{"id":38925,"date":"2025-01-20T14:05:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T22:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=38925"},"modified":"2025-01-20T14:05:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T22:05:48","slug":"martin-luther-king-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/01\/20\/martin-luther-king-jr\/","title":{"rendered":"MARTIN LUTHER KING JR."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
THE REVEREND<\/a> DOCTOR<\/a>MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.<\/th><\/tr>
<\/a>King in 1964<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
1ST PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE<\/a><\/th><\/tr>
In office<\/strong>
January 10, 1957 \u2013 April 4, 1968<\/td><\/tr>
PRECEDED BY<\/th>Position established<\/em><\/td><\/tr>
SUCCEEDED BY<\/th>Ralph Abernathy<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
PERSONAL DETAILS<\/th><\/tr>
BORN<\/th>Michael King Jr.
January 15, 1929
Atlanta<\/a>, Georgia, U.S.<\/td><\/tr>
DIED<\/th>April 4, 1968 (aged 39)
Memphis, Tennessee<\/a>, U.S.<\/td><\/tr>
MANNER OF DEATH<\/th>Assassination by gunshot<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
RESTING PLACE<\/th>Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
SPOUSE<\/th>Coretta Scott<\/a> \u200b(m.1953)\u200b<\/td><\/tr>
CHILDREN<\/th>Yolanda<\/a>Martin III<\/a>Dexter<\/a>Bernice<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
PARENTS<\/th>Martin Luther King Sr.<\/a>Alberta Williams King<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
RELATIVES<\/th>Christine King Farris<\/a> (sister)A. D. King<\/a> (brother)Alveda King<\/a> (niece)<\/td><\/tr>
EDUCATION<\/th>Morehouse College<\/a> (BA<\/a>)Crozer Theological Seminary<\/a> (BDiv<\/a>)Boston University<\/a> (PhD<\/a>)<\/td><\/tr>
OCCUPATION<\/th>Baptist ministeractivist<\/td><\/tr>
MONUMENTS<\/th>Full list<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
MOVEMENT<\/th>Civil rights<\/a>peace<\/a>anti-war<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
AWARDS<\/th>Nobel Peace Prize<\/a> (1964)Presidential Medal of Freedom<\/a> (posthumous<\/a>, 1977)Congressional Gold Medal<\/a> (posthumous, 2004)<\/td><\/tr>
SIGNATURE<\/th><\/a><\/td><\/tr>
NICKNAME<\/th>MLK<\/td><\/tr>
Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s voice<\/a><\/a>Duration: 22 seconds.0:22<\/strong>King giving a press conference at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol<\/a>
Recorded August 1964<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF
A SERIES ABOUTMARTIN LUTHER KING JR.<\/a><\/th><\/tr>
Biography<\/a>Sermons and speeches<\/a>Campaigns<\/strong>Montgomery bus boycott<\/a>Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom<\/a>Youth March for Integrated Schools<\/a>Albany Movement<\/a>Birmingham campaign<\/a>Walk to Freedom<\/a>March on Washington
for Jobs and Freedom<\/a>St. Augustine movement<\/a>Selma to Montgomery marches<\/a>Chicago Open Housing Movement<\/a>March Against Fear<\/a>Memphis sanitation strike<\/a>Poor People\u2019s Campaign<\/a>Death and memorial<\/strong>Assassination<\/a>Funeral<\/a>American federal holiday<\/a> passage<\/a>National memorial<\/a>National Historical Park<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
v<\/abbr><\/a>t<\/abbr><\/a>e<\/abbr><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Martin Luther King Jr.<\/strong> (born Michael King Jr.<\/strong>; January 15, 1929 \u2013 April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist<\/a> minister, activist<\/a>, and political philosopher<\/a> who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement<\/a> from 1955 until his assassination<\/a> in 1968. King advanced civil rights<\/a> for people of color<\/a> in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance<\/a> and nonviolent civil disobedience<\/a> against Jim Crow laws<\/a> and other forms of legalized discrimination<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A black church<\/a> leader, King participated in and led marches for the right to vote<\/a>, desegregation<\/a>, labor rights<\/a>, and other civil rights<\/a>.[1]<\/a><\/sup> He oversaw the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott<\/a> and later became the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference<\/a> (SCLC). As president of the SCLC, he led the unsuccessful Albany Movement<\/a> in Albany, Georgia<\/a>, and helped organize some of the nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama<\/a>. King was one of the leaders of the 1963 March on Washington<\/a>, where he delivered his \u201cI Have a Dream<\/a>\u201d speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial<\/a>, and helped organize two of the three Selma to Montgomery marches<\/a> during the 1965 Selma voting rights movement. The civil rights movement achieved pivotal legislative gains in the Civil Rights Act of 1964<\/a>, the Voting Rights Act of 1965<\/a>, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968<\/a>. There were several dramatic standoffs with segregationist<\/a> authorities, who often responded violently.[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

