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Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
Martin King, Jr., was born in Atlanta. His father was a minister at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and took Martin on a trip to Europe and the Middle East when he was five. During that trip his father gave him his middle name Luther.
King attended a segregated high school in Atlanta before enrolling at Morehouse College at age 15. He graduated at 19 with a degree in Sociology. He then obtained a B.Div. from Crozier Seminary (PA) in 1951 and a Ph.D. from Boston University in 1955. During his studies for the ministry he began preaching, and in 1954 he became pastor at a church in Montgomery.
King first became prominent when he helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white patron on a segregated bus. He helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957 to organize non-violent civil rights protests, and quickly became a national leader. In 1959, he became co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church with his father. King was arrested 29 times for participating in protests, but this did not deter him his quest to achieve racial equality through non-violent protest. King’s efforts to achieve civil rights for blacks won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was assassinated outside a motel in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968; the motel is now part of a civil rights museum that commemorates his achievements.
Letter from the Birmingham Jail (1963)
In April 1963, Martin Luther King was arrested for organizing a civil rights demonstration in Birmingham, Alabama. While detained in the city jail, he wrote a letter to his fellow clergymen on scraps of paper and old newspapers. King explained that non-violent confrontation was necessary to convince white Americans and their political leaders to end racial segregation and require equality for people of all races. He claimed to be an “extremist for justice” and compared himself to famous religious leaders including Jesus of Nazareth and Martin Luther. He urged his fellow clergymen to support his campaign, implicitly suggesting that the alternative was violent protest and bloodshed.
My dear fellow clergymen:
While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities “unwise and untimely.” Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.
I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against “outsiders coming in.” I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christi