Dai harvard biography of martin luther king

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It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking.”

It led to the formation of King’s six principles of nonviolence:

  1. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
  2. Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.
  3. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people.
  4. Nonviolence holds that suffering for a just cause can educate and transform.
  5. Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.

    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. In due time, Michael Jr. followed his father’s lead and adopt the name himself to become Martin Luther King Jr. His mother was Alberta Williams King.

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    The Williams and King families had roots in rural Georgia.

    Another complicating factor is the 1993 confession of tavern owner Loyd Jowers, who said he contracted a different hit man to kill King. Indeed, January 20 is also when Donald Trump will be sworn in as 47th president.

    Bill Clinton and Barack Obama previously took presidential oaths of office on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

    However, in both cases, the men were starting their second consecutive terms, much quieter occasions than the transfer of power from one president to the next. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications. I look forward to gathering with you to welcome our inaugural King Commemorative Lecturer later this year.

    All the best,

    Larry

Martin Luther King Jr.

1929-1968

In Focus: Martin Luther King Jr.

Day

In the nearly 40 years that the United States has celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the national holiday has never coincided with the inauguration of a non-incumbent president.

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The identity of King’s assassin has been the source of some controversy. 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 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Dismayed by the ongoing obstacles to registering Black voters, King urged leaders from various backgrounds—Republican and Democrat, Black and white—to work together in the name of justice.

Notable Quote: “Give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors.

Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.

  • The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
  • Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
  • Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.

    This event stayed with him, motivating his lifelong fight for equality.

    King’s faith was also a considerable influence. Other historians questioned the veracity of the documentation, especially given the FBI’s known attempts to damage King’s reputation.

    dai harvard biography of martin luther king

    I hope you share my enthusiasm about creating a new way for Harvard to participate in a critical and ongoing national conversation about racial justice, equity, and opportunity.

    King’s participation in the organization gave him a base of operation throughout the South, as well as a national platform. He married Jennie Celeste Parks, and they had one child who survived, Alberta.

    For many years, we have shown an amazing patience. When asked to leave or sit in the “colored” section, they just remained seated, subjecting themselves to verbal and sometimes physical abuse. Despite their grief, they grew up dedicated to keeping his legacy alive.

    But in his junior year at Morehouse, King took a Bible class, renewed his faith, and began to envision a career in the ministry.

    This resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, authorizing the federal government to enforce desegregation of public accommodations and outlawing discrimination in publicly owned facilities.

    Selma March

    Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King help lead marchers from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in March 1965.

    Continuing to focus on voting rights, King, the SCLC, SNCC, and local organizers planned to march peacefully from Selma, Alabama, to the state’s capital, Montgomery.

    Led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams, demonstrators set out on March 7, 1965.

    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. 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?