King was jailed several times. Federal Bureau of Investigation<\/a> (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover<\/a> considered King a radical and made him an object of the FBI\u2019s COINTELPRO<\/a> from 1963 forward. 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<\/a>, which he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide<\/a>.[3]<\/a><\/sup> On October 14, 1964<\/a>, King won the Nobel Peace Prize<\/a> for combating racial inequality<\/a> through nonviolent resistance. In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty<\/a> and the Vietnam War<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People\u2019s Campaign<\/a>, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee<\/a>. James Earl Ray<\/a>, a fugitive<\/a> from the Missouri State Penitentiary<\/a>, was convicted of the assassination, though the King family believes he was a scapegoat<\/a>. After a 1999 wrongful death lawsuit<\/a> ruling named unspecified \u201cgovernment agencies\u201d among the co-conspirators,[4]<\/a><\/sup> a Department of Justice investigation found no evidence of a conspiracy.[5]<\/a><\/sup> The assassination remains the subject of conspiracy theories<\/a>. King\u2019s death was followed by national mourning<\/a>, as well as anger leading to riots in many U.S. cities<\/a>. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom<\/a> in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal<\/a> in 2003. Martin Luther King Jr. Day<\/a> 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<\/a> on the National Mall<\/a> in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early life and education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Birth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Michael King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta<\/a>; he was the second of three children born to Michael King Sr.<\/a> and Alberta King<\/a> (n\u00e9e<\/a> Williams).[6]<\/a><\/sup>[7]<\/a><\/sup>[8]<\/a><\/sup> Alberta\u2019s father, Adam Daniel Williams,[9]<\/a><\/sup> was a minister in rural Georgia<\/a>, moved to Atlanta in 1893,[8]<\/a><\/sup> and became pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church<\/a> in the following year.[10]<\/a><\/sup> Williams married Jennie Celeste Parks.[8]<\/a><\/sup> King Sr. was born to sharecroppers<\/a> James Albert and Delia King of Stockbridge, Georgia<\/a>;[7]<\/a><\/sup>[8]<\/a><\/sup> he was of Irish<\/a> and likely Mende<\/a> (Sierra Leone<\/a>) descent.[11]<\/a><\/sup>[12]<\/a><\/sup>[13]<\/a><\/sup> As an adolescent, King Sr. left his parents\u2019 farm and walked to Atlanta, where he attained a high school education,[14]<\/a><\/sup>[15]<\/a><\/sup>[16]<\/a><\/sup> and enrolled in Morehouse College<\/a> to study for entry to the ministry.[16]<\/a><\/sup> King Sr. and Alberta began dating in 1920, and married on November 25, 1926.[17]<\/a><\/sup>[18]<\/a><\/sup> Until Jennie\u2019s death in 1941, their home was on the second floor of Alberta\u2019s parents\u2019 Victorian house<\/a>, where King was born.[19]<\/a><\/sup>[17]<\/a><\/sup>[18]<\/a><\/sup>[20]<\/a><\/sup> King had an older sister, Christine King Farris<\/a>, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel \u201cA. D.\u201d King<\/a>.[21]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after marrying Alberta, King Sr. became assistant pastor of the Ebenezer church.[18]<\/a><\/sup> Senior pastor Williams died in the spring of 1931[18]<\/a><\/sup> and that fall, King Sr. took the role. With support from his wife, he raised attendance from six hundred to several thousand.[8]<\/a><\/sup>[18]<\/a><\/sup>[22]<\/a><\/sup> In 1934, the church sent King Sr. on a multinational trip; one of the stops on the trip was Berlin<\/a> for the Congress of the Baptist World Alliance<\/a> (BWA).[23]<\/a><\/sup> He also visited sites in Germany<\/a> that are associated with the Reformation<\/a> leader Martin Luther<\/a>.[23]<\/a><\/sup> In reaction to the rise of Nazism<\/a>, the BWA adopted a resolution saying, \u201cThis Congress deplores and condemns as a violation of the law of God<\/a> the Heavenly Father<\/a>, 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.\u201d[24]<\/a><\/sup> After returning home in August 1934, Michael King Sr. changed his name to Martin Luther King Sr. and his five-year-old son\u2019s name to Martin Luther King Jr.[23]<\/a><\/sup>[25]<\/a><\/sup>[17]<\/a><\/sup>[a]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early childhood<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/a>
