ປະຫວັດ
ຊີວິດສ່ວນຕົວ
ໃນຂະນະທີ່ກຳລັງສຶກສາລະດັບປະລິນຍາໂທຢູ່ມະຫາວິທະຍາໄລ ບອສຕັນ (Boston University), ເພິ່ນໄດ້ພົບກັບ ຄໍເຣັດດາ ສະກັອດ (Coretta Scott) ພັນລະຍາຂອງເພິ່ນ, ເຊິ່ງຕໍ່ມາທັງສອງມີບຸດນຳກັນ 4 ຄົນ. ຄິງ ແລະ ຄອບຄົວໄດ້ຍ້າຍໄປຕັ້ງຖິ່ນຖານຢູ່ເມືອງ ມອນໂກເມຣີ (Montgomery), ລັດອາລາບາມາ (Alabama) ເຊິ່ງເປັນບ່ອນທີ່ເພິ່ນໄດ້ກາຍເປັນນັກເທດຄົນທີ 20 ຂອງໂບດແບັບຕິດ ເທິງຖະໜົນເດັກເຕີ ເອເວນິວ (Dexter Avenue Baptist Church).
ການກ່າວສູນທໍລະພົດວ່າດ້ວຍການຈຳແນກສີຜິວ
ເຫດການໃນປີ ຄ.ສ. 1955 ທີ່ຍິງຜິວດຳ ໂຣຊາ ພາກສ໌ (Rosa Parks) ຖືກຈັບຍ້ອນປະຕິເສດທີ່ຈະສະຫຼະບ່ອນນັ່ງເທິງລົດເມເມືອງມອນໂກເມຣີ ໃຫ້ແກ່ຊາຍຜິວຂາວ, ເປັນສິ່ງທີ່ເຮັດໃຫ້ການຮຽກຮ້ອງສິດທິພົນລະເມືອງທີ່ກຳລັງຮ້ອນລະອຸຢູ່ແລ້ວນັ້ນ ລະເບີດຂຶ້ນມາ.
“ການຂວ້ຳບາດລະບົບລົດຂົນສົ່ງມວນຊົນໃນມອນໂກເມຣີ, ລັດອາລາບາມາ ຖືວ່າປະສົບຜົນສຳເລັດຫຼາຍ ຍ້ອນເພິ່ນໄດ້ວາງແຜນມາຢ່າງດີ ແລະ ເຮັດວຽກຮ່ວມກັບຫຼາຍຄົນ ເພື່ອໃຫ້ຄົນໃນເມືອງມອນໂກເມຣີ ເຂົ້າໃຈວ່າພວກເຂົາຈະບໍ່ທົນກັບເລື່ອງແບບນີ້ອີກຕໍ່ໄປ.”
ປະສົບການ, ຄວາມທຸ່ມເທ ແລະ ການເປັນທີ່ຮູ້ຈັກໃນຊຸມຊົນຂອງ ຄິງ ເຮັດໃຫ້ເພິ່ນມີຄຸນສົມບັດເໝາະສົມທີ່ຈະເປັນຜູ້ນຳໃນການຂວ້ຳບາດລົດຂົນສົ່ງມວນຊົນຂອງເມືອງ ເຊິ່ງດົນເຖິງ 381 ວັນ. ໃນວັນທີ 20 ທັນວາ ຄ.ສ. 1956, ສານສູງສຸດໄດ້ຕັດສິນວ່າ ການແບ່ງແຍກບ່ອນນັ່ງຕາມສີຜິວເທິງລົດເມແມ່ນຂັດຕໍ່ລັດຖະທຳມະນູນ, ເຊິ່ງເປັນໄຊຊະນະຄັ້ງໃຫຍ່ຂອງການເຄື່ອນໄຫວເພື່ອສິດທິພົນລະເມືອງຂອງຄົນຜິວດຳ ແລະ ເປັນເຄື່ອງຢືນຢັນວ່າ ການປະທ້ວງແບບບໍ່ໃຊ້ຄວາມຮຸນແຮງຂອງ ຄິງ ແມ່ນໄດ້ຜົນແທ້.
ມາຮອດເວລານີ້, ຄິງໄດ້ກາຍເປັນຕົວແທນຂອງການຮຽກຮ້ອງສິດທິພົນລະເມືອງທີ່ໂດ່ງດັງໄປທົ່ວປະເທດ. ເພິ່ນຖືກຄຸມຂັງຫຼາຍກວ່າ 20 ຄັ້ງ, ເຄີຍຖືກແທງທີ່ເອິກ, ແລະ ເຮືອນກໍເຄີຍຖືກວາງລະເບີດ. ນອກຈາກນັ້ນ, ທັງເພິ່ນ ແລະ ຄອບຄົວຍັງຖືກທຳຮ້າຍນັບຄັ້ງບໍ່ຖ້ວນ. ສຳລັບຊາຍຜູ້ທີ່ຕ້ອງການຕໍ່ສູ້ຢ່າງສັນຕິວິທີ, ຊີວິດສ່ວນໃຫຍ່ຂອງເພິ່ນພັດຕົກເປັນເຫຍື່ອຂອງຄວາມຮຸນແຮງຢ່າງບໍ່ຢຸດຢັ້ງ. ແນວໃດກໍຕາມ, ການຂົ່ມຂູ່ເຫຼົ່ານັ້ນບໍ່ເຄີຍຢຸດຢັ້ງເພິ່ນໄດ້ເລີຍ.
