Alana brady biography of martin luther king
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In it, he painted a hopeful vision of a future where people would be judged by their character, not the color of their skin.
King’s leadership was critical in achieving major victories, including:
- The Civil Rights Act of 1964: This law ended segregation in public places and banned job discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin.
- The Voting Rights Act of 1965: This law outlawed unfair voting practices, like literacy tests, which had prevented Black Americans from voting.
In 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Thousands of mourners walked from Ebenezer Baptist Church to Morehouse College.
In September 1958, King survived an attempt on his life when a woman with mental illness stabbed him in the chest as he signed copies of his book Stride Toward Freedom in a New York City department store. Ray recanted his confession shortly after he was sentenced, and King’s son Dexter publicly defended Ray’s innocence after meeting with the convicted gunman in 1997.
“I could envision myself playing a part in breaking down the legal barriers to Negro rights.”
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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At the time, King felt that the best way to serve that purpose was as a lawyer or a doctor. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice.”
King’s skillful rhetoric put new energy into the civil rights struggle in Alabama.
Penguin, 2005.
Garrow, David J. Bearing the Cross : Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Days after King’s assassination in 1968, a campaign for a holiday in his honor began. My friends, go out this evening determined to achieve this freedom which God wants for all of His children." — Martin Luther King, Jr.
During the campaign, King was once again sent to prison, where he composed his legendary "Letter from Birmingham Jail," in response to a call from white sympathizers to address civil rights through legal means rather than protest.
Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.
Stride toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story. His legendary words are widely quoted today: "How long? This victory established King as a key figure in the fight for civil rights.
In 1957, he co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization dedicated to nonviolent activism. King’s patient, nonviolent approach and appeal to white middle-class citizens alienated many Black militants who considered his methods too weak, too late, and ineffective.
Spotlight: Martin Luther King Jr.
and Malcolm X
To address this criticism, King began making a link between discrimination and poverty, and he began to speak out against the Vietnam War. He felt America’s involvement in Vietnam was politically untenable and the government’s conduct in the war was discriminatory to the poor.
Coretta also founded The King Center in Atlanta, a place where people could learn about her husband’s vision and be inspired to continue the fight for civil rights.
King’s four children—Yolanda, Martin III, Dexter, and Bernice—were deeply affected by the loss of their father. He then compared the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement to the ground crew at an airport who do the unheralded-yet-necessary work to keep planes running on schedule.
Notable Quote: “I think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owners—all those to whom beauty is truth and truth, beauty—and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.”
Date: March 25, 1965
At the end of the bitterly fought Selma-to-Montgomery march, King addressed a crowd of 25,000 supporters from the Alabama State Capitol.
It's worth going to jail for. He married Jennie Celeste Parks, and they had one child who survived, Alberta. When the march concluded in Montgomery, King gave his "How Long, Not Long" speech, in which he predicted that equal rights for African Americans would be imminently granted.
King’s participation in the organization gave him a base of operation throughout the South, as well as a national platform.
The couple welcomed Bernice King in 1963. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1988.
Frady, Marshall. It remains one of the largest peaceful demonstrations in American history. Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. After his death, King was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1994 with his wife, Coretta.
King's legacy has inspired activists fighting injustice anywhere in the world.