Tomorrow many of us, in the USA, have the day off from work as we celebrate a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Honored for his work in the civil rights movement, Dr. King was committed to the principles of racial and economic justice.
He embraced and practiced the concept of non-violence as the only moral and ethical way to fight for change. He was also an ardent anti-war activist, protesting the war in Vietnam.
Below are some highlights of his life.
1. Born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia to Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. He had 2 siblings, Christine and Alfred.
2. Skipped 9th and 12th grades in high school and enrolled at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 15.
3. Ordained at the age of 19 and appointed Assistant Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, where his father was a pastor and his maternal grandfather had also been a pastor.
4. Obtained Bachelor of Arts in Sociology degree from Morehouse College in 1948.
5. Obtained Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary, in Pennsylvania, in 1951.
6. While at Crozer, he also attended University of Pennsylvania where he was elected President of his senior class and class valedictorian.
7. Obtained Doctorate degree in Systematic Theology from Boston University, in Massachusetts, in 1955.
8. Married Corretta Scott on June 18, 1953 at her home in Marion, Alabama. Together they had 4 children.
Will you walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness? Life's most persistent and nagging question is `what are you doing for others?’.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
9. Appointed Pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1954.
10. Elected President of the Montgomery Improvement Association, after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in December, 1955. Immediately led the successful year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott.
11. Founder and President of Southern Leadership Christian Conference from 1957 to 1968.
12. Delivered his famous “I Have a Dream Speech” on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.
I have a dream that my four little 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.
Martin Luther King Jr.
13. Congress passes the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964. It outlawed many forms of discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, religion or national origin.
14. Awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1964; at age 35 he was the youngest person to have received the prize. Donated his prize money of $54,123 to support the civil rights movement.
15. Assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, as he prepared to lead a rally in support of garbage sanitation workers in his long fight for economic justice for all peoples.
United States Act of Congress of 1986 declares every third Monday in January, a national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Photo Credit: Flip Schulke/Corbis.
More pictures of Martin Luther King, Jr.can be found at Time Magazine.
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