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Born in Atlanta, Georgia. He was born as Michael King Jr. He was the middle child to his parents Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. https://www.nps.gov/malu/planyourvisit/birth_home_tours.htm
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While King was at a parade, his grandmother passed away. This event was so traumatic, King jumped from a second story window, attempting suicide.
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At age 15, King was admitted to Morehouse College. He had attended segregated school until that point but skipped over some grades and went to college at a young age.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morehouse_College -
After graudating from Morehouse College in 1948, he went to Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania.
https://maps.roadtrippers.com/us/upland-pa/points-of-interest/crozer-seminary -
After completing his two years of coursework at BU in 1953, he gained his Doctorate in systematic theology in 1955.
http://www.bu.edu/sth/dr-martin-luther-king-jr/ -
After Rosa Park's incident with the public buses, King was elected to to lead the bus boycott by head of NAACP director E.D. Nixon. This boycott involved not taking the buses for 382 days.
https://www.socialistalternative.org/2016/11/16/60th-anniversary-montgomery-bus-boycott-struggle-sparked-civil-rights-movement/ -
This group of mostly ministers was committed to achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protests. King was the president of this group and remained president until his death.
https://nationalsclc.org/about/history/ -
King organized a demonstration in downtown Birmingham. After the demonstration became violent, King wrote a letter from jail that clearly addressed his non violence policy.
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King and other activists organized the March on Washington to bring awareness to the injustices African Americans faced throughout the country. The march had 200,000-300,000 supporters.
https://www.naacp.org/marchonwashington/ -
During the March on Washington, King gave his memorable speech in front of the Lincoln memorial. This was King's most famous adress.
https://www.keranews.org/post/i-have-dream-speech-its-entirety -
King was assassinated on the way to a sanitation worker's strike. James Earl Ray plead guilty to the assassination and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/03/30/who-killed-martin-luther-king-jr-his-family-believes-james-earl-ray-was-framed/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.dfc12512f28b -
After the assassination, President Reagan arranged for MLK Jr. Day to become a federal holiday celebrating the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. The first holiday was celebrated in 1986.
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“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”
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“Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.”
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“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
