The Life and Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Part 1 of 2)

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This article was originally published in Scholastic Scope.

Martin Luther King was in trouble. He had been arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, for leading a freedom march. Now he was in jail. No one could visit him. He could not make a telephone call. This was "solitary."

King's wife, Coretta, was home in Atlanta, Georgia. She had not heard from her husband in two days. Finally, she felt she had to do something. Once before, King had been in "solitary." At that time, John F. Kennedy was running for President. He had called Coretta and told her he would try to help her husband. And the next day, King got out of jail.

Now, in April, 1963, Coretta called President Kennedy in Washington. The President was away, but she spoke to his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy. She told him she was afraid her husband was not safe. He told her he would do everything he could to help King.

Later, Coretta's phone rang. It was the President calling from Florida. He told her he would look into her husband's trouble right away.

Both the President and his brother called Birmingham. Soon King was allowed to call Coretta. He was also allowed a visit from his lawyer. Before long, he was out of jail.

King was out of danger — for now. But the truth was, he lived with danger almost all the time. His home had been bombed twice. He had gotten hundreds of calls and letters from people who said they would kill him. Leading the civil rights movement was a dangerous job. Why had King chosen it? Perhaps there was something in his early life that made it all happen.

MARTIN'S CHILDHOOD

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was the pastor of a Baptist church there. King, Sr., hated the South's segregation laws. These laws kept white and black people separated. African Americans were kept out of "white" schools, parks, theaters, hotels, and eating places. They had to sit in separate sections in trains and buses.

"I don't care how long I have to live with this system," King Sr., said. "I will never accept it." He was a fighter and his son, Martin, took after him.

One day, Martin was riding with his father in the family car. Mr. King drove past a "Stop" sign by accident. A policeman told him to pull over. Then he said, "All right, boy, let me see your license."

No man likes to be called a "boy." This was a way of insulting African-Americans in the South. Mr. King got very angry. He pointed to his son and said to the policeman:

"This is a boy. I'm a man. Until you call me one, I will not listen to you."

The policeman was so surprised, he wrote out the ticket in a hurry and left.

It was no wonder that Martin also grew up to hate segregation. The whole system, he thought, was unfair and stupid. Even more, he hated the violence that grew out of segregation. He had seen the Ku Klux Klan riding at night. It meant that an African-American would be beaten or killed for going against the system. These things almost made Martin turn against all white people.

SEEKING A CAREER

In school, Martin was a bright student and skipped two grades. He entered Morehouse College in Atlanta when he was only 15. At this time, Martin wasn't sure what he wanted to be. But he knew he wanted to help his people in some way. Religion, he felt, was "out of touch" with the real problems of his people — segregation and poverty. For a while, he thought he would become a lawyer.

But two of the leading teachers at Morehouse were ministers. And they showed him that a minister could care about things like segregation and hunger. Martin knew then that he wanted to be a minister. At 18, Martin became his father's assistant.

Martin graduated from Morehouse when he was 19. But he wanted to study even more. So he entered a school of religion in Pennsylvania. The school had 100 students. Only six were black. Now Martin set out to prove what his mother had always told him: "You are as good as anybody."

Martin studied hard and became an "A" student. What about his wish to help his people? He was beginning to find a way.

In college, Martin had read an essay by Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau was an American writer who lived more than 100 years ago. He believed that a man had the right to disobey any law he thought was evil or unjust. Once Thoreau did not pay his taxes as a protest against slavery. He was put in jail. A friend came to visit him.

"Why are you in jail?" the friend asked.

"Why are you out of jail?" he answered.

THOREAU AND GANDHI

King liked Thoreau's idea — that men should not obey evil or unjust laws. And he began to search harder for a way to fight against evil. He read books by the world's great thinkers and writers. Then one day, he heard a speech about the great leader of India, Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi had won freedom for his country from British rule (1947). And he had done it in a very unusual way. From the start, he told his people not to use violence against the British. He told them to resist the British by peaceful means only. They would march. They would sit down or lie down in the streets. They would strike. They would boycott (refuse to buy) British goods.

Gandhi had also read Thoreau's essay. He, too, believed that men had the right to disobey unjust laws. Like Thoreau, he believed that men should gladly go to jail when they break such laws.

"Fill the jails," Gandhi said. But — never use violence. Violence only brings about more hate and more violence. Gandhi told his people to meet body force with soul force. He told them to meet hate with love. Gandhi called this "war without violence." And it helped India gain its freedom.

KING ADOPTS NONVIOLENCE

Martin Luther King began to think that black Americans could use Gandhi's way to win their freedom. Wasn't Gandhi's way also the way of Jesus Christ? Hadn't Christ told his people to "turn the other cheek" if someone struck them?

This idea of fighting peacefully against evil was called nonviolence. Was it the coward's way? No, said King. It took more courage not to hit back when struck.

