Martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition

Instead of simply dropping off Johns, King stayed for dinner and struck up a friendship with the Abernathys that would last until his death. On the fifth of that month King delivered his initial sermon. During that year he finished his dissertation and was awarded the Ph. Next came the birth of his first daughter, Yolanda Denise, on November 17, This was followed by the historic arrest of Rosa Parks on December 1,for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white rider.

The results of this arrest would change the history of the South forever. For several years the NAACP had been looking for an appropriate case arising from an arrest of an African American for violating the city bus segregation ordinance. Nixon, the leading civil rights activist in the city, rejected them as inadequate test cases. However, it was a different story with the universally respected Rosa Parks, and when approached she agreed to permit herself to become the test case the NAACP wanted.

In order to activate the protest, Robinson worked all night at her office at the university, mimeographing a leaflet to be circulated through the churches and other council contacts. Those attending the meeting agreed to the legal challenge and the bus boycott and condensed the leaflet prepared by Robinson, which called for a mass meeting to spread the details about it.

On that Sunday both King and Abernathy announced to their congregations that the boycott was on. The leading white newspaper, the Montgomery Advertiser, got copies of both leaflets from white women who had received them from their maids and printed a story to warn the white community about what was coming, but the article also informed other African Americans who had not heard about the forthcoming boycott.

The boycott meant that some 20, of the 40, African Americans in the city would not use public transportation, making it necessary for the leaders of the action to establish private transportation arrangements for participants. But this heavy show of police force scared away the few African Americans who wanted to. Parks was convicted in court; her lawyer, Fred Gray, filed an appeal; and Nixon posted her bond.

Just as they left the courtroom, a massive crowd of African Americans met them in the hallway and urged further action. Such an unexpected show of support led Nixon, Abernathy, and others to immediately assemble and call for a new mass meeting that evening. At that meeting, King was elected president of the organization and a name was voted on for the boycott organization.

It was named the Montgomery Improvement Association. But before they decided on whether to make the one-day boycott a longer one, they decided to wait and see the actual turnout at the mass meeting that evening. The first indication that the moment of decision had arrived was martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition King and his college friend, who was giving him a ride to the Holt Street Baptist Church, could not get within ten blocks of the church.

Eventually, King had to exit the car and walk for nearly fifteen minutes to reach the church and push his way inside. He was called to the pulpit and gave a stirring address. Afterward, it was clear that the long boycott was on and only the details needed to be worked out. However, the extension of the boycott forced it to move from a taxi-based system providing transportation to the participants to a volunteer car-pool arrangement.

Such changes brought a host of problems and white pressures to cripple the MIA leadership and its system of helpful transportation. On June 4,a panel of three federal judges voted 2 to 1 to declare bus segregation in Montgomery unconstitutional. Next came the Supreme Court decision on November 13,that upheld and affirmed the lower court decision.

But the city had the right to ask the Court for reconsideration, which it did. On December 17 the Court rejected the city appeal, and the final court order to the city arrived on December The successful boycott had lasted days and in the process had made King a national figure. Out of the Montgomery protest came not only the ascendancy of King but also the creation of a new civil rights organization for African Americans in the South.

During the wait for the final court order to the city, the MIA hosted a weeklong conference called Institute on Nonviolence and Social Change. A few notable outsiders and several ministers around the South who were leading bus boycotts in other cities or planning to set them in motion met on December 3—9. The meeting permitted the sharing of ideas and strategies and the creation of lifelong friendships.

Shortly after Christmas, King traveled to Baltimore to make a speech and met master march organizer Bayard Rustin and several of his friends.

Martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition: Martin Luther King Jr.

Rustin and a New York lawyer, Stanley Levison, told King that the now successful boycott showed that a regionwide movement against segregation was now possible. After discussing this with King, who was interested in a regional organization, Rustin and Levison drafted a memo of ideas and proposed a title: Southern Leadership Conference on Transportation.

King moved to sell the idea and issued a call for the conference. On February 14 a second meeting of the conference was held in New Orleansand King informed the group that President Dwight Eisenhower and his attorney general had failed to respond to their request for federal help and intervention. He told the conference that they should hold a prayer pilgrimage in Washington, D.

