Voices of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Jun 12
- 3 min read
Highlighting Juneteenth
Martin Luther King, Jr.
(1929-1968)
Pastor, Orator, Leader
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta to Michael and Alberta Williams King. His father, the son of sharecroppers, was the pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. In 1934, after having visited Germany to attend the meeting in Berlin of the World Baptist Alliance, Michael King changed his name to Martin Luther King, in honor of the leader of the Reformation, and changed his son’s name to Martin Luther King, Jr.
While growing up, young King experienced the ubiquitous racism of Atlanta in the 1930s, and at the same time witnessed his father’s refusal to bend to it or accept it.
King attended Booker T. Washington High School, the sole Atlanta high school for blacks. There, he studied English, history, and sociology, and participated in the debate team. With his baritone voice and his skill with language, he became, like his father, an accomplished public speaker.
In 1944, at the age of 15, King was accepted into Morehouse College, his father’s alma mater. In 1947, at the age of 18, King decided to enter the ministry; the following year, he graduated from Morehouse with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.
King began his study for the ministry at Crozer Theological Seminary, graduating with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1951. The same year, he began advanced study in theology at Boston University. In Boston, he was one of a group of young pastors who discussed theology and social issues. In 1955, at the age of 25, he was awarded a doctorate in theology.
That same year, 1955, Dr King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. In December, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted more than a year. Although initially hesitant, Dr King took a leadership role in the boycott, to the point where his home was bombed and Dr King himself jailed over a minor traffic violation. The publicity surrounding the boycott and subsequent court cases made Dr King a national figure.
In 1957, Dr King and several other leaders of what would be called the “civil rights movement” founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He developed his tactics of responding non-violently to racist acts in the belief that publicity and public outcry would lead to reform.
The following years, Dr King led civil-rights campaigns in Atlanta, Albany, Georgia, and, most famously, in Birmingham, Alabama, culminating in the March on Washington, August 28, 1963, where, Dr King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Further campaigns followed, both in the South and the North: in New York City, Chicago, St Augustine, and Selma Alabama. Dr King also became an outspoken critic of the war in Vietnam.
In addition to numerous honorary doctorates, Dr King was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.
In March 1969, Dr King went to Memphis to assist in a strike by sanitation workers. While there, he stayed in room 306 of the Lorraine Motel. On the evening of April 4, while standing on the motel’s balcony, he was shot to death by James Earl Ray. He was 39 years old.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill making Dr King’s birthday a federal holiday.
The Kenosha Public Library offers The Martin Luther King, Jr., Companion, a collection of his writings as selected by his wife, Coretta Scott King.