King\u2019s childhood home in Atlanta<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At his childhood home, King and his two siblings read aloud the Bible<\/a> as instructed by their father.[27]<\/a><\/sup> After dinners, King\u2019s grandmother Jennie, whom he affectionately referred to as \u201cMama\u201d, told lively stories from the Bible<\/a>.[27]<\/a><\/sup> King\u2019s father regularly used whippings<\/a> to discipline his children,[28]<\/a><\/sup> sometimes having them whip each other.[28]<\/a><\/sup> King Sr. later remarked, \u201c[King] was the most peculiar child whenever you whipped him. He\u2019d stand there, and the tears would run down, and he\u2019d never cry.\u201d[29]<\/a><\/sup> Once, when King witnessed his brother A.D. emotionally upset his sister Christine, he took a telephone and knocked A.D. unconscious with it.[28]<\/a><\/sup>[30]<\/a><\/sup> When King and his brother were playing at their home, A.D. slid from a banister and hit Jennie, causing her to fall unresponsive.[31]<\/a><\/sup>[30]<\/a><\/sup> King, believing her dead, blamed himself and attempted suicide<\/a> by jumping from a second-story window,[32]<\/a><\/sup>[30]<\/a><\/sup> but rose from the ground after hearing that she was alive.[32]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

King became friends with a white boy whose father owned a business across the street from his home.[33]<\/a><\/sup> In September 1935, when the boys were about six years old, they started school.[33]<\/a><\/sup>[34]<\/a><\/sup> King had to attend a school for black children, Yonge Street Elementary School,[33]<\/a><\/sup>[35]<\/a><\/sup> while his playmate went to a separate school for white children only.[33]<\/a><\/sup>[35]<\/a><\/sup> Soon afterwards, the parents of the white boy stopped allowing King to play with their son, stating to him, \u201cwe are white, and you are colored\u201d.[33]<\/a><\/sup>[36]<\/a><\/sup> When King relayed this to his parents, they talked with him about the history of slavery<\/a> and racism in America<\/a>,[33]<\/a><\/sup>[37]<\/a><\/sup> which King would later say made him \u201cdetermined to hate every white person\u201d.[33]<\/a><\/sup> His parents instructed him that it was his Christian<\/a> duty to love everyone.[37]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

King witnessed his father stand up against segregation<\/a> and discrimination<\/a>.[38]<\/a><\/sup> Once, when stopped by a police officer who referred to King Sr. as \u201cboy\u201d, King Sr. responded sharply that King was a boy but he was a man.[38]<\/a><\/sup> When King\u2019s father took him into a shoe store in downtown Atlanta, the clerk told them they needed to sit in the back.[39]<\/a><\/sup> King Sr. refused asserting \u201cwe\u2019ll either buy shoes sitting here or we won\u2019t buy any shoes at all\u201d, before leaving the store with King.[15]<\/a><\/sup> He told King afterward, \u201cI don\u2019t care how long I have to live with this system, I will never accept it.\u201d[15]<\/a><\/sup> In 1936, King Sr. led hundreds of African Americans in a civil rights<\/a> march to the city hall<\/a> in Atlanta, to protest voting rights<\/a> discrimination.[28]<\/a><\/sup> King later remarked that King Sr. was \u201ca real father\u201d to him.[40]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

King memorized hymns<\/a> and Bible verses by the time he was five years old.[32]<\/a><\/sup> Beginning at six years old, he attended church events with his mother and sang hymns while she played piano.[32]<\/a><\/sup> His favorite hymn was \u201cI Want to Be More and More Like Jesus\u201d; his singing moved attendees.[32]<\/a><\/sup> King later became a member of the junior choir in his church.[41]<\/a><\/sup> He enjoyed opera, and played the piano.[42]<\/a><\/sup> King garnered a large vocabulary from reading dictionaries.[30]<\/a><\/sup> He got into physical altercations with boys in his neighborhood, but oftentimes used his knowledge of words to stop or avoid fights.[30]<\/a><\/sup>[42]<\/a><\/sup> King showed a lack of interest in grammar and spelling, a trait that persisted throughout his life.[42]<\/a><\/sup> In 1939, King sang as a member of his church choir dressed as a slave<\/a> for the all-white audience at the Atlanta premiere of the film Gone with the Wind<\/a><\/em>.[43]<\/a><\/sup>[44]<\/a><\/sup> In September 1940, at the age of 11, King was enrolled at the Atlanta University Laboratory School for the seventh grade<\/a>.