Following the second conference meeting, King and his wife went to the independence celebration of the new African nation Ghana, where he met Vice President Richard Nixon and discussed a possible formal meeting with him. Back in the United Stateshe met with A. After a second meeting, May 17 was chosen because it was the third anniversary of the Brown v.

Board of Education Supreme Court decision. The SCLC would coordinate civil rights protests around the South, and when needed, King would arrive to help local leaders and local movements. The creation of this new organization angered the secretary of the NAACP, Roy Wilkinsfor he knew it would attract monies that would otherwise have come to his organization.

King was made the first president of this organization. The successful Montgomery bus boycott created its own dynamism both inside the African American community and in white communities across the South. The civil rights gains in the black community of Montgomery, Alabama, were perceived by some in the white community as a loss. Nevertheless, there had been success in only one southern city, and numerous other southern cities were unaffected.

Segregation in these cities stood firm. Such locales became targets for civil rights activists as well as rallying points for opponents of change. Albany, Georgia, was just such a place. The Montgomery bus boycott not only illuminated these hamlets of white supremacy but also energized other groups in various African American communities. One of the first energized groups undertook the successful student soda fountain sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolinain February This group was looking to mobilize in other locales, hoping to remove the shackles of the past.

They got help from a new presidential administration. Democrat John F. Kennedy was elected in Novemberand upon taking office he appointed his brother Robert Kennedy as his attorney general. Before they took office the Freedom Rides were under way. The Supreme Court decision pertaining to Montgomery was supposed to lead the attorney general to forcing the Interstate Commerce Commission to set up new rules and regulations to integrate bus facilities across the South.

Many southern locales ignored rules banning segregation, as they had ignored the Supreme Court decision in Morgan v. Virginia in that had banned racial discrimination in bus transportation. Thus began a local protest movement that eventuated in a call to King for help because local white political resistance and intransigence and a creative and inventive sheriff had outmaneuvered the youthful and inexperienced leaders.

Although King went to jail with the local leaders, many in the community, black and white, opposed inviting King from the outset and continued to do so even after he arrived. Shrewd white leaders who had stalled a settlement proffered one if he would leave. King exited the jail, and no settlement came. Eventually, they prevailed.

The Albany Movement got little more than verbal promises and no implementation. From this event, King and his staff learned that it would be better if he selected his own sites to conduct battles rather than trying to rescue one that had already faltered and was in deep trouble. In addition, they learned that it was essential to have the federal government intervene rather than standing on the sidelines acting as a neutral observer.

Thus, the stage was set for a new site and new struggle. The Birmingham protest began on April 3,just before the Easter shopping season. To protect segregation and white supremacy in the city, he unleashed dogs, fire hoses, billy clubs, cattle prods, police on horseback, police brutality, police beatings of women and children, and endless racial epithets and slurs.

This use of brute force shocked the nation, its political elites, and the international community. Internationally, colonialism was being displaced by the rise of new nations in African and Asia. The United States and the Soviet Union were competing for the loyalty and alignment of these new nations and their allegiance in the cold war.

Walker, who chose Birmingham for the next confrontation, did so precisely because of the presence of Connor and his reputation for vigorously defending segregation at all costs. It turned out to be a major media attention getter and created a national crisis for the federal government. While King struggled in Birmingham, efforts by labor leader A.

Philip Randolph to create and set into motion a march on Washington were coming to fruition. Eventually, Randolph persuaded all the major civil rights leaders to back the march on Washington plan, and on July 17,President Kennedy endorsed the march during a press conference. Suggestions were made, and some were accepted by the president in the seventy-two-minute meeting.

King had been in Washington before with his prayer pilgrimage inbut this was even greater and much more was at stake. Unlike the march, this time King was not only a national figure but an international one. Despite such lofty moments, there were numerous protests and endless acts of violence and resistance to attend to while the new civil rights bill worked its way through Congress.

Throughout the South, local bastions of segregation still fiercely defended that institution. Albany still had not relinquished its stiff prosecutions of the protesters, hoping that their diehard resistance would reverse the favorable course of events for the protesters. The worst example of this violence came on September 15 when a bomb at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham killed four young girls attending Sunday.

By the next month, President Kennedy was assassinated. To King and other civil rights leaders, the pressure placed on the White House by Birmingham and the March on Washington eventuated into nothing. Little did he know what Vice President Lyndon Johnson would do when he assumed the presidency. With Johnson in the White House, national civil rights legislation would advance further and faster than ever before.

