Mlk biography short

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Offering a brief history lesson on the roots of segregation, King emphasized that there would be no stopping the effort to secure full voting rights, while suggesting a more expansive agenda to come with a call to march on poverty.

Notable Quote: “I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because ‘truth crushed to earth will rise again.’ How long?

mlk biography short

Although they undoubtedly tried, Martin Jr.’s parents couldn’t shield him completely from racism. In February 1958, the SCLC sponsored more than 20 mass meetings in key southern cities to register Black voters. The boycott ended on December 20, 1956.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Flush with victory, African American civil rights leaders recognized the need for a national organization to help coordinate their efforts.

He was met with increasing criticism and public challenges from young Black power leaders. Fellow civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who had also studied Gandhi’s teachings, became one of King’s associates in the 1950s and counseled him to dedicate himself to the principles of nonviolence. However, he was known to splurge on good suits and fine dining, while contrasting his serious public image with a lively sense of humor among friends and family.

FBI Surveillance

Due to his relationships with alleged Communists, King became a target of FBI surveillance and, from late 1963 until his death, a campaign to discredit the civil rights activist.

Years after his death, he is the most widely known Black leader of his era. Originally, his name was Michael Luther King Jr. after his father. The couple welcomed Bernice King in 1963.

  • Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.
    • Understanding the Through Line

    In the years to come, King also frequently cited the “Beloved Community”—a world in which a shared spirit of compassion brings an end to the evils of racism, poverty, inequality, and violence—as the end goal of his activist efforts.

    In 1959, with the help of the American Friends Service Committee, King visited Gandhi’s birthplace in India.

    Soon after, King was imprisoned for violating his probation on a traffic conviction. But he came to realize: “Love for Gandhi was a potent instrument for social and collective transformation. Michael Sr. eventually adopted the name Martin Luther King Sr. in honor of the German Protestant religious leader Martin Luther.

    Among his many efforts, King headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Longevity has its place. But the movement wasn’t done yet.

    On October 19, 1960, King and 75 students entered a local department store and requested lunch-counter service but were denied. Mays was an outspoken advocate for racial equality and encouraged King to view Christianity as a potential force for social change.

    Martin Luther King Jr., seen here in the mid-1950s, served as a pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, then Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

    After being accepted at several colleges for his doctoral study, King enrolled at Boston University.

    Both King’s and Nixon’s homes were attacked.

    Martin Luther King Jr. stands in front of a bus on December 26, 1956, after the successful conclusion of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which integrated the city’s public transit.

    In addition to the boycott, members of the Black community took legal action against the city ordinance that outlined the segregated transit system.

    The original surveillance tapes regarding these allegations are under judicial seal until 2027.

    Later Activism

    From late 1965 through 1967, King expanded his civil rights efforts into other larger American cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles. To that end, plans were in the works for another march on Washington to highlight the Poor People’s Campaign, a movement intended to pressure the government into improving living and working conditions for the economically disadvantaged.

    By 1968, the years of demonstrations and confrontations were beginning to wear on King.