[45]<\/a><\/sup>[46]<\/a><\/sup> While there, King took violin<\/a> and piano<\/a> lessons and showed keen interest in history and English<\/a> classes.[45]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.[40]<\/a><\/sup> After returning home, he learned she had a heart attack and died while being transported to a hospital.[20]<\/a><\/sup> 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.[20]<\/a><\/sup> King jumped out of a second-story window at his home but again survived.[20]<\/a><\/sup>[29]<\/a><\/sup>[30]<\/a><\/sup> His father instructed him that King should not blame himself and that she had been called home to God as part of God\u2019s plan.[20]<\/a><\/sup>[47]<\/a><\/sup> King struggled with this.[20]<\/a><\/sup> Shortly thereafter, King Sr. decided to move the family to a two-story brick home on a hill overlooking downtown Atlanta.[20]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adolescence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/a>
The high school that King attended was named after African-American educator Booker T. Washington<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As an adolescent, he initially felt resentment against whites due to the \u201cracial humiliation\u201d that he, his family, and his neighbors often had to endure.[48]<\/a><\/sup> In 1942, when King was 13, he became the youngest assistant manager of a newspaper delivery station for the Atlanta Journal<\/a><\/em>.[49]<\/a><\/sup> In the same year, King skipped the ninth grade and enrolled in Booker T. Washington High School<\/a>, where he maintained a B-plus average.[47]<\/a><\/sup>[50]<\/a><\/sup> The high school was the only one in the city for African-American students.[18]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Jr. was brought up in a Baptist<\/a> home; as he entered adolescence he began to question the literalist<\/a> teachings preached at his father\u2019s church.[47]<\/a><\/sup>[51]<\/a><\/sup> At the age of 13, he denied the bodily resurrection of Jesus<\/a> during Sunday school<\/a>.[52]<\/a><\/sup>[51]<\/a><\/sup> 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.[53]<\/a><\/sup>[51]<\/a><\/sup> He later said of this point in his life, \u201cdoubts began to spring forth unrelentingly.\u201d[54]<\/a><\/sup>[52]<\/a><\/sup>[51]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In high school, Martin King Jr. became known for his public-speaking ability, with a voice that had grown into an orotund baritone<\/a>.[55]<\/a><\/sup>[50]<\/a><\/sup> He joined the school\u2019s debate team.[55]<\/a><\/sup>[50]<\/a><\/sup> King continued to be most drawn to history and English<\/a>,[50]<\/a><\/sup> and chose English and sociology<\/a> as his main subjects.[56]<\/a><\/sup> King maintained an abundant vocabulary<\/a>.[50]<\/a><\/sup> However, he relied on his sister Christine to help him with spelling, while King assisted her with math.[50]<\/a><\/sup> King also developed an interest in fashion, commonly wearing polished patent leather<\/a> shoes and tweed<\/a> suits, which gained him the nickname \u201cTweed\u201d or \u201cTweedie\u201d among his friends.[57]<\/a><\/sup>[58]<\/a><\/sup>[59]<\/a><\/sup>[60]<\/a><\/sup> He liked flirting with girls and dancing.[59]<\/a><\/sup>[58]<\/a><\/sup>[61]<\/a><\/sup> His brother A.D. later remarked, \u201cHe kept flitting from chick to chick, and I decided I couldn\u2019t keep up with him. Especially since he was crazy about dances, and just about the best jitterbug in town.\u201d[58]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 13, 1944, in his junior year<\/a>, King gave his first public speech during an oratorical contest<\/a>.[62]<\/a><\/sup>[58]<\/a><\/sup>[63]<\/a><\/sup>[64]<\/a><\/sup> In his speech he stated, \u201cblack America still wears chains. The finest negro is at the mercy of the meanest white man.\u201d[65]<\/a><\/sup>[62]<\/a><\/sup> King was selected as the winner of the contest.[62]<\/a><\/sup>[58]<\/a><\/sup> 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.[58]<\/a><\/sup>[66]<\/a><\/sup> The driver of the bus called King a \u201cblack son-of-a-bitch\u201d.[58]<\/a><\/sup> King initially refused but complied after his teacher told him that he would be breaking the law if he did not.[66]<\/a><\/sup> As all the seats were occupied, he and his teacher were forced to stand the rest of the way to Atlanta.[58]<\/a><\/sup> Later King wrote of the incident: \u201cThat night will never leave my memory. It was the angriest I have ever been in my life.\u201d[66]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morehouse College<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

