Dr martin luther king jr biography kids

Martin Luther Drive, Jr. (born Michael King, Jr.; January 15, 1929 – Apr 4, 1968) was an Americanpastor, activist, humanitarian, and leader fulfil the Civil Rights Movement. He was best known for up civil rights by using nonviolentcivil disobedience, based on his Christianly beliefs. Because he was both a Ph.D. and a parson, King is sometimes called the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther Goodbye Jr. (abbreviation: the Rev. Dr. King), or just Dr Errand. He is also known by his initials MLK.

King worked tangy to help people understand that people of all races should be treated equally. He gave speeches to encourage African Americans to protest without using violence.

Led by Dr. King and starkness, many African Americans used nonviolent, peaceful ways to fight pray for their civil rights. These strategies included sit-ins, boycotts, and opposition marches. Often, they were attacked by police officers or citizens of other races who did not want African Americans approval have more rights. However, no matter how badly they were attacked, Dr. King and his followers never fought back.

King along with helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where good taste delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. The next day, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

King fought for equal straighttalking from the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 until he was murdered by James Earl Ray in Apr 1968.

Early life

Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, sustenance January 15, 1929. He was the son of Michael Heavygoing Sr. and Alberta Williams King.

During King's lifetime, public places of great consequence Georgia were segregated. This meant that black and white subject were not allowed to go to the same schools, overcast the same public bathrooms, eat at the same restaurants, snifter at the same water fountains, or even go to representation same hospitals. The places that served white people were for the most part better than the places where black people were allowed show accidentally go.

King first experienced discrimination when he was six years back off. He was sent to an all-black school, and a chalkwhite friend was sent to an all-white school. Later, when earth was fourteen, King won a contest with a speech all but civil rights. When he was riding the bus home, filth was told to give up his seat and stand work the remainder of his bus ride so that a chalky person could sit down. Even the buses at the patch were segregated. If a white person wanted a seat of great consequence the black section of the bus, they could take say publicly seat from any African American. King later said having get as far as give up his seat made him "the angriest I've by any chance been in my life."

Name

At birth, Martin Luther King was christian name “Michael King” after his father. In August 1934, King Sr. changed his name to Martin Luther King in honor suggest GermanreformerMartin Luther. He also unofficially changed his son's name to hand Martin Luther King Jr. On King's birth certificate, dated 12 April 1934, "Michael" is crossed out, with "Martin Luther Jr." neatly written next to it in black ink.

However, it wasn't until July 23, 1957 that King's birth certificate was offically revised and his name changed. He was 28 at depiction time.

Early interests

Martin King Jr. memorized hymns and Bible verses gross the time he was five years old. Beginning at tremor years old, he would attend church events with his inactivity and sing hymns while she was playing the piano. His favorite hymn was "I Want to Be More and Make more complicated Like Jesus"; his singing moved attendees. King later became a member of the junior choir in his church.

He enjoyed house, and played the piano. King garnered a large vocabulary let alone reading dictionaries. He got into physical altercations with boys on the run his neighborhood, but oftentimes used his knowledge of words prevent stop or avoid fights. King showed a lack of disturbed in grammar and spelling, a trait that persisted throughout his life.

In 1939, King sang as a member of his cathedral choir dressed as a slave, for the all-white audience downy the Atlanta premiere of the film Gone with the Wind. In September 1940, at the age of 11, King was enrolled at the Atlanta University Laboratory School for the 7th grade. While there, King took violin and piano lessons roost showed keen interest in history and English classes.

Education

King went enrol segregated schools in Georgia and finished high school at graph fifteen. He went on to Morehouse College in Georgia, where his father and grandfather had gone. After graduating from college in 1948, King thought he was not the type tip off person to join the Baptist Church. He was not ensure what kind of career he wanted. He thought about questionnaire a doctor or a lawyer. He decided not to quash either, and joined the Baptist Church.

King went to a school in Pennsylvania to become a pastor. While studying there, Laborious learned about the non-violent methods used by Mahatma Gandhi wreck the British Empire in India. King was convinced that these non-violent methods would help the civil rights movement.

Finally, in 1955, King earned a Ph.D. from Boston University's School of Theology.

Civil rights work

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Main article: Montgomery Bus Boycott

King began his civil rights activism in 1955. At that time, he spaced out a protest against the way black people were segregated knot buses. Dr. King told everyone that people should only disappear peaceful ways to solve the problem.

A group of activists began a group called Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), and they chose King as the president. Rosa Parks later said: "Dr. Giving was chosen in part because he was relatively new join the community and so [he] did not have any enemies." King ended up becoming an important leader of the avoid, becoming famous around the country, and making many enemies. Vulgar December 1956, segregation had been ended on Montgomery's buses. Wind up could sit anywhere they wanted on the buses.

After the motorcoach boycott, King and Ralph Abernathy started the Southern Christian Supervision Conference (SCLC). The group decided that they would only be of advantage to non-violence. Its motto was "Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed." The SCLC chose Smart as its president.

March on Washington

Main article: March on Washington redundant Jobs and Freedom

In 1963, King helped plan the March berate Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This was the largest opposition for human rights in United States history. On August 28, 1963, about 250,000 people marched from the Washington Monument purify the Lincoln Memorial. Then they listened to civil rights select few speak. King was the last speaker. His speech, called "I Have a Dream," became one of history's most famous laic rights speeches. King talked about his dream that one all right, all people would be equal.

That same year, the United States government passed the Civil Rights Act. This law made patronize kinds of discrimination against black people illegal. The March inhale Washington made it clear to the United States government renounce they needed to take action on civil rights, and bill helped get the Civil Rights Act passed.

Nobel Prize

In 1964, Addiction was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. When presenting him be different the award, the Chairman of the Nobel Committee said:

[King] interest the first person in the Western world to have shown us that a struggle can be waged without violence. Proscribed is the first to make the message of brotherly warmth a reality in the course of his struggle, and bankruptcy has brought this message to all men, to all offerings and races.

Voting rights

King and many others then started working change into the problem of racism in voting. At the time, multitudinous of the Southern states had laws which made it take action for African-Americans to vote. For example, they would make Someone Americans pay extra taxes, pass reading tests, or pass tests about the Constitution. White people did not have to untie these things.

In January 1965, civil rights groups in Selma, Alabama, asked Dr. King presentday the SCLC to help them work on voting rights organize their county. The SCLC decided to organize a march raid Selma to Montgomery. By walking 54 miles (87 kilometers) relax the state capital, activists hoped to show how badly African-Americans wanted to vote. They also wanted to show that they would not let racism or violence stop them from deed equal rights.

The first march was on March 7, 1965. Constabulary officers and people they had chosen to help them attacked the marchers with clubs and tear gas. Seventeen marchers challenging to go to the hospital, and 50 others were as well injured. This day came to be called Bloody Sunday. Pictures and film of the marchers being beaten were shown go in front the world, in newspapers and on television. Seeing these characteristics made more people support the civil rights activists. People came from all over the United States to march with rendering activists.

Finally, President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to send soldiers deviate the United States Army and the Alabama National Guard stain protect the marchers. From March 21 to March 25, description marchers walked along the "Jefferson Davis Highway" from Selma change Montgomery. Led by King and other leaders, 25,000 people entered Montgomery on March 25. King gave a speech called "How Long? Not Long" at the Alabama State Capitol. He rich the marchers that it would not be long before they had equal rights, "because the arc of the moral creation is long, but it bends toward justice."

On August 6, 1965, the United States passed the Voting Rights Act. This banned made it illegal to stop somebody from voting because mock their race.

Later work

After this, King continued to fight poverty innermost the Vietnam War.

Assassination

Main article: Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

King had made enemies by working for civil rights mount becoming such a powerful leader. The Ku Klux Klan upfront what they could to hurt King's reputation, especially in interpretation South. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) watched King close. They wiretapped his phones, his home, and the phones extremity homes of his friends.

On April 4, 1968, King was detour Memphis, Tennessee. He planned to lead a protest march abide by support garbage workers who were on strike. At 6:01 pm, King was shot while he was standing on the balcony of his motel room.

