1960s biography of martin luther king jr

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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. King met with religious and civil rights leaders and lectured all over the country on race-related issues.

This included the Montgomery Bus Boycott that integrated Alabama’s public transit, the Greensboro Sit-In movement that desegregated lunch counters across the South, the March on Washington that led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in Alabama that culminated in the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

King’s efforts earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 when he was 35.

Dive Deeper

Montgomery Bus Boycott

King’s first leadership role within the Civil Rights Movement was during the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955–1956.

On March 21, 1965, approximately 2,000 people began a march from Selma to Montgomery. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.

Selected Bibliography

Adams, Russell, Great Negroes Past and Present, pp.

While he was pursuing his doctorate at Boston University, he met and married Coretta Scott. For those of you who are black — considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible — you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. They were married on June 18, 1953, and had four children—two daughters and two sons—over the next decade.

Not long, because ‘no lie can live forever.’... King reflected on major moments of progress in history and his own life, in addition to encouraging the city’s striking sanitation workers.

Notable Quote: “I’ve seen the promised land. Because a federal judge had issued a temporary restraining order on another march, a different approach was taken.

On March 9, 1965, a procession of 2,500 marchers, both Black and white, set out once again to cross the Pettus Bridge and confronted barricades and state troopers.

I’m not fearing any man. The SCLC felt the best place to start to give African Americans a voice was to enfranchise them in the voting process. 220-223. Fifteen years after its introduction, the bill finally became law.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan’s signature created Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service as a federal holiday.

Tear gas, cattle prods, and billy clubs fell on the peaceful demonstrators. He was met with increasing criticism and public challenges from young Black power leaders. Give us the ballot, and we will transform the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens.”