Introduction Martin Luther King, Jr. was the main leader in the Civil Rights Movement to end racial separation and discrimination in America during the 1950’s and 1960’s and a chief spokesperson for nonviolent methods of achieving social change. His persuasiveness as a speaker and his personal fascination, combined with a deep-rooted willpower to establish equality among all races, despite personal risk, won him a world-wide follower, who remained with him till the end. In 1964, he was given the Nobel Peace Prize and was chosen by Time magazine as its Man of the Year. His “I Have a Dream” speech, which is now considered to be one of the great speeches in American history, is often quoted. However, his thrive drive for civil rights made him …show more content…
On 15th January 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King Jr. was born as Michael Luther King Jr. A 1934 trip to Germany, made the elder King changed his and his son's names. He chose to be called Martin Luther King in honor of the German Protestant religious leader Martin Luther, but misunderstandings led to Michael being the name on birth records. He was the third member of his family to become pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father. His training and experience as a minister indeed led to his renowned debating style and cadence. King got his early education in Washington High School, Georgia’s segregated public schools, from where he graduated at age 15, and he received a B.A. degree from Atlanta’s Morehouse College, a respected historically black college. Then he went to study theology at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, a combined school for blacks and whites, where he was elected president of his senior class although it was comprised generally of white students. In 1955, he received an advanced degree from Boston University, in Massachusetts. He had completed the residence for his doctorate two years earlier, with a submission of thesis on “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson …show more content…
He also wrote many articles in the newspaper and five books to spread the message farther. In 1963, he led the massive civil rights protests at Birmingham, Alabama, that drew the attention of all America, indeed, of the entire world, to the difficulties the African Americans faced due to segregation and their demands for social change. During these protests, he was arrested and while in jail, he wrote “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, which was later on adopted as the platform for the civil rights revolution and placed King among America’s eminent essayists such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo