Leader´s
Biography
Find out about what makes Martin Luther King Jr. a true
LEADER.
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Martin Luther King, Jr., was a great man who worked for racial equality and civil rights in the United States of America. He was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Why He is A Leader
Martin Luther King Jr. won a Nobel Prize in 1964 For Civil Rights and Social Justice. dreamt that all inhabitants of the United States would be judged by their personal qualities and not by the color of their skin. In April 1968 he was murdered by a white racist. Four years earlier, he had received the Peace Prize for his nonviolent campaign against racism. During the 1950's, Dr. King became active in the movement for civil rights and racial equality. He participated in the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott and many other peaceful demonstrations that protested the unfair treatment of African-Americans.
18 Interesting Facts About
Martin Luther King Jr.
1) His name was originally Michael, not Martin.
2) At the age of 12, he seems to have tried to commit suicide.
3) King wasn’t the only one to die at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968.
4) Also on the day King was killed, he was out on the balcony for a smoke.
5) Martin Luther King Jr. was nearly assassinated a decade earlier than his ultimate death.
6) King Jr. skipped two grades in high school, 9th and 11th, and entered college (Moorehouse College) at the tender age of 15 in 1944.
7) He almost didn’t become a minister.
8) Although King today is often remembered as being an amazing public speaker, he got a C in public speaking during his first year at seminary.
9) His honeymoon was spent at a funeral parlor… not because someone died, simply because a friend owned the parlor and offered to let him use it for his honeymoon.
10) King convinced “Uhura” on Star Trek, Nichelle Nichols (who incidentally later went on to work for NASA), to continue on with the role after the first season.
11) King is to date the youngest male to win a Nobel Peace Prize, winning it in 1964 at the age of 35 (at the time he was the youngest overall for the Peace Prize).
12) King donated all of the $54,123 (about $400,000 today) he received for his Nobel Peace Prize to the Civil Rights movement.
13) King won a Grammy and was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal and a Medal of Freedom.
14) His house was once bombed.
15) His mother, Alberta Williams King, was also murdered.
16) King Jr.’s autopsy revealed that stress had taken a major toll on his body.
17) It wasn’t until the year 2000 that all 50 states officially observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
18) His “I Have a Dream” speech painted an even bigger target before on his back, not just with certain people in the general public, but with the FBI.