life of Martin

By: Habibata Sylla

1929

Martin Luther king was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia to two parents. His mother was Alberta King, a school teacher. His father was Martin Luther King, a baptist minister. Martin, who was born the second of his parents' three children, had an elder sister Willie Christine King and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King.

1948-1951

King Graduated from high school at age 15 and went to Morehouse College shortly thereafter. He Received his BA in sociology from Morehouse College at age 19 in 1948. After graduating from Morehouse in 1948, King attended the liberal Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He was elected valedictorian of his class in 1951 and elected student body president. He also earned a fellowship for graduate study.

1953

In 1953 he married Coretta Scott. At the time she was a conservatory music student at Lincoln university.

1954

He followed in his father’s footsteps and became a preacher at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

1955

After graduating from seminary college he enrolled in a Boston university PhD program and earned his PhD in systematic theology.

1955

After Rosa Parks' arrest, King, while ministering, decided to lead a bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama. 90 percent of African American bus riders refused to ride the bus. Ministers in the city decided to meet together and discuss extending the boycott. King spoke to thousands of African Americans to inform them of the decision and delivered a powerful speech. The MIA was then formed and King was elected president. King was viewed a leader and gained national attention.

1956

As a result of King's activism the courts decided to desegregate buses and white racists bombed his house in Alabama, though nobody was hurt. King was returning from a meeting when he discovered this news.

1957

This was the first speech that Martin prepared. He presented it in front of approximately 30,000 people. The speech was about voting rights giving him a higher position in the civil rights leadership.

1957

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

King and some other southern black ministers met to discuss different ways to solve segregation. During this time, Martin became chairman for the “Southern negro leaders with transportation and nonviolence integration.”

1958

King survived his first assassination attempt. King was nearly murdered in a department store when a man walked up to him and stabbed him with a seven inch knife. He was rushed into surgery.

1960

King Went to india to study nonviolence and civil disobedience. King said: “While the Montgomery boycott was going on, India’s Gandhi was the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change. We spoke of him often. So as soon as our victory over bus segregation was won, some of my friends said 'Why don’t you go to India and see for yourself what the Mahatma, whom you admire, has wrought.'”

1960

King joined his father as co pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

1963

King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech in Washington to about 250,000 people.

1963

King was jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham. He wrote the Letter From Birmingham City Jail, arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws.

1964

Congress passed Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment.

1965

Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which suspended (later banned) literacy tests and other restrictions to prevent blacks from voting.

1966

King turned toward economic issues. The SCLC moved the civil rights struggle to the North and opened a Chicago office to organize protests against housing and employment discrimination.

1967

King published Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?

1968

King was assassinated in Memphis during a visit to support striking black garbage collectors. Violent riots erupted in more than 100 U.S. cities.

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