Martin Luther King, Jr. biography

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Quick Facts

  • PLACE OF BIRTH: Atlanta, Georgia
  • PLACE OF DEATH: Memphis, Tennessee
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Best Known For

Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968.

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Synopsis

(born Jan. 15, 1929, Atlanta, Ga., U.S.—died April 4, 1968, Memphis, Tenn.) Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. His leadership was fundamental to that movement's success in ending the legal segregation of African Americans in the South and other parts of the United States. King rose to national prominence as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference,

Quotes

"I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

"At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

which promoted nonviolent tactics, such as the massive March on Washington (1963), to achieve civil rights. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

Early Years

Born Michael King, Jr., Martin Luther King, Jr. was the middle child of Michael King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. The King and Williams families were rooted in rural Georgia. Martin Jr.'s grandfather, A.D. Williams, was a rural minister for years and then moved to Atlanta in 1893. There he took over the small, struggling Ebenezer Baptist church with around 13 members and made it into a forceful congregation. He married Jennie Celeste Parks and they had one child that survived, Alberta. Michael King Sr. came from a sharecropper family in a poor farming community. He married Alberta in 1926 after an eight-year courtship. The newlyweds moved to A.D. Williams home in Atlanta.

Michael King, Sr. stepped in a pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church upon the death of his father-in-law in 1931. He too became a very successful minister and adopted the name Martin Luther King, Sr. in honor of the German Protestant religious leader Martin Luther. In due time, Michael, Jr. would follow his dad’s lead and adopt the name himself.

Young Martin had an older sister, Willie Christine and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King. The King children grew up in a secure and loving environment. Martin Sr. was more the disciplinarian, while his wife’s gentleness easily balanced out the father’s more strict hand. Though they undoubtedly tried, Martin Jr.’s parents couldn’t shield him completely from racism. Martin Luther King, Sr. fought against racial prejudice, not just because his race suffered, but because he considered racism and segregation to be an affront to God's will. He strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority in his children which left a lasting impression on Martin Jr.

Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King, Jr. entered public school at age five. In May, 1936, he was baptized, but the event made little impression on him. In May, 1941, Martin was 12 years old when is grandmother, Jennie, died of a heart attack. The event was traumatic for Martin, more so because he was out watching a parade against his parents’ wishes when she died. Distraught at the news, young Martin attempted suicide by leaping from a second story window at the family home.

Martin Luther King, Jr. attended Booker T. Washington High School, where he was said to be a precocious student, having skipped both the ninth and eleventh grades and

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