During King\u2019s junior year in high school, Morehouse College<\/a>\u2014an all-male historically black college<\/a> that King\u2019s father and maternal grandfather had attended[67]<\/a><\/sup>[68]<\/a><\/sup>\u2014began accepting high school juniors who passed the entrance examination<\/a>.[58]<\/a><\/sup>[69]<\/a><\/sup>[66]<\/a><\/sup> As World War II<\/a> was underway many black college students had been enlisted,[58]<\/a><\/sup>[69]<\/a><\/sup> so the university aimed to increase their enrollment by allowing juniors to apply.[58]<\/a><\/sup>[69]<\/a><\/sup>[66]<\/a><\/sup> In 1944, aged 15, King passed the examination and was enrolled at the university that autumn.[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the summer before King started at Morehouse, he boarded a train with his friend\u2014Emmett \u201cWeasel\u201d Proctor\u2014and a group of other Morehouse College students to work in Simsbury, Connecticut<\/a>, at the tobacco farm<\/a> of Cullman Brothers Tobacco.[70]<\/a><\/sup>[71]<\/a><\/sup> This was King\u2019s first trip into the integrated<\/a> north.[72]<\/a><\/sup>[73]<\/a><\/sup> In a June 1944 letter to his father King wrote about the differences that struck him: \u201cOn 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.\u201d[72]<\/a><\/sup> The farm had partnered with Morehouse College to allot their wages towards the university\u2019s tuition, housing, and fees.[70]<\/a><\/sup>[71]<\/a><\/sup> On weekdays King and the other students worked in the fields, picking tobacco from 7:00am to at least 5:00pm, enduring temperatures above 100 \u00b0F<\/a>, to earn roughly USD$4 per day.[71]<\/a><\/sup>[72]<\/a><\/sup> On Friday evenings, the students visited downtown Simsbury to get milkshakes and watch movies, and on Saturdays they would travel to Hartford, Connecticut<\/a>, to see theatre performances, shop and eat in restaurants.[71]<\/a><\/sup>[73]<\/a><\/sup> On Sundays they attended church services in Hartford, at a church filled with white congregants.[71]<\/a><\/sup> King wrote to his parents about the lack of segregation, relaying how he was amazed they could go to \u201cone of the finest restaurants in Hartford\u201d and that \u201cNegroes and whites go to the same church\u201d.[71]<\/a><\/sup>[74]<\/a><\/sup>[72]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He played freshman football there. The summer before his last year at Morehouse, in 1947, the 18-year-old King chose to enter the ministry<\/a>. He would later credit the college\u2019s president, Baptist<\/a> minister Benjamin Mays<\/a>, with being his \u201cspiritual mentor\u201d.[75]<\/a><\/sup> King had concluded that the church offered the most assuring way to answer \u201can inner urge to serve humanity\u201d, and he made peace with the Baptist Church, as he believed he would be a \u201crational\u201d minister with sermons that were \u201ca respectful force for ideas, even social protest.\u201d[76]<\/a><\/sup> King graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts<\/a> in sociology in 1948, aged nineteen.[77]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Religious education<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a>
King received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary<\/a> in 1951 (pictured in 2009).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

See also: Martin Luther King Jr. authorship issues<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

King enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary<\/a> in Upland, Pennsylvania<\/a>,[78]<\/a><\/sup>[79]<\/a><\/sup> and took several courses at the University of Pennsylvania<\/a>.[80]<\/a><\/sup>[81]<\/a><\/sup> At Crozer, King was elected president of the student body.[82]<\/a><\/sup> At Penn, King took courses with William Fontaine<\/a>, Penn\u2019s first African-American professor, and Elizabeth F. Flower<\/a>, a professor of philosophy.[83]<\/a><\/sup> King\u2019s father supported his decision to continue his education and made arrangements for King to work with J. Pius Barbour<\/a>, a family friend and Crozer alumnus who pastored at Calvary Baptist Church<\/a> in nearby Chester, Pennsylvania<\/a>.[84]<\/a><\/sup> King became known as one of the \u201cSons of Calvary\u201d, an honor he shared with William Augustus Jones Jr.<\/a> and Samuel D. Proctor<\/a>, who both went on to become well-known preachers.[85]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

