Laton mccartney biography of martin luther king

So black and white people were kept apart, eating in different restaurants, travelling in different parts of buses and it was hard for black people to vote against the people who made these laws. There, in front of a huge crowd and with many more people tuned to their TV and Radio, he told of his dream that his children would one day live in a nation where they wouldn't be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

People everywhere, began to share Dr. King's dream and knew that the racist laws had to change. Not everyone agreed though. But the changes he started continued after he died and so he's remembered. Remembering a strong man and brilliant speaker. Back in time with Astonishing Activists. This is Dr. Day of Service as a federal holiday.

The only national day of service, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first celebrated in The first time all 50 states recognized the holiday was in Had he lived, King would be turning 96 years old this year. See Martin Luther King Jr. Through his nonviolent activism and inspirational speeches , he played a pivotal role in ending legal segregation of Black Americans as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of and the Voting Rights Act of King won the Nobel Peace Prize in , among several other honors.

He continues to be remembered as one of the most influential and inspirational Black leaders in history. Originally, his name was Michael Luther King Jr. Michael Sr. In due time, Michael Jr. His mother was Alberta Williams King. The Williams and King families had roots in rural Georgia. Martin Jr. Williams, was a rural minister for years and then moved to Atlanta in 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 who survived, Alberta. Martin Sr. He married Alberta in after an eight-year courtship. The newlyweds moved to A. Martin stepped in as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church upon the death of his father-in-law in He, too, became a successful minister. A middle child, Martin Jr. The King children grew up in a secure and loving environment.

Although they undoubtedly tried, Martin Jr. He strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority in his children, which left a lasting impression on Martin Jr. His baptism in May was less memorable for young King, but an event a few years later left him reeling. In May , when King was 12 years old, his grandmother Jennie died of a heart attack.

Distraught at the news, he jumped from a second-story window at the family home, allegedly attempting suicide. Growing up in Atlanta, King entered public school at age 5. He later attended Booker T. Washington High School, where he was said to be a precocious student. He skipped both the ninth and eleventh grades and, at age 15, entered Morehouse College in Atlanta in He was a popular student, especially with his female classmates, but largely unmotivated, floating through his first two years.

Influenced by his experiences with racism, King began planting the seeds for a future as a social activist early in his time at Morehouse. At the time, King felt that the best way to serve that purpose was as a lawyer or a doctor. Although his family was deeply involved in the church and worship, King questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional displays of religious worship.

But in his junior year at Morehouse, King took a Bible class, renewed his faith, and began to envision a career in the ministry. In the fall of his senior year, he told his father of his decision, and he was ordained at Ebenezer Baptist Church in February Later that year, King earned a sociology degree from Morehouse College and began attended the liberal Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.

He thrived in all his studies, was elected student body president, and was valedictorian of his class in He also earned a fellowship for graduate study.

Laton mccartney biography of martin luther king

He became romantically involved with a white woman and went through a difficult time before he could break off the relationship. Mays was an outspoken advocate for racial equality and encouraged King to view Christianity as a potential force for social change. After being accepted at several colleges for his doctoral study, King enrolled at Boston University.

However, King always remained committed to the ideals of non-violent struggle. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X briefly meet in before going to listen to a Senate debate about civil rights in Washington. Martin Luther King was an inspirational and influential speaker; he had the capacity to move and uplift his audiences. In particular, he could offer a vision of hope.

He captured the injustice of the time but also felt that this injustice was like a passing cloud. King frequently made references to God, the Bible and his Christian Faith. So we begin to love our enemies and love those persons that hate us whether in collective life or individual life by looking at ourselves. His speeches were largely free of revenge, instead focusing on the need to move forward.

With the prestige of the Nobel Prize, King was increasingly consulted by politicians such as Lyndon Johnson. On April 4th, , King was assassinated. Emboldened by the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in he and other civil rights activists—most of them fellow ministers—founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference SCLC , a group committed to achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest.

In King and his family moved to Atlanta, his native city, where he joined his father as co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. This new position did not stop King and his SCLC colleagues from becoming key players in many of the most significant civil rights battles of the s. With the slogan, "I am a man," workers in Memphis sought financial justice in a strike that fatefully became Martin Luther King Jr.

King penned of the civil rights movement's seminal texts while in solitary confinement, initially on the margins of a newspaper. The civil rights leader was attacked in by Izola Ware Curry, a decade before his murder. Later that year, Martin Luther King Jr. Held on August 28 and attended by some , to , participants, the event is widely regarded as a watershed moment in the history of the American civil rights movement and a factor in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of Captured on television, the brutal scene outraged many Americans and inspired supporters from across the country to gather in Alabama and take part in the Selma to Montgomery march led by King and supported by President Lyndon B.

Johnson , who sent in federal troops to keep the peace. As more militant Black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism to address issues such as the Vietnam War and poverty among Americans of all races.