AugustineFlorida, as a new site to attack segregation. On May 18,King made his first visit and prepared to lead demonstrations and marches against the city, which had decided to hold out against any kind of concessions. Elsewhere, the SNCC and several other civil rights groups in Mississippi had instituted the Freedom Summer in to register as many African Americans as possible to vote.

King was asked to intervene and help the challenge. He agreed, but before the challenge took place, the civil rights bill became law on July 2. There was a White House ceremony for the signing of this historic bill. Yet in other parts of the nation, race riots broke out and continued during what was called the long hot summer. King, despite a broken foot, stayed for the martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition convention and was persuaded to talk with MFDP leaders to accept a compromise of two honorary seats.

The compromise had been brokered by Senator Hubert Humphrey, whom President Johnson had sent to work out a settlement. Party member and cofounder Fannie Lou Hamer made an electrifying speech to the convention indicating that the party could not accept such a compromise given the terrible struggle in Mississippi simply to register her people to vote.

Later, she would lead a demonstration on the convention floor and engage in singing several freedom songs. For many in the civil rights struggle, this repulse of the MFDP was a clear-cut window on the weakness and shortcomings of liberalism in America. King, in contrast, went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize and numerous other awards.

Yet another fight lay ahead in Selma. On December 31,the SCLC staff moved into Selma as its next protest site, and King followed on January 2,announcing to the people at Brown Chapel Church that the marches and demonstrations were about to commence. But Dallas County head Sheriff Jim Clark thought that Bull Conner had failed in Birmingham simply because he had not used enough force and violence to stop the marches and demonstrations.

After more than a few arrests and jailings, King announced that he would lead a march from Selma to Montgomery to arouse public opinion and get more help and support. Although it had been prearranged with King that the marchers would go to the middle of the bridge, then kneel and pray, the sheriff and Alabama state troopers waded into the crowd with tear gasbilly clubs, and horses and proceeded to beat the nonviolent marchers for nearly two blocks back to Brown Chapel Church.

Martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition: Martin Luther King, Jr., was a

This violent spectacle, viewed on television by millions of Americans, created a furor throughout the nation and in the international community. Sympathizers around the nation soon mobilized thousands of marchers who took buses to Alabama and completed the march from Selma to Montgomery on March 25,when 25, peaceable, orderly marchers gathered at the state capitol to hear a speech by King.

On August 6 the Voting Rights Act became law. King agreed and arrived first on July 6, then came back for neighborhood rallies on July 24 and With this action, many saw the civil rights movement moving north. Although King also considered other cities such as Cleveland, New Yorkand Philadelphia problems, he focused on Chicago. But because of numerous commitments elsewhere and his increasing martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition to the Vietnam Warthe Chicago effort of the SCLC did not get under way until January 5,with King calling his program the Chicago Freedom Movement.

Elsewhere, James Meredith started to lead a march against fear through Mississippi but was shot on the second day of the march, June 6. From July 12 to 15, riots broke out on the west side of Chicago, and King led mass marches from July 30 until August Some of these marches engendered great violence and angry responses and outrage. They also met with serious resistance from Mayor Daley and some of his African American aldermen.

Once again many criticized him for achieving only a set of paper concessions and little else. King himself noted that after living in his apartment in the Chicago ghetto, the problems he encountered were greater than what he had prepared for and more than his southern experiences had taught him to expect. The northern movement was over hardly before it had started.

In Detroit federal troops had to be called in to restore order. Responding to these urban rebellions, Johnson created a presidential commission, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, to explore the causes and consequences and make recommendations to prevent them. Before the end of the month, Bayard Rustin came out in opposition to the campaign.

This new high-profile proposed action by King for the organization was running into significant opposition inside SCLC and among his trusted advisors. At about the same time in Memphis, Tennessee, sanitation workers went on strike for recognition as a union and better wages. This occurred on February 12,and when they marched on February 23, the city police broke up the march.

Within a month, on March 12, Senator Eugene McCarthy made a strong showing in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, and four days later Robert Kennedy announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination. Two days after Kennedy announced, King went to Memphis to meet with the striking sanitation workers and promised to lead marches in martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition of them.

