Arat dink biography of martin luther king
At the time, King felt that the best way to serve that purpose was as a lawyer or a doctor. Although his family was deeply involved in the church and worship, King questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional displays of religious worship. But in his junior year at Morehouse, King took a Bible class, renewed his faith, and began to envision a career in the ministry.
In the fall of his senior year, he told his father of his decision, and he was ordained at Ebenezer Baptist Church in February Later that year, King earned a sociology degree from Morehouse College and began attended the liberal Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He thrived in all his studies, was elected student body president, and was valedictorian of his class in He also earned a fellowship for graduate study.
He became romantically involved with a white woman and went through a difficult time before he could break off the relationship. Mays was an outspoken advocate for racial equality and encouraged King to view Christianity as a potential force for social change. After being accepted at several colleges for his doctoral study, King enrolled at Boston University.
He completed his doctorate and earned his degree in at age A committee of scholars appointed by Boston University determined that King was guilty of plagiarism in , though it also recommended against the revocation of his degree. As explained in his autobiography , King previously felt that the peaceful teachings of Jesus applied mainly to individual relationships, not large-scale confrontations.
It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking. Led by his religious convictions and philosophy of nonviolence, King became one of the most prominent figures of the Civil Rights Movement. He was a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and played key roles in several major demonstrations that transformed society.
The effort began on December 1, , when year-old Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus to go home after work. As more passengers boarded, several white men were left standing, so the bus driver demanded that Parks and several other African Americans give up their seats. Three other Black passengers reluctantly gave up their places, but Parks remained seated.
The driver asked her again to give up her seat, and again, she refused. Parks was arrested and booked for violating the Montgomery City Code. On the night Parks was arrested, E. King was elected to lead the boycott because he was young, well-trained, and had solid family connections and professional standing. He was also new to the community and had few enemies, so organizers felt he would have strong credibility with the Black community.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott began December 5, , and for more than a year, the local Black community walked to work, coordinated ride sharing, and faced harassment, violence, and intimidation. In addition to the boycott, members of the Black community took legal action against the city ordinance that outlined the segregated transit system.
They argued it was unconstitutional based on the U. Board of Education After the legal defeats and large financial losses, the city of Montgomery lifted the law that mandated segregated public transportation. The boycott ended on December 20, Flush with victory, African American civil rights leaders recognized the need for a national organization to help coordinate their efforts.
In January , King, Ralph Abernathy , and 60 ministers and civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to harness the moral authority and organizing power of Black churches. The SCLC helped conduct nonviolent protests to promote civil rights reform. The SCLC felt the best place to start to give African Americans a voice was to enfranchise them in the voting process.
King met with religious and civil rights leaders and lectured all over the country on race-related issues. By , King was gaining national exposure. He returned to Atlanta to become co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church but also continued his civil rights efforts. His next activist campaign was the student-led Greensboro Sit-In movement.
The movement quickly gained traction in several other cities. King encouraged students to continue to use nonviolent methods during their protests. By August , the sit-ins had successfully ended segregation at lunch counters in 27 southern cities. On October 19, , King and 75 students entered a local department store and requested lunch-counter service but were denied.
When they refused to leave the counter area, King and 36 others were arrested. Soon after, King was imprisoned for violating his probation on a traffic conviction.
Arat dink biography of martin luther king
The news of his imprisonment entered the presidential campaign when candidate John F. Kennedy expressed his concern over the harsh treatment Martin received for the traffic ticket, and political pressure was quickly set in motion. He later recanted his confession and gained some unlikely advocates, including members of the King family, before his death in After years of campaigning by activists, members of Congress and Coretta Scott King, among others, in President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a U.
Here are some of the most famous Martin Luther King Jr. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are. A look at one of the defining social movements in U.
You can opt out at any time. Both his father and grandfather were pastors in an African-American Baptist church. The philosophy of Gandhi tied in with the teachings of his Baptist faith. At the age of 24, King married Coretta Scott , a beautiful and talented young woman. His boycott also became a turning point in the civil rights struggle — attracting national press for the cause.
It began in innocuous circumstances on 5 December Rosa Parks, a civil rights activist, refused to give up her seat — she was sitting in a white-only area. This broke the strict segregation of coloured and white people on the Montgomery buses. The bus company refused to back down and so Martin Luther King helped to organise a strike where coloured people refused to use any of the city buses.
The boycott lasted for several months, the issue was then brought to the Supreme Court who declared the segregation was unconstitutional. This proved to be a nucleus for the growing civil rights movement. What did Dr. Dr Martin Luther King Jr. He gave a famous speech to lots of people in Washington in In it, he said he had a dream that life for his children could be different from how it had been for him.
During his life, he was arrested and sent to prison 29 times. Did you know? When Dr. This made him very sad. King was very clever. He went to university when he was