Martin Luther King Jr

7 Pages 1641 Words

Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Ga., on January 15, 1929. His father, Martin, Sr., was the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, a black congregation. His mother, Alberta Williams Kings, was a schoolteacher. Martin had an older sister named Christine. He also had a younger brother. His name was Alfred Daniel. Martin encountered racism for the first time when he was 6 years old. It happened when his friendship with two white playmates was cut short by their parents. Then at the age of 11, a white woman struck him with the word "nigger". It was devastating for him to encounter this. Though, it was true that not all people think they are equal to other racial groups. A bright student, he was admitted to Morehouse College at the age of 15, without completing high school. Through the years, he wanted someday to become a minister. King's luck came true when he was 18 years old. He was ordained in his father's church. After graduating from Morehouse in 1948, he entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pa. He was the valedictorian of his class in 1951 and won a graduate fellowship. At Boston University he received a Ph.D. in theology in 1955.
King had been impressed by the teachings of Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi on nonviolent resistance. King wrote, "I came to feel that this was the only King had been impressed by the teachings of Henry David Thoreau and Mahatma Gandhi on nonviolent resistance. King wrote, "I came to feel that this was the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom." He became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala., in 1954. In December 1955 King was chosen to head the Montgomery Improvement Association, formed by the black community to lead a boycott of the segregated city buses. During the boycott King's home was bombed, but he persuaded his followers to remain nonviolent despite threats to their lives and property. ...