One day later King, along with the rest of the nation, heard President Johnson announce that he would not run for reelection. King returned to Memphis on April 3 to lead a second march to prove to critics, skeptics, and cautious observers that nonviolence was still realistic and that he could keep his mass movement obedient and committed to this principal value.

However on April 4 King was assassinated at the Lorraine Hotel, where he had stayed during his first visit. His death forced the city to enter into an agreement with the union and approve it. His death also triggered the passage of the stalled civil rights bill, which now became the bill and contained a fair housing provision. Previous efforts to make holidays for Booker T.

Conyers enlisted Stevie Wonderwho wrote a popular song. Conyers also held rallies in Washington in front of the Capitol and inserted numerous items in the Congressional Record as well as reintroduced his bill every year from untilbut failed to get passage and support from Democratic presidents Johnson and Jimmy Carter. Upon coming to the House of Representativesshe learned that the chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Population and Census had not been filled because no one wanted such a low-prestige committee post.

Yet she discovered that this subcommittee was in charge of considering bills for national holidays. She held a public hearing on the bill, voted the bill out of her subcommittee, and sent it back to the full committee. She lobbied the full committee, and they voted it out and sent it to the floor of the House of Representatives.

After Hall lobbied all members of the House, her bill passed. Next, Hall lobbied all members of the U. Thus, the bill passed, and when it reached the White House, Reagan held a Rose Garden ceremony to sign it into law. As ofbut not at first, all the states recognize this holiday. As a consequence, the King legacy still lives. Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, — Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, — Carson, Clayborne, ed.

Vol 1. Berkeley: University of California Press. Carson, Clayborne, and Peter Holloran, eds. Carson, Clayborne, and Kris Shephard, eds. Martin Luther King, Jr. Walton, Hanes, Jr. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. King was the second of three children of Martin Luther King, Sr. King enrolled at Morehouse College at age fifteen. He continued his studies at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, graduating with a bachelor of divinity degree inand at Boston University, from which he earned his doctorate in systematic theology in By that time he had married Coretta Scott 18 Junewith whom he would have four children, and become pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

In a political career that spanned little more than twelve years, King helped revolutionize American race relations. He first came to international attention during the Montgomery bus boycott of — On 1 December Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus. Her arrest led to the organization of the Montgomery Improvement Association MIAwhich launched a boycott of the city's bus system.

As president of the MIA, King communicated the aspirations of the protesters not only to the nation but to the world as well. Inspired by the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi, he placed a resolute emphasis upon nonviolence, which sustained African Americans in the face of constant intimidation and violence.

When terrorists bombed his home on 30 JanuaryKing restored calm to a potentially riotous black community. His determined appeal to meet "violence with nonviolence" also enhanced his stature as a moral leader. King was not the first African-American leader to espouse the philosophy of nonviolence. In the black union leader A. Philip Randolph proposed leading a mass march on Washington in protest against racial discrimination in the armed forces and defense industries.

The threat of civil disorder forced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to establish the Fair Employment Practices Commission. It was nonetheless under the leadership of King that African Americans implemented nonviolent direct action on a mass scale, with revolutionary consequences. King adhered to the concept of nonviolence throughout his political career, even when surrounded by the chaos and urban disorder that characterized the late s.

He was particularly influenced by Gandhi's concept of Satyagraha, or "soul force," which taught him that love was the instrument to overthrow the violent hatred of white racists. The organization initially floundered. Much of its efforts were concentrated on the Crusade for Citizenship, a voter registration drive that, as King conceded in the late s, had "not really scratched the surface.

In particular, the civil rights leader deepened his philosophical understanding of nonviolent direct action. His visit to India in as a special guest of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru allowed him an opportunity to discuss Gandhian principles with some of the late Indian leader's disciples. Gandhi himself had been assassinated in On 1 February four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College entered a Woolworth store in Greensboro, sat at the lunch counter reserved for whites, and demanded service.

This incident stirred a wave of similar protests across the South. The student sit-ins were fuelled by a sense of increasing frustration at the retarded pace of civil rights reform. Although he was reluctant, King was persuaded to participate in the Atlanta sit-in movement. On 19 October he and fiftyone other activists were arrested at a downtown demonstration.

