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Quick Facts
- NAME: Martin Luther King Jr.
- OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Minister
- BIRTH DATE: January 15, 1929
- DEATH DATE: April 04, 1968
- EDUCATION: Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, Boston University
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Atlanta, Georgia
- PLACE OF DEATH: Memphis, Tennessee
- Full Name: Martin Luther King Jr.
- Originally: Michael King Jr.
- AKA: MLK Jr.
- AKA: Martin Luther King
- AKA: MLK
Best Known For
Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968.
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Tom Brokaw - On MLK's Legacy (1:49)
Martin Luther King Jr. - An American Legend
Watch a short video about Martin Luther King, Jr. to learn how this advocate for peace and equality inherited his name from his father.
Martin Luther King - The King Years
Author Taylor Branch discusses his book "The King Years" and how Martin Luther King's example still holds strong today. Click "Buy Now" to learn more about the book.
Martin Luther King III - On his Father's Legacy
Martin Luther King III remembers his father and how his love transformed America.
Tom Brokaw - On MLK's Legacy
Tom Brokaw describes the work of Martin Luther King Jr and his memories of Dr. King's assassination.
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Play NowMartin Luther King Jr. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 10:10, May 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086.
Martin Luther King Jr. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086 [Accessed 19 May 2013].
"Martin Luther King Jr." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 19 2013, 10:10 http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086.
"Martin Luther King Jr.," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086 [accessed May 19, 2013].
"Martin Luther King Jr.," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086 (accessed May 19, 2013).
Martin Luther King Jr. [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086.
Martin Luther King Jr., http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086 (last visited May 19, 2013).
Martin Luther King Jr. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086. Accessed May 19, 2013.
He skipped both the ninth and eleventh grades, and entered Morehouse College in Atlanta at age 15, in 1944. He was a popular student, especially with his female classmates, but an unmotivated student who floated though his first two years. Although his family was deeply involved in the church and worship, young Martin questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional displays of religious worship. This discomfort continued through much of his adolescence,
Contents
initially leading him to decide against entering the ministry, much to his father's dismay. But in his junior year, Martin 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.
Education and Spiritual Growth
In 1948, Martin Luther King Jr. earned a sociology degree from Morehouse College and attended the liberal Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He thrived in all his studies, and was valedictorian of his class in 1951, and elected student body president. He also earned a fellowship for graduate study. But Martin also rebelled against his father’s more conservative influence by drinking beer and playing pool while at college. He became involved with a white woman and went through a difficult time before he could break off the affair.
During his last year in seminary, Martin Luther King Jr. came under the influence of theologian Reinhold Niebbuhr, a classmate of his father's at Morehouse College. Niebbuhr became a mentor to Martin, challenging his liberal views of theology. Niebuhr was probably the single most important influence in Martin's intellectual and spiritual development. After being accepted at several colleges for his doctoral study including Yale and Edinburgh in Scotland, King enrolled in Boston University.
During the work on this doctorate, Martin Luther King Jr. met Coretta Scott, an aspiring singer and musician, at the New England Conservatory school in Boston. They were married in June 1953 and had four children, Yolanda, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott and Bernice. In 1954, while still working on his dissertation, King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama. He completed his Ph.D. and was award his degree in 1955. King was only 25 years old.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
On March 2, 1955, a 15-year-old girl refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus in violation of local law. Claudette Colvin was arrested and taken to jail. At first, the local chapter of the NAACP felt they had an excellent test case to challenge Montgomery's segregated bus policy. But then it was revealed that she was pregnant and civil rights leaders feared this would scandalize the deeply religious black community and make Colvin (and, thus the group's efforts) less credible in the eyes of sympathetic whites.
On December 1, 1955, they got another chance to make their case. That evening, 42-year-old Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus to go home from an exhausting day at work.
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