Martin Luther King Jr.: biografi og borgerrettighedskamp

Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929. He was the oldest son of the Reverend Martin Luther King. He was named Michael Luther after his father, but later his father changed both their names to Martin Luther in honor of the great Evangelist.Sad racial experiences made a deep and long-lasting feeling on young Martin. One day his father took him to buy new shoes. When they sat down in the store, the clerk asked them to move to the back of the store. Dr. King took Martin by the hand and left the store. He would not take that kind of treatment. Another time, the parents of boys Martin played with told him that they could no longer come out to play with him because they were white and he was black. Martin's feelings were hurt. His mother tried to explain about prejudice. She told him that blacks were no longer slaves, but they were not really free.Martin liked sports. He played baseball, basketball and wrestling. But he especially liked reading. He liked reading about famous people in black history. He found out what it took for them to overcome difficulties and become successful. He liked to learn new words and use them.He was fascinated by watching his father, Martin Luther King Sr. Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He wanted to follow in his footsteps.In September 1944, when he was only 15 years old, King entered Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. It was a black college, and his father and grandfather had gone there. He knew that his father would like him to become a minister, but at first Martin was not sure that was what he wanted to do.At first, he was witch kind of studing he wanted to do. However, his experiences at Morehouse twisted his direction for life. After meeting and talking with Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, the college president, and Professor George Kelsey, head of the religion department, he made up his mind. King was enormously impressed. He saw in Mays what he wanted "a real minister to be" -a sensible man whose speeches were both spiritually and intellectually stimulating, a moral man who was socially involved. And so at seventeen King chosen to become a Baptist minister, like his father and grandfather. At eighteen he was appointed minister. The next year he graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in sociology.Martin was an excellent student and was his classes top student with an A average when he graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer. While at Crozer, King attended a lecture by Dr. Mordecai W. Johnson, who was the president of Howard University in Washington, DC. Dr. Johnson "explained how Gandhi had forged Soul Force- ‘the power of love or truth’ into a mighty vehicle for social change." He "argued that the moral power of Gandhi’s non-violence concept could improve race relations in America, too." King was thrilled by Gandhi's concepts, and began reading about his life and philosophy.In 1951, King graduated from Crozer as valedictorian. While at Boston University, Martin met Coretta Scott, a beautiful young lady from Marion, Alabama. She and Martin were married in June, 1953. His father performed the ceremony at her home in Alabama.Coretta had grown up with segregation too. She shared Martin's dream of a time when everyone everywhere could enjoy equal rights. On June 5, 1955, when he had completed his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology, the couple decided that they could make a difference by going back down South to work. Martin was installed by his father as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, in October of 1954. Just a little more that a year later, Yolanda, the first of the Kings' four children was born.In December of 1955, Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. For that she was arrested. Mrs. Parks was later tried in Montgomery City Court, charged with and found guilty of violating a state law. She was fined $10. Her attorney appealed the conviction. Because of Rosa Parks trial a one-day boycott of the buses by many members of Montgomery Black community, was planned. Dr. King was asked to help by the Reverend Ralph Abernathy. As a result of this, an organization was established, the "Montgomery Improvement Association," (MIA) to coordinate a complete and ongoing response to Montgomery's segregation. Dr. King was chosen president. Blacks walked to work or took cars or taxis, but they did not ride the buses. The one-day boycott stretched out to 382 days. Finally, after more than a year of protest, on November 13, 1956, the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was against the law.Martin Luther King Jr. knew that even though that battle against bus discrimination had been won in Montgomery, there was more that needed doingIn February 1957, a organization elected Dr. King as President and changed its name to the Southern Leadership Conference (SLC), organized to fight Jim Crow laws which discriminated the blacks. Offices for the new group were in Atlanta, and the Kings moved there to. Martin became assistant pastor at his father's church, the Ebenezer Baptist Church. He spent much time travelling. He spoke all over the country, urging non-violent ways of gaining civil rights. He and Mrs. King visited Europe and Africa. They went to India to study Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent ways of fighting for freedom. On August 28, 1963, at least 250,000 people walk trough Washington in the largest single demonstration in movement history. It was Dr. King’s day. It was the day he hol his ’’I Have a Dream’’ Speech. Following the march, the organizers were invited to a reception at the White House, where President John F. Kennedy was fizzy over the success of the event."Perhaps the ultimate respect of Dr. King's movement to secure equal rights for all, came on December 10, 1964, at age 35, he was the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.