M.L.K_His_Story

M.L.K – His Story Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929. His Grandfather began the families long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta serving from 1914 to 1931. His father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia. He graduated from high school at the age of fifteen. He received B.A. Degree in 1948 from More House College. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president in his senior class. He received his B.D. In 1953. He enrolled at Boston University, completing his residents for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. He married Coretta Scott and had two sons and two daughters. In 1954 Martin Luther King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was by this time a member of the NAACP, the leadership of the first great negro nonviolent demonstration times in the United States, the bus boycott in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. During these days of boycott King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was abused, but at the same time he emerged as a negro leader of the first rank. In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and organization formed to provide new leadership for the civil rights movement. In the eleven year period between 1957-1968 King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty five hundred times, appearing where ever there was injustice and action. He also wrote six books as well as articles. He led a massive protest in Alabama, and a peaceful march in Washington D.C. where he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech to 250,000 people. At the age of thirty five Martin Luther King was the youngest man to have received the noble peace prize. He was awarded five honory degrees and was named man of the year by Time Magazine in 1963. When he was notified of his selection for the noble peace prize, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of fifty thousand dollars for the civil rights movement. On the evening of April 4, 1968 while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee he was assassinated. Martin Luther King Jr. is still one of the greatest African American leaders of all time.