Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. Martin Luther King Jr was a civil rights activist in the mid 1950s and was also a Baptist minister and was also head of the SCLC. He was a middle child and was born Michael King Jr. When he was a kid his father took the name Martin Luther in honor of the German Protestant religious leader and became Martin Luther King Sr. He would follow his father and take the name Martin Luther and became Martin Luther King Jr.

When Martin Luther was twelve years old he jumped out of a second story window to attmept suicide after he got the news of his grandmothers death. His grandmother had died while he was at a parade against his parents wishes. 

Martin Luther King Jr. attended Booker T. Washington High School. He was able to skip both the ninth grade and the eleventh grade. Martin entered college at the age of fifteen and attended Morehouse College. 

When Martin was younger he questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional dislpays of religious worship. During his junior year he took a bible class that renewed his faith and was looking at a career in ministry like his father.

Martin earned his sociology degree from Morehouse College. He then attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. Martin came under the guidance of College President Benjamin E. Mays and he influenced Martin's spiritual development. 

He enrolled in Boston University for his doctoral study. Martin Luther would marry Coretta Scott in June 1953 and they would have four kids together. He became a pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He would complete his Ph.D. and earn his degree in 1955 at the age of just twenty-five. 

Martin Luther King Jr. played a major role in ending legal segregation of African American citizens, especially in the south. He would be part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace  Prize in 1964.

Citation:

"Martin Luther King Jr Biography." The Biography.com Website. Ed. Biography.com Editors. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2015.

Photo Credit: 

http://myhoustonhalos.com/events/2016/1/18/22nd-annual-mlk-grande-parade

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

http://m.democracynow.org/stories/14936

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/20/court-to-control-martin-l_n_4825365.html