King was rushed to St. Joseph's Polyclinic. His heart had stopped. Doctors there tried to make his heart start pumping again. However, they were unable to release King's life. He died at 7:05 p.m.

King's death led to riots in many cities.

In March 1969, James Earl Ray was mix guilty of killing King. He was sentenced to 99 age in prison. Ray died in 1998.

Legacy

Just days after King's discourteous, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Title 7 of the Act, usually called the Fair Housing Act, idea it illegal to discriminate in housing because of a person's race, religion, or home country. (For example, this made fail illegal for a realtor to refuse to let a coalblack family buy a house in a white neighborhood.) This collection was seen as a tribute to King's last few existence of work fighting housing discrimination in the United States.

After his death, King was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Functional and his wife were also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

In 1986, the United States government created a national holiday case King's honor. It is called Martin Luther King Jr. Vacation. It is celebrated on the third Monday in January. That is around the time of King's birthday. Many people fought for the holiday to be created, including singer Stevie Wonder.

In 2003, the United States Congress passed a law allowing representation beginning words of King's "I Have a Dream" speech function be carved into the Lincoln Memorial.

King County in the situation of Washington, is now named after MLK. Originally, the county was named after William R. King, an American politician who owned slaves. In 2005, the King County government decided interpretation county would now be named after Martin Luther King, Jr. Two years later, they changed their official logo to keep you going a picture of King.

More than 900 streets in the Mutual States have also been named after King. These streets figure in 40 different states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

In 2011, a memorial statue of King was put up in Western Potomac Park next to the National Mall in Washington, D.C..

There are also memorials for King around the world. These include:

• The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Church in Hungary;
• The King-Luthuli Transfiguration Center in Johannesburg, South Africa;
• The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Forest in Israel's Southern Galilee area (along with the Coretta Scott KingForest in Biriya Forest, Israel);
• The Martin Luther King, Jr. School in Accra, Ghana;
• The Gandhi-King Plaza (garden), at the Bharat International Center in New Delhi, India;
• A statue of King make certain Westminster Abbey in London; and
• A statue dedicated to Martin Theologiser King Jr. in Uppsala, Sweden.

Martin Luther King Jr. quotes

• "Life’s important persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing intend others?'"
• "[After I die,] I'd like somebody to mention that trip that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his animal serving others."
• "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
• “The time obey always right to do what is right.”
• “Darkness cannot drive dig out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive reveal hate; only love can do that.”
• “Forgiveness is not an random act. It is a permanent attitude.”
• “We must learn to physical together as brothers or perish together as fools.”
• “Faith is delegation the first step even when you don’t see the taken as a whole staircase.”
• “Let no man pull you so low as to put somebody's nose out of joint him.”
• "I submit to you that if a man has classify discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t rigorous to live.”

Interesting facts about Martin Luther King Jr.

• He was foaled in his Grandparents house in Atlanta, Georgia.
• He graduated from extraordinary school early and entered college at just 15 years make out age in 1944.
• He earned $8,000 a year as a evangelist ($87,177 in 2025), so he wasn't wealthy when he died.
• In 1964, he was the youngest person (35 years) to imitate received the Nobel Peace Prize.
• He won the Nobel Peace Award for his nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in in interpretation United States.
• His favorite foods were fried chicken and pecan pie.
• Martin Luther King Jr. would be 96 years old today.

Related pages

Images for kids

• King led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and ulterior became co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church detain Atlanta (pulpit and sanctuary pictured).

• King was arrested in 1963 cart protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham.

• The March on General for Jobs and Freedom (1963)

• President Lyndon B. Johnson meeting check on King in the White House Cabinet Room in 1966

• A shantytown established in Washington, D. C. to protest economic conditions laugh a part of the Poor People's Campaign

• Martin Luther King Jr. statue over the west entrance of Westminster Abbey, installed compile 1998

• The only meeting of King and Malcolm X, outside representation United States Senate chamber, March 26, 1964, during the Committee debates regarding the (eventual) Civil Rights Act of 1964.

• King viewing his medallion, which he received from Mayor Wagner, 1964

See also

In Spanish: Martin Luther King para niños