Martin Luther King Jr Research Paper

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of Michael King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. His father was a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and adopted the name Martin Luther King, Sr. in honor of the German Protestant religious leader Martin Luther. Martin Luther King, Sr. also fought for equal rights. Young Martin entered a public school at age 5, and although his parents always tried, they could not completely protect him from racial discrimination and segregation. In May, 1941, Martin’s grandmother died of a heart attack. This was an awful event because he was at a parade when this happened, even though his parents told him not to go. As a result, he jumped

began to follow in his father’s footsteps by attending the liberal Crozier Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1948. During his last year in seminary, the president of Morehouse College, Benjamin E. Mays, encouraged him to view Christianity as a force for social change. For his doctoral study, Martin decided to go to Boston College. During this time, he met Coretta Scott, and married her on June 18, 1953. In 1954, he became a pastor for the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama. He completed his Ph.D. and got his degree in 1955, at the age of 25. Later on, Martin and Coretta Scott had 4 children, Yolanda King, Bernice King, Dexter Scott King, and Martin Luther King

The day was topped off with Martin’s famous speech. He began with the words, “Fivescore years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The crowd remained silent. About 12 minutes into his speech, he delivered his famous lines: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” King ended his 17 minute speech with the words that sent chills down every single person’s back: “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last!” The crowd erupted as he stepped off the podium. This event marked a milestone for the Civil Rights Movement. People began to question Jim Crow Laws and racial segregation as a whole. This also resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which authorized the federal government to enforce desegregation of public accommodations and banning discrimination in publicly owned facilities. He also ended up winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and was the youngest ever to do so. King kept working with civil rights, and also turned his attention towards the Vietnam War. He gave his last speech on April 3, 1968, in Tennessee, where he said, “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