King was sentenced to four months' hard labor at Reidsville State Prison. Within only two days, however, he was a free man. His release had been negotiated by Robert Kennedy in a calculated attempt to increase black votes for his brother John F. Kennedywho was running a closely contested presidential race against Richard Nixon. The plan proved decisive: African-American voters helped secure Kennedy's narrow electoral victory in November.

The newly elected president nonetheless did little to promote civil rights, instead prioritizing an aggressive foreign policy against the Soviet Union. Black activists understood that more direct action was needed to force the hand of the federal government. In May the Congress of Racial Equality launched the Freedom Rides in an attempt to desegregate interstate transportation facilities.

Although King served as chairman of the Freedom Ride Coordinating Committee, he refused to take a seat aboard one of the buses. While King was immediately identifiable as the intellectual and spiritual leader of the civil rights movement, it was others who implemented the tactics of non-violent direct action. The pioneering protests of the early s therefore raised expectations that King would lead his own campaign of mass civil disobedience.

In December King received a telegram inviting him to lend his support to the black protest movement in Albany, Georgia. Inspired by the enthusiasm of local blacks, King swiftly assumed leadership of the movement. Albany was the first significant civil rights campaign in which King had participated since Montgomery, and it was to end in ignominious failure.

Numerous forces conspired to frustrate the Albany Movement. King's arrival complicated the already fractious relations between local activists. Members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee particularly resented King's assumption of authority. King also had to contend with Chief of Police Laurie Pritchett. Pritchett had read King's memoir of the Montgomery bus boycott, Stride Toward Freedom, which enabled him to anticipate his opponent's tactics.

King attempted to dramatize the plight of local blacks by precipitating a conflict between the protesters and the police.

Martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition: Martin Luther King Jr.

By ordering his men to use the utmost restraint in arresting black activists, Pritchett succeeded in preserving community order and removing the threat of federal intervention. King abandoned Albany in August The SCLC leader was to learn from the lesson of defeat. In April he launched an audacious campaign in Birmingham, Alabama. Among local blacks the violently repressive political climate had earned the city the bleak sobriquet "Bombingham.

Connor, for instance, had failed to protect the Freedom Riders from a brutal assault by the Ku Klux Klan. Nonetheless, it was precisely because of the appalling reputation of Birmingham that it was chosen as the target of an SCLC campaign. Walker asserted, "We knew that as Birmingham went, so went the South. And we felt that if we could crack that city, then we could crack any city.

Unlike in Albany, King started the Birmingham campaign with several advantages. King was not properly prepared for the Albany campaign and, as a result, could not impose complete control over a divided local movement. In Albany, King had fought against the unified front of the white power structure. By contrast, with an imminent mayoral election, the white community in Birmingham was split between those who supported the extremist Bull Connor and others who backed the moderate Albert Boutwell.

The Albany Movement also had suffered from a failure to define its objectives clearly. Montgomery Bus Boycott [ change change source ]. See the main article: Montgomery Bus Boycott. March on Washington [ change change source ]. See the main article: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Nobel Prize [ change change source ]. Voting Rights [ change change source ].

Later work [ change change source ]. Death [ change change source ]. Legacy [ change change source ]. Photo gallery [ change change source ]. Rosa Parks with King during the bus boycott Paul Related pages [ change change source ]. Notes [ change change source ]. References [ change change source ]. BBC Online. British Broadcasting Company, Inc.

Archived from the original on March 12, Retrieved February 29, Retrieved The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved February 17, Encyclopedia of Alabama. ISBN The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. University of California Press. Oslo, Norway. Retrieved March 1, Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Archived from the original on February 6, December 5, Montgomery, Alabama.

Archived from the original on August 1, In Clayborne Carson; Kris Shepard eds. Grand Central Publishing. August 31, The Washington Post. Washington, D. British Broadcasting Corporation, Inc. The Birth of the Montgomery Bus Boycott Charro Book Co. The s. Greenwood Publishing Group. Bayard Rustin Papers: John F. Kennedy Library. National Archives and Records Administration.

August 28, Smithsonian Magazine Online. Smithsonian Institution. Avalon Project, Yale Law School. United States Congress. July 2, The Fiscal Times. Constitutional Commentary. ISSN SSRN Retrieved February 2, TIME Online. TIME, Inc. Archived from the original on November 5, Weary Feet, Rested Souls. By this time, to those who knew him, King had given the impression that his life may be near its end.

The next day, April 4,at P. At P. News of the assassination sparked a nationwide wave of riots in more than cities, with the worst damage being wreaked in Washington, D. In total, 39 people were killed during the mayhem, and section after section of one blazing city after another looked like a war zone. Ironically, the most egregious outburst of looting, theftarsonand murder had been incited by the death of the man who had incessantly taken his stand for nonviolence and peace.

Across the country, flags flew at half mast, and hordes of black and white Americans, together and in unison, marched, prayed, and sang freedom songs in tribute to King. Abernathy officiating. Finally, with million Americans viewing by television, the special hearse bore the SCLC leader's body to South View Cemetery, where he was buried next to his grandparents.

Meanwhile, King's assassination had sparked one of the biggest manhunts in U. Three days later, he recanted this confession. Subsequently, Ray was sentenced to a year prison term. Since then, there has been seemingly endless investigation, re-investigation, hearing, re-hearing, and speculation regarding Ray's guilt or innocence, the murder weapon and the culpability or non-culpability of the U.

Government in relation to King's death. Key players have died, confessions have been recanted and altered, and vast conspiracy has been alleged but never proven. Long believed by many in the African-American community is the assertion that King's murder was the outcome of an FBI-led conspiracy. In the eyes of many others, by the late s, James Earl Ray had been exonerated, and former Memphis bar owner, Lloyd Jowers, emerged as the obvious culprit.

At the time of Ray's death, in AprilKing's son, Dexter Scott King, had come to believe that Ray was not involved in the assassination plot. InCoretta Scott Kingalong with the rest of King's family, won a wrongful death civil trial against Lloyd Jowers and "other unknown co-conspirators. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty and also found that "governmental agencies were parties" to the assassination plot.

William Pepper represented the King family in the trial. Inthe Department of Justice completed its investigation into Jowers' claims, but did not find evidence to support the allegations about conspiracy. The investigation report recommends no further investigation unless some new reliable facts are presented. Later, in AprilRev.

Wilson contended that his father was the leader of a small group of conspirators; that racism had nothing to do with the murder; Henry Clay Wilson shot King because of the former's belief that the latter was connected with the Communist movement; and that James Earl Ray was set up to take the fall for the assassination. During his lifetime, he was essentially unmatched in his ability to articulate the crucial issues and concerns of humanity from a genuinely prophetic vantage point, using scriptural phraseology and imagery with an adeptness that other clergymen envied.

The comprehensiveness of King's Judeo-Christian worldview was astounding, and his trenchant theological and philosophical analysis of the world and its problems customarily left his opponents speechless and at a loss to offer any counterproposal to his assessments. A highly competent intellectual as well as a bona fide revolutionary, he could artfully turn phrases and eloquently paint word pictures that inspired hope, confidence, and courageous commitment within the hearts and minds of his listeners.

In this regard, he was a stellar example of what W. Du Bois referred to as the black race's Talented Tenth. King's ability to methodically think through and systematize his vast amount of learning and then call upon it to fuel the hearts and minds of millions is worthy of humanity's admiration. To this day, historians, politicians, sociologists, and religionists are fascinated by the fact that King's words and example actually inspired a generation to adopt the lifestyle of being viciously struck first, only to subsequently rise to victory over those who struck them, while praying for the martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition of their attackers.

By embracing this nonviolent tradition, King and his followers were consciously imitating the pattern established by Jesusand the civil-rights victories that were subsequently won loomed as proof that the Living God was with these protagonists of racial integration. One example of King's honored reputation is the fact that a televised call-in poll identified him as the third greatest American, after Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln.

Even posthumous revelations of marital infidelity, and alleged academic plagiarism have not seriously damaged his public reputation, but have actually reinforced the image of a very human hero and leader. It is fair to state that King's movement faltered rather noticeably, during the latter days of his ministry, after the major legislative victories—the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act—had been won by But even the acrimonious strictures from some of the more militant voices of the Black Power Movement, and from even such prominent critics as Muslim leader Malcolm Xhave not significantly diminished King's stature.

