Martin Luther King Jr . Civil Rights Activist , Minister ( 1929 – 1968 )
Martin Luther King Jr . was a Baptist minister and social activist , who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968 .
Synopsis
Martin Luther King Jr . was born on January 15 , 1929 , in Atlanta , Georgia . King , a Baptist minister and civil-rights activist , had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States , beginning in the mid-1950s . Among his many efforts , King headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference . Through his activism and inspirational speeches he played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the United States , as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 , among several other honors . He was assassinated in April 1968 , and continues to be remembered as one of the most influential and inspirational African-American leaders in history .
Early Years
Born as Michael King Jr . on January 15 , 1929 , Martin Luther King Jr . was the middle child of Michael King Sr . and Alberta Williams King . The King and Williams families were rooted in rural Georgia . Martin Jr .’ s grandfather , A . D . Williams , was a rural minister for years and then moved to Atlanta in 1893 . He took over the small , struggling Ebenezer Baptist church with around 13 members and made it into a forceful congregation . He married Jennie Celeste Parks and they had one child that survived , Alberta . Michael King Sr . came from a sharecropper family in a poor farming community . He married Alberta in 1926 after an eight-year courtship . The newlyweds moved to A . D . Williams home in Atlanta .
Michael King Sr . stepped in as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church upon the death of his fatherin-law in 1931 . He too became a successful minister , and adopted the name Martin Luther King Sr . in honor of the German Protestant religious leader Martin Luther . In due time , Michael Jr . would follow his father ’ s lead and adopt the name himself .
Young Martin had an older sister , Willie Christine , and a younger brother , Alfred Daniel Williams King . The King children grew up in a secure and loving environment . Martin Sr . was more the disciplinarian , while his wife ’ s gentleness easily balanced out the father ’ s more strict hand . Though they undoubtedly tried , Martin Jr .’ s parents couldn ’ t shield him completely from racism . Martin Luther King Sr . fought against racial prejudice , not just because his race suffered , but because he considered racism and segregation to be an affront to God ’ s will . He strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority in his children which left a lasting impression on Martin Jr .
12 December Edition