Martin Luther King Jr Research Paper

Martin Luther King, Jr. is best known for his role in the civil rights movement, the social movement in America whose goal was to end segregation and discrimination towards blacks. Martin Luther King Jr. was an admirable and virtuous man whose courage, perseverance, and determination pushed our society towards ending segregation as shown through his leadership in multiple organizations, the March on Washington, and Bloody Selma. On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. was born to Alberta Williams King and Martin Luther King Sr. in Atlanta, Georgia (McElrath 16). He was originally named Michael King after his father, however, his father changed both his own name and his sons name to Martin Luther later on (Sitkoff 8). He had an older

Howard Elementary. He later went on to attend Atlanta University Laboratory School and Booker T. Washington High for middle and high school (McElrath 20). In September of 1944, at the age of fifteen, King was given the opportunity to attend Morehouse College. Initially he desired to major in medicine, however, he discovered that he was not fit for that profession and pursued a degree in sociology instead. During the summer before his senior year, he decided he wanted to be a pastor which extremely pleased his father (Lewis 18-20, 24). King graduated from Morehouse in the spring of 1948, with a degree in sociology and went on to get his bachelors in divinity at Crozer Seminary located in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Crozer in June of 1951. King did not stop there as in September of 1951 he decided to continue his education by going to graduate school to pursue a doctorate degree at the University of Boston (Oates 23, 35). In June of 1955, King received his Ph.D. in systematic theology (McElrath

He arrived in Selma, Alabama on January 14, 1965 and on January 18, he led 400 blacks to the courthouse to get registered to vote. On February 1, King led 260 marchers to the courthouse where they were all quickly arrested. He appealed to Judge Thomas asking him to lower their standards for voting rights, which he did on February 4. On March 7, King led over 500 people on the fifty-four mile march from Selma to Montgomery. When they reached the bridge police officers and state troopers were there and ordered them to leave. They refused. The police officers and state troopers started attacking the marchers on horseback with sticks and tear gas. This event is often referred to as “Bloody Selma” (McElrath 190, 192, 194-196). This movement greatly impacted righting votes in