On the international scene, King's legacy includes his influence on the luminaries of the Black Consciousness Movement and particularly on the leaders of the Civil Rights Movements in South Africa. In that country, King's work was cited by and served as an inspiration for another black Nobel Peace Prize winner and crusader for racial justice, Albert Lutuli.

King's legacy and memory live on in numerous ways. Center for Nonviolent Social Change was established in by his martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition, Coretta, who served as its president until her death. Coretta made great efforts to follow in her husband's footsteps and to remain on the front line of social and moral issues.

InKing's boyhood home in Atlanta and several other nearby structures were designated as the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. It was observed for the first time on January 20, On January 17,for the first time, Martin Luther King Day was officially observed by name in all 50 American states. In city after city, across the United States, scores of streets, highways, and boulevards are either named or renamed after Martin Luther King, Jr.

King County, Washington rededicated its name in honor of King in The city government center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is the only city hall in the United States to be named in honor of King. National Memorial. King was a prominent member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for American blacks.

King is the first African-American to be honored with his own memorial in the National Mall area and the second non-president to be commemorated in such a way. Covering four acres, the memorial opened to the public on August 22,after more than two decades of planning, fund-raising and construction. The official address of the monument, Independence Avenue, S.

Beginning in the s, questions have been raised regarding the authorship of King's dissertation, other papers, and his speeches. Concerns about his doctoral dissertation at Boston University led to a formal inquiry by university officials, which concluded that approximately a third of it had been plagiarized from a paper written by an earlier graduate student, but it was decided not to revoke his degree, as the paper still "makes an intelligent contribution to scholarship.

It is also a feature of many of his speeches, which borrowed heavily from those of other preachers and white radio evangelists. While some have criticized King for plagiarismKeith Miller has argued that the practice falls within the tradition of African-American folk preaching, and should not necessarily be labeled plagiarism. However, as Theodore Pappas points out in his book Plagiarism and the Culture War, King in fact took a class on scholarly standards and plagiarism at Boston University [28] Far from it being true that other people wrote his speeches, it is evident from his papers, now available for research, that he drafted and redrafted these by his own distinct and very legible handwriting.

However, almost all of what is perhaps his most famous speech, "I have a dream" was delivered spontaneously. New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation.

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Martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition: Martin Luther King, Jr., was

The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:. From New World Encyclopedia. Jump to: navigationsearch. Previous Martin Luther. Next Martin Luther King, Jr. Did you know? Retrieved January 18, Trip SavvyDecember 13, Research and Education Institute, Stanford University. Credits New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards.

The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here: Martin Luther King, Jr. Privacy policy. About New World Encyclopedia. See Terms of Use for details. King was elected to lead the boycott because he was young, well-trained, and had solid family connections and professional standing. He was also new to the community and had few enemies, so organizers felt he would have strong credibility with the Black community.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott began December 5,and for more than a year, the local Black community walked to work, coordinated ride sharing, and faced harassment, violence, and intimidation. In addition to the boycott, members of the Black community took legal action against the city ordinance that outlined the segregated transit system.

They argued it was unconstitutional based on the U. Board of Education After the legal defeats and large financial losses, the city of Montgomery lifted the law that mandated segregated public transportation. The boycott ended on December 20, Flush with victory, African American civil rights leaders recognized the need for a national organization to help coordinate their efforts.

In JanuaryKing, Ralph Abernathyand 60 ministers and civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to harness the moral authority and organizing power of Black churches. The SCLC helped conduct nonviolent protests to promote civil rights reform. The SCLC felt the best place to start to give African Americans a voice was to enfranchise them in the voting process.

King met with religious and civil rights leaders and lectured all over the country on race-related issues. ByKing was gaining national exposure. He returned to Atlanta to become co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church but also continued his civil rights efforts. His next activist campaign was the student-led Greensboro Sit-In movement.

The movement quickly gained traction in several other cities. King encouraged students to continue to use nonviolent methods during their protests. By Augustthe sit-ins had successfully ended segregation at lunch counters in 27 southern cities. On October 19,King and 75 students entered a local department store and requested lunch-counter service but were denied.

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 ofKing 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 estimatedpeople 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 ofauthorizing 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. Not to be deterred, activists attempted the Selma-to-Montgomery march again. This time, King made sure he was part of it. Because a martin luther king jr biography encyclopedia definition 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.