Martin Luther king

King was born on 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia in U. S. His original name was Michael.
Later he was renamed Martin. His father was a Baptist minister and his mother, Albert
Williams King, was a school teacher.

In 1948 he graduated from Morehouse with a B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) in sociology and
enrolled at Crozer theological seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated
with a B. Div. degree in 1951.

King married Coretta Scott in 1953 in Alabama. They became the parents of four children:
Yolanda king, Martin Luther king III, Dexter Scott king and Bernice king. During their
marriage, king limited Corettas role in the civil rights movement, expecting her to be a
housewife and mother.

King began his doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and received his
Doctor of Philosophy with a dissertation in 1955.

King became a civil rights activist who was a leader in the civil rights movement .He is best
known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience
based on his Christian beliefs.

King led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.

On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus
in compliance with Jim Crow Laws which were local regulations in the Southern United
States that enforced racial segregation .Boycott urged and planned by Nixon and led by
King. King was arrested during this campaign, which concluded with a United States district
court ruling in Browder V. Gayle that ended racial segregation on all Montgomery public
buses.

Rosa Parks with King, 1955

King and other civil rights activists founded the southern Christian leadership conference
(SCLC) IN 1957.He served as its first president. The group was created to harness to moral
authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct nonviolent protests in the
service of civil rights reform.

King and the SCLC led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany,
Georgia. The Albany movement was a desegregation coalition formed in Albany Georgia
in 1961.When King first visited to stay a day in Albany, he was swept up in a mass arrest of
peaceful demonstrators and he declined bail until the city made concessions for him.

King helped to organize the 1963 nonviolent protest in Birmingham, Alabama.

By Lorena Nancy Arroyo I.E.S N6 PERICO

 The SCLC began a campaign against racial segregation and economic injustice in
Birmingham, Alabama. Black people occupied public space with marches and sit-ins,
openly violating laws that they considered unjust. King and SCLC recruited children and
young adults to join in the demonstrations. The police responded with force. But the
campaign was success. Connor, the police chief, lost his job and public places became
more open to blacks.

Mug shots of King following his arrest for protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham

In 1964 king and the SCLC joined forces with the student nonviolent coordinating
committee (SNCC). In Selma, Alabama where the SNCC had been working on voter
registration for several months.

The civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965

King and the leaders of the Big six civil rights organizations led the March on Washington
for jobs and freedom in 1963.

King was one of the key figures who acceded to the wishes of United States president John
F. Kennedy in changing the focus of the march .Kennedy opposed the march completely.

The march demanded rights such as an end to racial segregation in public schools,
meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in
employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality, a $ 2 minimum wage for
all workers, and self-government for Washington D C. The march was are resounding
success, because a quarter of a million people of diverse attended the event from the
steps of the Lincoln delivered a 17 minute speech, it was known I have a dream. Finally
the March and kings famous speech helped to put civil rights at the top of the agenda of
reformers in the united states and facilitated passage of the civil rights Act of 1964.

By Lorena Nancy Arroyo I.E.S N6 PERICO

 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

In 1964 king received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through
nonviolent resistance.

In 1965 he helped again to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches and the following
year he and SCLC took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregation housing.
In the final years of his life, king expanded his focus to included opposition towards poverty
and the Vietnam War.

President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with King in the White House Cabinet Room, 1966

In 1968 King was planning a national occupation of Washington DC. to be called the Poor
Peoples campaign when he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4 in Memphis,
Tennessee. Ray was arrested two months later at London Heathrow Airport.

King was posthumously awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom and as holiday in
numerous cities and states beginning in 1971 and as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986.

Bibliography

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/martin_luther_king.sht

http://www.wikipedia.com

By Lorena Nancy Arroyo I.E.S N6 PERICO

 ACTIVTTY

Match the correct sentences with arrows.

Part A Part B

Martin Luther King was born on at Boston University in 1955.

King led a march combating racial inequality in 1964.

In 1955, Rosa Parks and King led he was assassinated by James Earl Ray in 1968.

King and Coretta Scott became parents of the civil rights whole his life.

Luther king received his doctor of philosophy 15 January 1929 in Atlanta Georgia, U.S

King defended four children.

King led marches using nonviolent resistance in Albany in 1961.

King received the Nobel Peace for based on his Christian beliefs.

When he was planning the Poor Peoples campaign Montgomery bus boycott.

By Lorena Nancy Arroyo I.E.S N6 PERICO