“ດຣ. ຄິງ ເປັນແຮງບັນດານໃຈໃຫ້ຄົນຫຼາຍພັນຄົນ ຜ່ານການກ່າວສູນທໍລະພົດທີ່ຄົມຄາຍ ແລະ ຄວາມກ້າຫານຂອງເພິ່ນ. ໂດຍສະເພາະຢ່າງຍິ່ງ ພາຍຫຼັງທີ່ເຮືອນຂອງເພິ່ນຖືກວາງລະເບີດ, ທັງພັນລະຍາ, ລູກ ແລະ ຕົວເພິ່ນເອງ ຍັງສະແດງອອກວ່າພວກເຂົາພ້ອມທີ່ຈະສ່ຽງຊີວິດເພື່ອຮຽກຮ້ອງເສລີພາບນີ້.”
ຄິງເຮັດວຽກຢ່າງບໍ່ຮູ້ອິດຮູ້ເມື່ອຍເພື່ອສົ່ງເສີມໃນສິ່ງທີ່ເພິ່ນເຊື່ອໝັ້ນຢ່າງແຮງກ້າ. ຕັ້ງແຕ່ປີ 1957-1968, ເພິ່ນໄດ້ເດີນທາງເປັນໄລຍະທາງກວ່າ 6 ລ້ານໄມລ໌, ກ່າວສູນທໍລະພົດ 2,500 ຄັ້ງ, ຂຽນປຶ້ມ 5 ເຫຼັ້ມ ແລະ ບົດຄວາມອີກຫຼວງຫຼາຍ. ການເຮັດວຽກໜັກ ແລະ ຄວາມສາມາດໃນການສື່ສານຂອງເພິ່ນ ເຮັດໃຫ້ເພິ່ນເປັນທີ່ນັບຖືຢ່າງສູງ ຈົນປະທານາທິບໍດີ ຈອນ ເອັບ. ເຄເນດີ (John F. Kennedy) ຍັງໄດ້ອະນຸຍາດໃຫ້ເພິ່ນເຂົ້າພົບເປັນສ່ວນຕົວນຳອີກ.
ໃນບັນດາສູນທໍລະພົດທັງໝົດທີ່ ດຣ. ຄິງ ເຄີຍກ່າວມາ, ບໍ່ມີອັນໃດທີ່ຈະເປັນອະມະຕະໄປກວ່າສູນທໍລະພົດ "ຂ້ອຍມີຄວາມຝັນ" (I Have a Dream) ທີ່ກ່າວຢູ່ຂັ້ນໄດຂອງອະນຸສາວະລີ ລິນຄອນ (Lincoln Memorial) ໃນປີ ຄ.ສ. 1963 ຕໍ່ໜ້າມວນຊົນກວ່າ 250,000 ຄົນ ທັງຜິວຂາວ ແລະ ຜິວດຳ.
ຄິງໄດ້ກາຍມາເປັນບຸກຄົນທີ່ມີອິດທິພົນທາງຄວາມຄິດຢ່າງຫຼວງຫຼາຍໃນສະຫະລັດ ຈົນນິຕະຍະສານ ໄທມສ໌ (TIME) ຍົກຍ້ອງໃຫ້ເພິ່ນເປັນ “ບຸກຄົນແຫ່ງປີ” ໃນປີ 1963. ນັ້ນເປັນລາງວັນທີ່ໜ້າພາກພູມໃຈ, ແຕ່ກໍເບິ່ງຄືວ່າເປັນເລື່ອງເລັກນ້ອຍໄປເລີຍ ເມື່ອໃນປີ 1964 ເພິ່ນໄດ້ກາຍເປັນຊາຍທີ່ມີອາຍຸນ້ອຍທີ່ສຸດທີ່ໄດ້ຮັບ ລາງວັນໂນເບລສາຂາສັນຕິພາບ.
ໃນຂະນະທີ່ຢູ່ເມືອງ ເມມຟິສ (Memphis) ເພິ່ນເປັນຜູ້ນຳການເດີນຂະບວນປະທ້ວງປົກປ້ອງສິດຂອງຄົນງານເກັບຂີ້ເຫຍື້ອທີ່ຢຸດງານປະທ້ວງໃນປີ 1968, ຄິງໄດ້ກ່າວສູນທໍລະພົດປຸກໃຈທີ່ມີຊື່ວ່າ “ຂ້າພະເຈົ້າໄດ້ໄປເຖິງຍອດເຂົາ” (I’ve Been to the Mountaintop) ເຊິ່ງເປັນສູນທໍລະພົດສຸດທ້າຍຂອງເພິ່ນ. ໃນຂະນະທີ່ຢືນຢູ່ລະບຽງຊັ້ນສອງໜ້າຫ້ອງພັກທີ່ໂຮງແຮມ ລໍເຣນ (Lorraine Hotel) ໃນເມືອງ ເມມຟິສ, ຄິງຖືກລອບຍິງ ແລະ ເສຍຊີວິດ.
ໃນປີ 1983, ປະທານາທິບໍດີ ໂຣນັນ ເຣແກນ (Ronald Reagan) ໄດ້ລົງນາມໃນປະກາດທາງການທີ່ກຳນົດໃຫ້ທຸກໆວັນຈັນທີ 3 ຂອງເດືອນມັງກອນ ເປັນ ວັນ ມາດຕິນ ລູເທີ ຄິງ ຈູເນຍ, ເຊິ່ງເປັນວັນພັກທາງການເພື່ອສະເຫຼີມສະຫຼອງໃຫ້ແກ່ຊາຍຜູ້ນີ້ ແລະ ທຸກສິ່ງທີ່ເພິ່ນໄດ້ຕໍ່ສູ້ມາ.
ປະທານຜູ້ທຳອິດແຫ່ງກອງປະຊຸມຜູ້ນຳຄຣິດສະຕຽນພາກໃຕ້ (SCLC) ດຳລົງຕຳແໜ່ງແຕ່ວັນທີ 10 ມັງກອນ ຄ.ສ. 1957 – 4 ເມສາ ຄ.ສ. 1968. ຜູ້ດຳລົງຕຳແໜ່ງຖັດໄປແມ່ນ ຣາລຟ໌ ອະເບີນາທີ (Ralph Abernathy).
ຂໍ້ມູນສ່ວນຕົວ
ຊື່ເກີດ: ໄມເຄິລ ຄິງ ຈູເນຍ (Michael King Jr.)
ສະຖານທີ່ເກີດ: ແອດແລນຕາ, ລັດຈໍເຈຍ, ສະຫະລັດອາເມລິກາ.
ສະຖານທີ່ໄວ້ສົບ: ສວນອຸທະຍານປະຫວັດສາດແຫ່ງຊາດ ມາດຕິນ ລູເທີ ຄິງ ຈູເນຍ.
ບຸດ: ໂຍແລນດາ, ມາດຕິນ, ເດັກເຕີ, ແລະ ເບີນີຊ.
ການສຶກສາ: ຈົບປະລິນຍາຕີຈາກ ວິທະຍາໄລມໍເຮົາສ໌ (Morehouse College), ປະລິນຍາໂທດ້ານເທວະວິທະຍາຈາກ ຄຣໍເຊີ (Crozer), ແລະ ປະລິນຍາເອກຈາກ ມະຫາວິທະຍາໄລບອສຕັນ (Boston University).
ອາຊີບ: ສາດສະດາຈານ ແລະ ນັກເຄື່ອນໄຫວ.
ຜົນງານເດັ່ນ: ການເຄື່ອນໄຫວເພື່ອສິດທິພົນລະເມືອງ ແລະ ການສ້າງສັນຕິພາບ.
(Topic) (Lao) (English) ປະທານຄົນທຳອິດຂອງ SCLC First President of the SCLC ວັນເກີດ 15 ມັງກອນ 1929 January 15, 1929 ວັນເສຍຊີວິດ 4 ເມສາ 1968 (ອາຍຸ 39 ປີ) April 4, 1968 (Aged 39) ສາເຫດການເສຍຊີວິດ ຖືກລອບສັງຫານ Assassination ຄູ່ສົມລົດ ຄໍເຣັດດາ ສະກັອດ Coretta Scott ລາງວັນສູງສຸດ ລາງວັນໂນເບລສາຂາສັນຕິພາບ Nobel Peace Prize (1964)
Martin Luther King, Jr.
A Black church leader, King participated in and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and other civil rights. He oversaw the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and was the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), leading the unsuccessful Albany Movement in Albany, Georgia, and helping organize nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama. King was one of the leaders of the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, and helped organize two of the three Selma to Montgomery marches during the 1965 Selma voting rights movement. There were dramatic standoffs with segregationist authorities, who often responded violently. The civil rights movement achieved pivotal legislative gains in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
King was jailed several times. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover considered King a radical and made him an object of COINTELPRO from 1963. FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties, spied on his personal life, and secretly recorded him. In 1964, the FBI mailed King a threatening anonymous letter, which he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide.
King won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War. In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray was convicted of the assassination, though it remains the subject of conspiracy theories. King's death led to riots in US cities. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2003. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in cities and states throughout the United States beginning in 1971; the federal holiday was first observed in 1986. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 20
11. Early life and education: Birth
Michael King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, the second of three children of Michael King and Alberta King (née Williams). Alberta's father, Adam Daniel Williams, was a minister in rural Georgia, moved to Atlanta in 1893, and became pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in the following year. Williams married Jennie Celeste Parks. Michael Sr. was born to sharecroppers James Albert and Delia King of Stockbridge, Georgia; he was likely of Mende (Sierra Leone) descent. He enrolled in Morehouse College to study for entry to the ministry. Michael Sr. and Alberta began dating in 1920, and married on November 25, 1926. Until Jennie's death in 1941, their home was on the second floor of Alberta's parents' home, where King was born. Michael Jr. had an older sister, Christine King Farris, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel King.
Shortly after marrying Alberta, King Sr. became assistant pastor of the Ebenezer church. Senior pastor Williams died in the spring of 1931 and that fall King Sr. took the role. With support from his wife, he raised attendance from six hundred to several thousand. In 1934, the church sent King Sr. on a multinational trip; one of the stops being Berlin for the Fifth Congress of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA). He also visited sites in Germany that are associated with the Reformation leader Martin Luther. In reaction to the rise of Nazism, the Congress of the BWA adopted, in August 1934, a resolution saying, "This Congress deplores and condemns as a violation of the law of God the Heavenly Father, all racial animosity, and every form of oppression or unfair discrimination toward the Jews, toward colored people, or toward subject races in any part of the world." After returning home in August 1934, Michael Sr. changed his name to Martin Luther King and his five-year-old son's name to Martin Luther King Jr.
Early childhood
At his childhood home, Martin Jr. and his two siblings read aloud the Bible as instructed by their father. After dinners, Martin Jr.'s grandmother Jennie, whom he affectionately referred to as "Mama", told lively stories from the Bible. Martin Jr.'s father regularly used whippings to discipline his children, sometimes having them whip each other. Martin Sr. later remarked, "[Martin Jr.] was the most peculiar child whenever you whipped him. He'd stand there, and the tears would run down, and he'd never cry." Once, when Martin Jr. witnessed his brother A.D. emotionally upset his sister Christine, he took a telephone and knocked A.D. unconscious with it. When Martin Jr. and his brother were playing at their home, A.D. slid from a banister and hit Jennie, causing her to fall unresponsive. Martin Jr., believing her dead, blamed himself and attempted suicide by jumping from a second-story window, but rose from the ground after hearing that she was alive.
Martin Jr. became friends with a white boy whose father owned a business across the street from his home. In September 1935, when the boys were about six years old, they started school. King had to attend a school for black children, Yonge Street Elementary School, while his playmate went to a separate school for white children only. Soon afterwards, the parents of the white boy stopped allowing King to play with their son, stating to him, "we are white, and you are colored". When King relayed
this to his parents, they talked with him about the history of slavery and racism in America, which King would later say made him "determined to hate every white person". His parents instructed him that it was his Christian duty to love everyone. Martin Jr. witnessed his father stand up against segregation and discrimination. Once, when stopped by a police officer who referred to Martin Sr. as "boy", Martin Sr. responded sharply that Martin Jr. was a boy but he was a man. When Martin Jr's father took him into a shoe store in downtown Atlanta, the clerk told them they needed to sit in the back. Martin Sr. refused, asserting "We'll either buy shoes sitting here or we won't buy any shoes at all", before leaving the store with Martin Jr. He told Martin Jr. afterward, "I don't care how long I have to live with this system, I will never accept it." In 1936, Martin Sr. led hundreds of African Americans in a civil rights march to the city hall in Atlanta to protest voting rights discrimination. Martin Jr. later remarked that Martin Sr. was "a real father" to him.
Martin Jr. memorized hymns and Bible verses by the time he was five years old. Beginning at six years old, he attended church events with his mother and sang hymns while she played piano. His favorite hymn was "I Want to Be More and More Like Jesus". King later became a member of the junior choir in his church. He enjoyed opera, and played the piano. King garnered a large vocabulary from reading dictionaries. He got into physical altercations with boys in his neighborhood, but oftentimes used his knowledge of words to stop or avoid fights. King showed a lack of interest in grammar and spelling, a trait that persisted throughout his life. In 1939, King sang as a member of his church choir dressed as a slave for the all-white audience at 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 seventh grade. While there, King took violin and
piano lessons and showed keen interest in history and English classes. On May 18, 1941, when King had sneaked away from studying at home to watch a parade, he was informed that something had happened to his maternal grandmother. After returning home, he learned she had a heart attack and died while being transported to a hospital. He took her death very hard and believed that his deception in going to see the parade may have been responsible for God taking her. King again jumped out of a second-story window at his home but again survived. His father instructed him that Martin Jr. should not blame himself and that she had been called home to God as part of God's plan. Martin Jr. struggled with this. Shortly thereafter, Martin Sr. decided to move the family to a two-story brick home on a hill overlooking downtown Atlanta.
Adolescence
As an adolescent, he initially felt resentment against whites due to the "racial humiliation" that he, his family, and his neighbors often had to endure. In 1942, when King was 13, he became the youngest assistant manager of a newspaper delivery station for the Atlanta Journal. In the same year, King skipped the ninth grade and enrolled in Booker T. Washington High School, where he maintained a B-plus average. The high school was the only one in the city for African-American students.
Martin Jr. was brought up in a Baptist home; as he entered adolescence he began to question the literalist teachings preached at his father's church. At the age of 13, he denied the bodily resurrection of Jesus during Sunday school. Martin Jr. said that he found himself unable to identify with the emotional displays from congregants who were frequent at his church; he doubted if he would ever attain personal satisfaction from religion. He later said of this point in his life, "doubts began to spring forth unrelentingly."
In high school, Martin Jr. became known for his public-speaking ability, with a voice that had grown into an orotund baritone. He joined the school's debate team. King continued to be most drawn to history and English, and chose English and sociology as his main subjects. King maintained an abundant vocabulary. However, he relied on his sister Christine to help him with spelling, while King assisted her with math. King also developed an interest in fashion, commonly wearing polished patent leather shoes and tweed suits, which gained him the nickname "Tweed" or "Tweedie" among his friends. He liked flirting with girls and dancing. His brother A.D. later remarked, "He kept flitting from chick to chick, and I decided I couldn't keep up with him. Especially since he was crazy about dances, and just about the best jitterbug in town."
On April 13, 1944, in his junior year, King gave his first public speech during an oratorical contest. In his speech he stated, "black America still wears chains. The finest negro is at the mercy of the meanest white m
an." King was selected as the winner of the contest. On the ride home to Atlanta by bus, he and his teacher were ordered by the driver to stand so that white passengers could sit. The driver of the bus called King a "black son-of-a-bitch". King initially refused but complied after his teacher told him that he would be breaking the law if he did not. As all the seats were occupied, he and his teacher were forced to stand the rest of the way to Atlanta. Later King wrote of the incident: "That night will never leave my memory. It was the angriest I have ever been in my life." Morehouse College
During King's junior year in high school, Morehouse College—an all-male historically black college that King's father and maternal grandfather had attended—began accepting high school juniors who passed the entrance examination. As World War II was underway, many black college students had been enlisted, so the university aimed to increase their enrollment by allowing juniors to apply. In 1944, aged 15, King passed the examination and was enrolled at the university that autumn.
In the summer before King started at Morehouse, he boarded a train with his friend—Emmett "Weasel" Proctor—and a group of other Morehouse College students to work in Simsbury, Connecticut, at the tobacco farm of Cullman Brothers Tobacco. This was King's first trip into the integrated north. In a June 1944 letter to his father, King wrote about the differences that struck him: "On our way here we saw some things I had never anticipated to see. After we passed Washington there was no discrimination at all. The white people here are very nice. We go to any place we want to and sit anywhere we want to." The farm had partnered with Morehouse College to allot their wages towards the university's tuition, housing, and fees. On weekdays King and the other students worked in the fields, picking tobacco from 7:00 am to at least 5:00 pm, enduring temperatures above 100 °F, to earn roughly USD$4 per day. On Friday evenings, the students visited downtown Simsbury to get milkshakes and watch movies, and on Saturdays they would travel to Hartford, Connecticut, to see theatre performances, shop, and eat in restaurants. On Sundays, they attended church services in Hartford at a church filled with white congregants. King wrote to his parents about the lack of segregation, relaying how he was amazed they could go to "one of the finest restaurants in Hartford" and that "Negroes and whites go to the same church".
At Morehouse, King played freshman football. The summer before his last year there, in 1947, the 18-year-old King chose to enter the ministry. He would later credit the college's president, Baptist minister Benjamin Mays, with being his "spiritual mentor". King had concluded that the church offered the most assuring way to answer "an inner urge to serve humanity", and he made peace with the Baptist Church, as he believed he would be a "rational" minister with sermons that were "a respectful force for ideas, even social protest." King graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1948, aged nineteen.
Religious education
See also: Martin Luther King Jr. authorship issues
King enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania, and took several courses at the University of Pennsylvania. At Crozer, King was elected president of the student body. At Penn, King took courses with William Fontaine, Penn's first African-American professor, and Elizabeth F. Flower, a professor of philosophy. King's father supported his decision to continue his education and made arrangements for King to work with J. Pius Barbour, a family friend and Crozer alumnus who pastored at Calvary Baptist Church in nearby Chester, Pennsylvania. King became known as one of the "Sons of Calvary", an honor he shared with William Augustus Jones Jr. and Samuel D. Proctor, who both went on to become well-known preachers.King reproved another student for keeping beer in his room once, saying they shared responsibility as African Americans to bear "the burdens of the Negro race". For a time, he was interested in Walter Rauschenbusch's "social gospel". In his third year at Crozer, King became romantically involved with Betty Moitz, the white daughter of an immigrant German woman who worked in the cafeteria. King planned to marry her, but friends, as well as King's father, advised against it, saying that an interracial marriage would provoke animosity from both blacks and whites, potentially damaging his chances of ever pastoring a church in the South. King tearfully told a friend that he cou
ld not endure his mother's pain over the marriage and broke the relationship off six months lat er. One friend was quoted as saying, "He never recovered." Other friends, including Harry Belafonte, said Betty had been "the love of King's life." King graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1951. He applied to the University of Edinburgh for a doctorate in the School of Divinity but ultimately chose Boston instead. In 1951, King began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University, and worked as an assistant minister at Boston's historic Twelfth Baptist Church with William Hunter Hester. Hester was an old friend of King's father and was an important influence on King. In Boston, King befriended a small cadre of local ministers his age, and sometimes guest pastored at their churches, including
Michael E. Haynes, associate pastor at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury. The young men often held bull sessions in their apartments, discussing theology, sermon style, and social issues. At the age of 25 in 1954, King was called as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. King received his PhD on June 5, 1955, with a dissertation (initially supervised by Edgar S. Brightman and, upon the latter's death, by Lotan Harold DeWolf) titled "A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman."
An academic inquiry in October 1991 concluded that portions of his doctoral dissertation were plagiarisms and he had acted improperly. However, despite its finding, the committee said that "no thought should be given to the revocation of Dr. King's doctoral degree," an action that the panel said would serve no purpose. The committee found that the dissertation still "makes an intelligent contribution to scholarship." A letter is now attached to
the copy of King's dissertation in the university library, noting that numerous passages were included without the appropriate quotations and citations of sources. Significant debate exists on how to interpret King's plagiarism.
Marriage and family
While studying at Boston University, King asked a friend from Atlanta named Mary Powell, a student at the New England Conservatory of Music, if she knew any nice Southern girls. Powell spoke to fellow student Coretta Scott; Scott was not interested in dating preachers but eventually agreed to allow King to telephone her based on Powell's description and vouching. On their first call, King told Scott, "I am like Napoleon at Waterloo before your charms," to which she replied: "You haven't even met me."
King married Scott on June 18, 1953, on the lawn of her parents' house, in Heiberger, Alabama. They had four children: Yolanda King (1955–2007), Martin Luther King III (born 1957), Dexter Scott King (1961–2024), and Bernice King (born 1963). King limited Coretta's role in the civil rights movement, expecting her to be a housewife and mother.
Activism and organizational leadership
Mary's Cafe Sit-In, 1950
On Sunday, June 11, 1950, King, classmate at Crozer Seminary and housemate Walter McCall, and their dates Doris Wilson and Pearl Smith attended church services in Merchantville. Afterwards they stopped at tavern Mary's Cafe in Maple Shade for beers. The foursome were left waiting without anyone approaching them for service, not unexpectedly. A friend's father and King and McCall's landlord Jesthroe Hunt had warned them Black people were not welcome at Mary's. King replied to the effect of maybe they needed to go, so they could start to go anywhere they wanted. The seminarians had opted for Mary's Cafe with full knowledge of its reputation. After waiting without service, McCall approached the bar.
McCall asked bartender and Mary's Cafe owner Ernest Nichols for packaged goods (beer for takeaway). Nichols refused, explaining he could not sell packaged goods on Sundays or any day after 10pm, by law. McCall then requested 4 glasses of beer to which Nichols answered "no beer, Mr! Today is Sunday”. Nichols would claim they sought him to violate New Jersey's blue law (a restriction common in South Jersey and Pennsylvania as a remnant of the influence of their Quakers roots). McCall requested ginger ales as non-alcoholic beverages were not subject to the blue law. Nichols refused the group even ginger ales and reportedly stated "the best thing would be for you to leave". King and company met refusal with refusal, and remained in their seats as was their right per New Jersey's 1945 anti-discrimination law, which guaranteed non-discrimination by race in public accommodations. Nichols stomped out and returned with a gun standing outside firing into the air reportedly shouting "I'd kill for less". Fearing for their lives, the four activists ran from the tavern. The group went to the Maple Shade Police Department where officers refused to file their complaint. King and McCall contacted Ulysses Simpson Wiggins then President of the Camden County Branch NAACP, who helped them successfully file a police report. The New York Times confirms "The complaint was against Ernest Nichols, a white tavern owner in Maple Shade, N.J., and said that he had refused to serve the black students and their dates in June 1950, and had threatened them by firing a gun in the air. The complaint was signed by the two students. One of the signatures, in a loopy, slanted cursive, reads 'M. L. King Jr.'"
Nichols was charged with disorderly conduct and violation of the anti-discrimination law. He was found guilty and fined $50, however the racial discrimination count was dismissed. In a statement submitted "in the spirit of assisting the Prosecutor" Nichol's attorney noted:
Mr. Nichols claims that this act was not intended as a threat to his colored patrons. The colored patrons, on the other hand, while they admit that the gun was not pointed at them or any of them, seemed to think that it was a threat. Mr. Nichols on the other hand states that he has been held up before and he wanted to alert his watc
hdog who was somewhere outside on the tavern grounds. — Statement on Behalf of Ernest Nichols, State of New Jersey vs. Ernest Nichols, by W. Thomas McGann
King cited the incident saying it was “a formative step” in his “commitment to a more just society.” The Mary's Cafe sit-in demonstrated the power of non-violent civil disobedience. Nichols' reaction in retrieving a weapon and discharging it to scare the group, or summon his guard dog, to young people's refusal to leave unserved, showed King the potency of such tactics. This sit-in is believed to be the first deployment of the non-violence and civil disobedience tactics which would distinguish King's activism and legacy.
The Mary's Cafe sit-in occurred six months prior to Mordecai Johnson's Lecture on Gandhi at the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia on November 19, 1950 where King would be formally exposed to these tactics. At that lecture and in discussions with Dr. Johnson at the Fellowship House, Dr. King would be inspired and galvanized by how Mahatma Gandhi integrated Henry David Thoreau's theory of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience tactics. Patrick Duff, a South Jersey resident, discovered the police report detailing the events at Mary's after searching the archive at The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute.
Montgomery bus boycott, 1955
The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church was influential in the Montgomery African-American community. As the church's pastor, King became known for his oratorical preaching in Montgomery and the surrounding region.
In March 1955, Claudette Colvin—a black schoolgirl in Montgomery—refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in violation of Jim Crow laws, local laws in the Southern US that enforced racial segregation. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus. These incidents led to the Montgomery bus boycott, which was urged and planned by Edgar Nixon and led by King. The other ministers asked him to take a leadership role because his relative newness to community leadership made it easier for him to speak out. King was hesitant but decided to do so if no one else wanted it.
The boycott lasted for 385 days, and the situation became so tense that King's house was bombed. King was arrested for traveling 30 mph in a 25 mph zone and jailed, which drew the attention of national media, and increased King's public stature. The controversy ended when the US District Court issued a ruling in Browder v. Gayle that prohibited racial segregation on Montgomery public buses.
King's role in the bus boycott transformed him into a national figure and the best-known spokesman of the civil rights movement.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
In 1957, King, along with Christian ministers Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, and Joseph Lowery, as well as Bayard Rustin and other activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The group was created to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct nonviolent protests in the service of civi
.jpg)
Harry Wachtel joined King's legal advisor Clarence B. Jones in defending four ministers of the SCLC in the libel case Abernathy et al. v. Sullivan; the case was litigated about the newspaper advertisement "Heed Their Rising Voices". Wachtel founded a tax-exempt fund to cover the suit's expenses and assist the civil rights movement through more effective fundraising. King served as honorary president of this organization, named the "Gandhi Society for Human Rights". In 1962, King and the Gandhi Society produced a document that called on President Kennedy to issue an executive order to deliver a blow for civil rights as a kind of Second Emancipation Proclamation. Kennedy did not execute the order.
The FBI, under written directive from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, began tapping King's telephone line in the fall of 1963. Kennedy was concerned that public allegations of communists in the SCLC would derail the administration's civil rights initiatives. He warned King to discontinue these associations and felt compelled to issue the directive that authorized the FBI to wiretap King and other SCLC leaders. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover feared the civil rights movement and investigated the allegations of communist infiltration. When no evidence emerged to support this, the FBI used the incidental details caught on tape over the next f
King believed that organized, nonviolent protest against the system of southern segregation known as Jim Crow laws would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality. Journalistic accounts and televised footage of the daily indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment, produced a wave of sympathetic public opinion that convinced most Americans that the civil rights movement was the most important political issue in the early 1960s.
King organized and led marches for blacks' right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted into law with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The SCLC used tactics of nonviolent protest with success, by strategically choosing the methods and places in which protests were carried out. There were often dramatic stand-offs with segregationist authorities, who sometimes turned violent.
Survived knife attack, 1958
On September 20, 1958, King was signing copies of his book Stride Toward Freedom in Blumstein's department store in Harlem when Izola Curry—a mentally ill black woman who thought King was conspiring against her with communists—stabbed him in the chest with a letter opener, which nearly impinged on the aorta. King received first aid by police officers Al Howard and Philip Romano. King underwent surgery by Aubre de Lambert Maynard, Emil Naclerio and John W. V. Cordice; he remained hospitalized for weeks. Curry was later found mentally incompetent to stand trial. Accepting his doctor's advice, King, along with Coretta and Alabama State College history professor Lawrence D. Reddick, traveled to Europe, India and the Middle East from February to March 1959 to recuperate. Upon returning to Montgomery, King agreed with the SCLC board to fire executive director John Lee Tilley, but then hired co-founder Bayard Rustin to manage press relations.
Atlanta sit-ins, prison sentence, and the 1960 elections
In December 1959, after being based in Montgomery for five years, King announced his return to Atlanta at the request of the SCLC. In Atlanta, King served until his death as co-pastor with his father at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Georgia governor Ernest Vandiver expressed open hostility towards King's return. He claimed that "wherever M. L. King Jr., has been there has followed in his wake a wave of crimes", and vowed to keep King under surveillance. On May 4, 1960, King drove writer Lillian Smith to Emory University when police stopped them. King was cited for "driving without a license" because he had not yet been issued a Georgia license. King's Alabama license was still valid, and Georgia law did not mandate any tim
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Student Movement had been acting to desegregate businesses and public spaces, organizing the Atlanta sit-ins from March 1960 onwards. In August the movement asked King to participate in a mass October sit-in, timed to highlight how 1960's Presidential election campaigns had ignored civil rights. The coordinated day of action took place on October 19. King participated in a sit-in at the restaurant inside Rich's, Atlanta's largest department store, and was among the many arrested. The authorities released everyone over the next few days, except King. Invoking his probationary plea deal, Judge J. Oscar Mitchell sentenced King on October 25 to four months of hard labor. Before dawn the next day, King was transported to Georgia State Prison.
The arrest and harsh sentence drew nationwide attention. Many feared for King's safety, as he started a sentence with people convicted of violent crimes, many white and hostile to his activism. Presidential candidates were asked to weigh in, at a time when parties were courting the support of Southern Whites and their political leadership including Governor Vandiver. Nixon, with whom King had a closer relationship before, declined to make a statement despite a visit from Jackie Robinson requesting his intervention. Nixon's opponent John F. Kennedy called the governor, enlisted his brother Robert to exert more pressure on state authorities, and, at the request of Sargent Shriver, called King's wife to offer his help. The pressure from Kennedy and others proved effective, and King was released two days later. King's father decided to openly endorse Kennedy's candidacy for the November 8 election which he narrowly won.
After the October 19 sit-ins and following unrest, a 30-day truce
Albany Movement, 1961
The Albany Movement was a desegregation coalition formed in Albany, Georgia, in November 1961. In December, King and the SCLC became involved. The movement mobilized thousands of citizens for a nonviolent attack on segregation in the city and attracted nationwide attention. When King first visited on December 15, 1961, he "had planned to stay a day or so and return home after giving counsel." The following day he was swept up in a mass arrest of peaceful demonstrators, and he declined bail until the city
King returned in July 1962 and was given the option of 45 days in jail or a $178 fine; he chose jail. Three days into his sentence, Police Chief Laurie Pritchett discreetly arranged for King's fine to be paid and ordered his release. "We had witnessed persons being k
After nearly a year of intense activism with few tangible results, the movement began to deteriorate. King requested a halt to all demonstrations and a "Day of Penance" to promote nonviolence and maintain the moral high ground. Divisions within the black community and the canny, low-key response by lo
Birmingham campaign, 1963
Main article: Birmingham campaign
In April 1963, the SCLC began a campaign against racial segregation and economic injustice in Birmingham, Alabama. The campaign used nonviolent but intentionally confrontational tactics, developed in part
King's intent was to provoke mass arrests and
The Birmingham Police Department, led by Eugene "Bull" Connor, used high-pressure water jets and police dogs against protesters, including children. Footage of the police response was broadcast on national televisio
King was arrested and jailed early in the campaign—his 13th arrest out of 29. From his cell, he composed the now-famous "Letter from Birmingham J
.tif.jpg)
March on Washington, 1963
Main article: March on Washington
King, representing the SCLC, was among the leaders of the "Big Six" civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which took place on August 28, 1963. The other leaders and organizations comprising the Big Six were Roy Wilkins from the National Association for the Advancement of C
Bayard Rustin's open homosexuality, support of socialism, and former ties to the Communist Party USA caused many white and African-American leaders to demand King distance himself, which King agreed to do. However, he did collaborate in the 1963 March on Washington, for which Rustin was the primary organizer. For King, this role was another which courted controversy, since he was a key figure who acceded to the wishes of President Kennedy in changing the focus of the march. Kennedy initially opposed the march outright, because he was concerned it would negatively impact the drive for passage of civil rights legislation. However, the organizers were firm the march would proceed. With the march going forward, the Kennedys decided it was important to ensure its success. President Kennedy was concerned the turnout would be less than 100,000 and enlisted the aid of additional church leaders and Walter Reuther, president of the United Automobile Workers, to help mobilize demonstrators.
The march originally was planned to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in the southern US and place organizers' concerns and grievances squarely before the seat of power in the capital. Organizers intended to denounce the federal government for its failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks. The group acquiesced to presidential pressure, and the event ultimately took on a less strident tone. As a result, some civil rights activists felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony; Malcolm X called it the "Farce on Washington", and the Nation of Islam forbade its members from attending.
The march made specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public schools; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality
King delivered a 17-minute speech, later known as "I Have a Dream". In the speech's most famous passage – in which he departed from his prepared text, possibly at the prompting of Mahalia Jackson, who shouted,
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
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.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping wi
I have a dream today.
"I Have a Dream" came to be regarded as one of the finest speeches in the history of oratory. The March, and especially King's speech, helped put civil rights at the top of the agenda of reformers
ໝາຍເຫດ: ຫາກຂໍ້ມູນມີຂໍ້ຜິດພາດ ຫຼື ບໍ່ສົມບູນ, ພວກເຮົາຕ້ອງຂໍອະໄພມານະທີ່ນີ້ດ້ວຍ. ເນື່ອງຈາກເວັບໄຊຊ໌ແມ່ນຢູ່ໃນຊ່ວງການພັດທະນາ.
Note: We apologize for any inaccuracies or incomplete information, as this website is currently under development.
No comments:
Post a Comment