In the next few years, many good things happened to King. He graduated at the top of his class, with "A's" in all his subjects. He met and married Coretta Scott. And, in 1954, he got the job he really wanted. He became minister of a very good Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama.

King's life was now busy and full. But he wanted to do more than care for the souls of his church members. He wanted his church to help young people to go to college. He wanted it to help black people to register and vote — a tough job in the South. Religion, King said, must care about heaven and earth, souls and slums.

The members of King's church liked his ideas. They soon put them into action. King saw his church grow day by day. Meanwhile, he was also studying for another degree. He would soon be Dr. King. These were probably the happiest months of his life.

TURNING POINT FOR KING

Then, on December 1, 1955, something happened in Montgomery that changed King's life. Within a few years, it would help change the lives of most black Americans, and the lives of many white Americans, too.

What happened in Montgomery that day? A black woman, Rosa Parks, was seated just behind the "white" section on a bus. (By law, whites sat up front, blacks in the back.) Mrs. Parks was going home from her job as a seamstress. When some white people got on the bus, there were no seats left in the "white" section. So the bus driver told Mrs. Parks, and three other African-Americans, to move to the back of the bus. The bus was now full, and Mrs. Parks would have to stand. The three other African-Americans obeyed the driver. But Mrs. Parks said she would not give up her seat.

Why was this so unusual? When Mrs. Parks said "no" to the bus driver, she was breaking the law. She was arrested on the spot.

The news of her arrest spread like wildfire among Montgomery's black people.

Until now, they had not challenged the anti-black laws in Montgomery. It was dangerous, and it seemed hopeless. But now they were angry and ready to act.

The next night, there was a meeting of Montgomery's black leaders. It took place in Martin Luther King's church. The leaders agreed to call a one-day boycott of the buses as a protest.

THE BUS BOYCOTT BEGINS

The next day, leaflets were handed out among the town's African Americans. The leaflets asked them not to ride the buses on Monday.

Sunday night, King began to worry. Would the boycott work? Would the people have the courage to protest? King wasn't sure.

The next morning, King got his answer. From his window, he could see a bus stop. The first bus was empty! So was the second. The third bus had just two white riders. It was the same story all over town. Black people were not riding the buses. They were walking, taking cabs, or driving their cars to work. Some were riding on mules or on wagons pulled by horses. "A miracle has taken place," King said.

That afternoon, black leaders formed an organization to head the protest movement. Before King could say "no," they elected him president of the organization. King felt he needed more time for his church work. But it was too late to turn down this job. So King became a civil rights leader.

That night, there was a meeting of Montgomery African Americans. Thousands came. They heard speeches by King and other black leaders. Then they voted to keep up the boycott until:

1. Bus drivers treated black riders politely.

2. Black riders would not have to give up their seats to whites.

3. Some black bus drivers were hired.

That day, King said, was Montgomery's moment in history. The black people there had started a movement that would bring new hope to black people everywhere.

The bus boycott was supposed to last one day. Yet it lasted more than a year. Why?

WHITES FIGHT BACK

At first, most African-Americans rode to work in cabs owned by Negro taxi companies. These cabs charged them only 10 cents a ride — the same as the buses. But the police told the taxi companies they had to charge at least 45 cents a ride. That was the law.

Then King asked the people for cars and drivers to take the place of the cabs. A car pool was set up, and it worked better than the old bus system. But then the police began to arrest car-pool drivers for almost any reason. Some drivers quit, but most kept going.

King himself was arrested for "speeding" and thrown into jail. Afterward, he and Coretta began getting phone calls day and night. The callers warned them to "get out of town — or else." One night, a bomb was thrown on the porch of King's house. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Then King and more than 100 other African Americans were arrested under an old state law. King was found guilty and fined $500. Many people in the courtroom cried. But King walked out with a smile.

"I was proud of my crime," he said later. "It was the crime of joining my people in a nonviolent protest against injustice."

King's group now took their case to a high court. They asked the judges to end bus segregation in Alabama. They said it was against the U.S. Constitution. The judges agreed. But Montgomery white lawyers said they would take the case to the Supreme Court to argue that bus segregation was legal.

Meanwhile, city officials asked a local court to stop the black car pool. The pool, they said, was an "unlawful business." King was sure the Montgomery court would order an end to the car pool. How could the boycott go on without the cars? It was, King said, "our darkest hour."

Remembering Dr. King
Throughout this weekend and all next week, Americans will take time to honor the legacy of one man: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The leader of the civil rights movement is honored every year on his birthday, January 15. This year, he would have been 78 years old.

“I Have a Dream”
Martin Luther King Jr. proved his leadership during the year-long bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, the start of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

The Life and Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Part 2 of 2)
More scenes from the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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