Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. Martin Luther
King Jr. was the middle child of Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. King’s legal
name was Michael King, but was later changed to Martin Luther King Jr. around 1934. When
king was a child, he was friends with a white boy whose father owned a business near his
family’s home. When the they both turned six, they started school; While King had to enroll in
an all African American school while his friend went to an all white school. Later on, King lost
his friend because the boy’s father decided he did not want his son to play with King. King went
through a depression while growing up, especially as a teenager, he had felt resentment against
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In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a B.A. in sociology and
enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary at the age of 15 in Chester, Pennsylvania, from which
he graduated with a B.Div. degree in 1951.
Over the upcoming years, Martin Luther King had to overcome many challenges during
his lifetime. His first major protest was the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott of 1955-1956
where King and Rosa Parks protested against the horrible conditions that African-Americans had
to face on buses in that city. African Americans were forced to move to the back of the bus in
Montgomery and other southern cities when whites boarded; many African Americans were
treated unfairly and rudley during those times. Dr. King also faced depression and the extreme
tension of uniting African-Americans and sympathetic whites into a movement that would
achieve his goals. Another difficulty King had to face was to convince the federal government to
become involved in helping the Civil Rights movement. At times, this pressure could take a long
time to result in legal
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King’s prominence in the civil rights
movement gained the respect of many political leaders, and gave him the potential power to
enact more major changes.
King’s biggest role in society has been his efforts in advancing the Civil Rights
Movement. The civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. went to jail 29 times. He was
arrested for acts of civil disobedience and on trumped-up charges, such as when he was jailed in
Montgomery, Alabama, in 1956 for driving 30 miles per hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone. He
brought attention to a big issue that was incredibly controversial and sensitive during his time.
His take on nonviolence was imperative in his efforts, and assisted in gaining traction for the
movement. His protests and marches were not always successful, however, his presence in our
society made a huge impact on the African-American Civil Rights Movement both before and
after his assassination in 1968 by the hands of James Earl Ray outsides Kings balcony in