Short biography of martin luther
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are. A look at one of the defining social movements in U.
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Dewi irawan biography of martin luther king
You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States. Your Profile. Email Updates. King to communism. The FBI even went so far as to write him a threatening letter, anonymous at the time. King believed the letter had implied for him to commit suicide. In the later s, Martin Luther King Jr. King wanted to occupy Washington, D.
On April 4th, , at the age of 38, Dr. Michael King Sr. King attended segregated schools and graduated from high school at age 15, and in he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Morehouse College in Atlanta in While in Boston, King met music student Coretta Scott. The two eventually married and had two daughters and two sons.
King contemplated an academic career but ultimately followed his father and grandfather to the pulpit. In , when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man and was arrested, local leaders formed an organization to protest Parks' arrest and chose King to head the group.
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In this role, he became the primary spokesperson for what would become the day Montgomery Bus Boycott. During the boycott, King was abused and arrested, and his house was bombed, but he remained a stalwart and committed leader. Related: 7 reasons America still needs civil rights movements. King's activism, leadership and ministry drew heavily on his Christian principles as well as the nonviolent teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.
King skillfully drew upon a wide range of theological and philosophical influences to mobilize Black churches and communities and to appeal for white support.
Biography of martin luther king: Martin Luther King, Jr., was a visionary leader and advocate for equality who spearheaded the civil rights movement in America through nonviolent protests, inspiring lasting change and leaving an enduring legacy.
He turned from an untouchable view of God to a more supportive, reassuring concept, describing God as "a living reality that has been validated in the experiences of everyday life. After the Supreme Court outlawed bus segregation, King helped expand the civil rights movement throughout the South. He also traveled and spoke widely, spreading the message of nonviolent protest; wrote five books; organized voting drives; led peaceful protests and marches; and was arrested more than 20 times.
Related: 13 significant protests that changed the course of history. In , King led a nonviolent protest in highly segregated Birmingham, Alabama. When they refused to leave the counter area, King and 36 others were arrested. Soon after, King was imprisoned for violating his probation on a traffic conviction. The news of his imprisonment entered the presidential campaign when candidate John F.
Kennedy expressed his concern over the harsh treatment Martin received for the traffic ticket, and political pressure was quickly set in motion. King was soon released. In the spring of , King organized a demonstration in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. With entire families in attendance, city police turned dogs and fire hoses on demonstrators.
King was jailed, along with large numbers of his supporters. The event drew nationwide attention. However, King was personally criticized by Black and white clergy alike for taking risks and endangering the children who attended the demonstration. The demonstration was the brainchild of labor leader A. On August 28, , the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom drew an estimated , people in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial.
It remains one of the largest peaceful demonstrations in American history. The rising tide of civil rights agitation that had culminated in the March on Washington produced a strong effect on public opinion. This resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of , authorizing the federal government to enforce desegregation of public accommodations and outlawing discrimination in publicly owned facilities.
But the Selma march quickly turned violent as police with nightsticks and tear gas met the demonstrators as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The attack was televised, broadcasting the horrifying images of marchers being bloodied and severely injured to a wide audience.
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Not to be deterred, activists attempted the Selma-to-Montgomery march again. This time, King made sure he was part of it. Because a federal judge had issued a temporary restraining order on another march, a different approach was taken. On March 9, , a procession of 2, marchers, both Black and white, set out once again to cross the Pettus Bridge and confronted barricades and state troopers.
Instead of forcing a confrontation, King led his followers to kneel in prayer, then they turned back. Johnson pledged his support and ordered U. Army troops and the Alabama National Guard to protect the protestors. On March 21, , approximately 2, people began a march from Selma to Montgomery. On March 25, the number of marchers, which had grown to an estimated 25, gathered in front of the state capitol where King delivered a televised speech.
Five months after the historic peaceful protest, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act. Standing at the Lincoln Memorial, he emphasized his belief that someday all men could be brothers to the ,strong crowd. Six years before he told the world of his dream, King stood at the same Lincoln Memorial steps as the final speaker of the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom.
Dismayed by the ongoing obstacles to registering Black voters, King urged leaders from various backgrounds—Republican and Democrat, Black and white—to work together in the name of justice. Speaking at the University of Oslo in Norway, King pondered why he was receiving the Nobel Prize when the battle for racial justice was far from over, before acknowledging that it was in recognition of the power of nonviolent resistance.
He then compared the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement to the ground crew at an airport who do the unheralded-yet-necessary work to keep planes running on schedule. At the end of the bitterly fought Selma-to-Montgomery march, King addressed a crowd of 25, supporters from the Alabama State Capitol. Offering a brief history lesson on the roots of segregation, King emphasized that there would be no stopping the effort to secure full voting rights, while suggesting a more expansive agenda to come with a call to march on poverty.
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Explaining why his conscience had forced him to speak up, King expressed concern for the poor American soldiers pressed into conflict thousands of miles from home, while pointedly faulting the U. The well-known orator delivered his final speech the day before he died at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. They were married on June 18, , and had four children—two daughters and two sons—over the next decade.
The couple welcomed Bernice King in In addition to raising the children while Martin travelled the country, Coretta opened their home to organizational meetings and served as an advisor and sounding board for her husband. His lengthy absences became a way of life for their children, but Martin III remembered his father returning from the road to join the kids playing in the yard or bring them to the local YMCA for swimming.
Leery of accumulating wealth as a high-profile figure, Martin Jr. However, he was known to splurge on good suits and fine dining, while contrasting his serious public image with a lively sense of humor among friends and family. Due to his relationships with alleged Communists, King became a target of FBI surveillance and, from late until his death, a campaign to discredit the civil rights activist.
Edgar Hoover , which urged King to kill himself if he wanted to prevent news of his dalliances from going public. In , historian David Garrow wrote of explosive new allegations against King following his review of recently released FBI documents. Among the discoveries was a memo suggesting that King had encouraged the rape of a parishioner in a hotel room as well as evidence that he might have fathered a daughter with a mistress.