King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Martin Luther King (Library of Congress)
Martin Luther King, Jr., was a man of impressive moral presence who devoted his life to the fight for full citizenship rights of the poor, disadvantaged, and racially oppressed in the United States. Born on Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Ga., he was the second of three children of the Rev. Michael (later Martin) and Mrs. Alberta Williams King. He received a bachelor's degree in sociology (1948) from Morehouse College, a B.D. (1951) from Crozer Theological Seminary, and a doctorate in philosophy (1955) from Boston University.
In 1954, King accepted his first pastorate — the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. He and his wife, Coretta Scott King, whom he had met and married (June 1953) while at Boston University, had been resident in Montgomery less than a year when Mrs. Rosa Parks defied the ordinance concerning segregated seating on city buses (Dec. 1, 1955). King's successful organization of the year-long Montgomery bus boycott, with the assistance of the Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Edward Nixon, catapulted him into national prominence as a leader of the civil rights movement.
King studied the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and further developed the Indian leader's doctrine of satyagraha ("holding to the truth"), or nonviolent civil disobedience. In the aftermath of Montgomery he traveled, delivered speeches, and wrote his first book, Stride toward Freedom (1958). In 1960 he accepted copastorship with his father of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and became president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Although he continued to travel and speak widely and firmly committed the SCLC to voter registration campaigns throughout the South, King's major campaigns were those in Albany, Ga. (December 1961–August 1962), Birmingham, Ala. (April–May 1963), and Danville, Va. (July 1963). He organized the massive March on Washington (Aug. 28, 1963) where, in his brilliant "I Have a Dream" speech, he "subpoenaed the conscience of the nation before the judgment seat of morality." In January 1964, Time magazine chose King Man of the Year, the first African American so honored. Later that year he became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
After supporting desegregation efforts in Saint Augustine, Fla., in 1964, King concentrated his efforts on the voter-registration drive in Selma, Ala., leading a harrowing march from Selma to Montgomery in March 1965. Soon after, a tour of the northern cities led him to assail the conditions of economic as well as social discrimination. This marked a shift in SCLC strategy, one intended to "bring the Negro into the mainstream of American life as quickly as possible." Having begun to recognize the deeper relationships of economics and poverty to racism, King now called for a "reconstruction of the entire society, a revolution of values." Along with demands for stronger civil and voting rights legislation and for a meaningful poverty budget, he spoke out against the Vietnam War, which took funds from antipoverty programs.
Early in 1968, King began to plan a multiracial poor people's march on Washington to demand an end to all forms of discrimination and the funding of a $12-billion "Economic Bill of Rights." In the midst of organizing this campaign, he flew to Memphis, Tenn., to assist striking sanitation workers. There, on Apr. 4, 1968, King was felled by an assassin's bullet. The violent death of this man of peace brought an immediate reaction of rioting in black ghettos around the country. Although one man, James Earl Ray (1928–98), was convicted of King's murder, many believed that the civil rights leader had been the victim of a conspiracy. In December 1999 a Memphis jury in a lawsuit filed by the King family found that there had been a conspiracy involving Loyd Jowers, a local cafe owner, and "others, including governmental agencies." Whoever was responsible, the United States was deprived of a towering symbol of moral and social progress. In 1983, King's birthday was designated a national holiday.
David Levering Lewis
Martin Luther King, Jr.Parting the WatersThe Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights MovementThe Preacher KingLet the Trumpet SoundOf Kennedys and KingsBibliography: (1992). (1998); Wofford, H., (1982; repr. 1988); Posner, Gerald, (1998); Oates, S. B., (1995); McKnight, Gerald D., (1986); Lischer, Richard, , 10 vols. (1989); Lewis, David Levering, and Eagles, Charles W., eds., (1994); Garrow, D., ed., (2000); Fairclough, A., (1991); Dyson, Michael Eric, , vol. 1 (1992); Cone, J. H., (1998); Carson, C., ed., (1988) and (1991); Branch, T., (1984); Baldwin, L. V., Ansbro, J. J., There Is a Balm in GileadPillar of FireMartin & Malcolm & AmericaMartin Luther King, Jr.The Civil Rights Movement in AmericaThe Last Crusade: Martin Luther King, Jr., the FBI, and the Poor People's CampaignKilling the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.There Is a Balm in GileadPillar of FireMartin & Malcolm & AmericaMartin Luther King, Jr.The Civil Rights Movement in AmericaThe Last Crusade: Martin Luther King, Jr., the FBI, and the Poor People's CampaignKilling the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Bury Me Not in a Land of Slaves
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Bury Me Not in a Land of Slaves
by Joyce HansenSET FEATURES:
o Each foreword is written by a well-known author and sets the tone for the reader's experience in each book
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This title gives a compelling historical account of the turbulent and troubled period of Reconstruction that followed the Civil War. Told fro
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March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World
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March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World
by Dr. Christine King Farris and London Ladd
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2009 Andrew Carnegie Medal Winner
From Dr. Martin Luther King's sister, the definitive tribute to the man, the march, and the speech that changed a nation.
On a hot August day in 1963, hundreds of thousands of people made history when they marched into Washington, D.C., in search of equality. Martin Luther King, Jr., the younger brother of Christine King Farris, was one of them.
Martin was scheduled to speak to the crowds of people on that day. But before he could stand up and inspire a nation, he had to get down to business. He first had to figure out what to say and how to say it. So he spent all night working on his "I Have a Dream" speech, one that would underscore a landmark moment in civil rights history -- the Great March on Washington. This would be one of the first events televised all over the globe. The world would be listening, as one of the greatest orators of our time shared his vision for a new day.
From the sister of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., comes this moving account of what that day was like for her, and for the man who inspired a crowd -- and convinced a nation to let freedom ring.
London Ladd's beautiful full-color illustrations bring to life the thousands of people from all over the country who came to the nation's capital. They sing, they join hands, they march, and they listen as speaker after speaker inspires social change, culminating in Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
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