King reproved another student for keeping beer in his room once, saying they shared responsibility as African Americans to bear \u201cthe burdens of the Negro race\u201d. For a time, he was interested in Walter Rauschenbusch<\/a>\u2018s \u201csocial gospel\u201d.[82]<\/a><\/sup> In his third year at Crozer, King became romantically involved with[86]<\/a><\/sup> the white daughter of an immigrant German woman who worked in the cafeteria. King planned to marry her, but friends, as well as King\u2019s father,[86]<\/a><\/sup> 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 could not endure his mother\u2019s pain over the marriage and broke the relationship off six months later. One friend was quoted as saying, \u201cHe never recovered.\u201d[82]<\/a><\/sup> Other friends, including Harry Belafonte<\/a>, said Betty had been \u201cthe love of King\u2019s life.\u201d[86]<\/a><\/sup> King graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity<\/a> in 1951.[78]<\/a><\/sup> He applied to the University of Edinburgh for a doctorate in the School of Divinity but ultimately chose Boston instead.[87]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1951, King began doctoral studies in systematic theology<\/a> at Boston University<\/a>,[88]<\/a><\/sup> and worked as an assistant minister at Boston\u2019s historic Twelfth Baptist Church<\/a> with William Hunter Hester. Hester was an old friend of King\u2019s father and was an important influence on King.[89]<\/a><\/sup> In Boston, King befriended a small cadre of local ministers his age, and sometimes guest pastored at their churches, including Michael E. Haynes<\/a>, 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.[citation needed<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the age of 25 in 1954, King was called<\/a> as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church<\/a> in Montgomery, Alabama<\/a>.[90]<\/a><\/sup> King received his PhD on June 5, 1955, with a dissertation<\/a> (initially supervised by Edgar S. Brightman<\/a> and, upon the latter\u2019s death, by Lotan Harold DeWolf<\/a>) titled A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich<\/a> and Henry Nelson Wieman<\/a><\/em>.[91]<\/a><\/sup>[88]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An academic inquiry in October 1991 concluded that portions of his doctoral dissertation had been plagiarized<\/a> and he had acted improperly. However, \u201c[d]espite its finding, the committee said that \u2018no thought should be given to the revocation of Dr. King\u2019s doctoral degree,\u2019 an action that the panel said would serve no purpose.\u201d[92]<\/a><\/sup>[88]<\/a><\/sup>[93]<\/a><\/sup> The committee found that the dissertation still \u201cmakes an intelligent contribution to scholarship.\u201d A letter is now attached to the copy of King\u2019s dissertation in the university library, noting that numerous passages were included without the appropriate quotations and citations of sources.[94]<\/a><\/sup> Significant debate exists on how to interpret King\u2019s plagiarism.[95]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marriage and family<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/a>
King with his wife, Coretta Scott King<\/a>, and daughter, Yolanda Denise King<\/a>, in 1956<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While studying at Boston University, he asked a friend from Atlanta named Mary Powell, a student at the New England Conservatory of Music<\/a>, if she knew any nice Southern girls. Powell spoke to fellow student Coretta Scott<\/a>; Scott was not interested in dating preachers but eventually agreed to allow King to telephone her based on Powell\u2019s description and vouching. On their first call, King told Scott, \u201cI am like Napoleon at Waterloo before your charms,\u201d to which she replied, \u201cYou haven\u2019t even met me.\u201d King married Scott on June 18, 1953, on the lawn of her parents\u2019 house, in Heiberger, Alabama<\/a>.[96]<\/a><\/sup> They had four children: Yolanda King<\/a> (1955\u20132007), Martin Luther King III<\/a> (b. 1957), Dexter Scott King<\/a> (1961\u20132024), and Bernice King<\/a> (b. 1963).[97]<\/a><\/sup> King limited Coretta\u2019s role in the civil rights movement, expecting her to be a housewife and mother.[98]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More at: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia THE REVEREND DOCTORMARTIN LUTHER KING JR. King in 1964 1ST PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE In officeJanuary 10, 1957 \u2013 April 4, 1968 PRECEDED BY Position established SUCCEEDED BY Ralph Abernathy PERSONAL DETAILS BORN Michael King Jr.January 15, 1929Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. DIED April 4, 1968 (aged 39)Memphis, Tennessee,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38926,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38925\/revisions\/38926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}