“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
Martin Luther King
King was born on 15
January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a Baptist minister and his mother a schoolteacher. He entered Morehouse College in 1944 and
then went to Crozer Religious Seminary to undertake postgraduate
study and received his doctorate in 1955.
When MLK returned to the South he became a pastor of a Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He worked to get civil rights for black people and was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
King first achieved national renown when he led the first black non-violent demonstration in the USA, the bus boycott in 1955. This was organised after Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man - in the segregated South, black people could only sit at the back of the bus. After 382 days' boycott the bus company changed the regulations, and the supreme court declared such segregation unconstitutional.
In 1957, King was active in the organisation of the Southern Leadership Christian Conference (SCLC), formed to co-ordinate protests against discrimination. He advocated non-violent direct action based on the methods of Gandhi.
In 1963, King led mass protests against discriminatory laws in Birmingham, Alabama where the white population were violently resisting desegregation. During the manifestation, attacks against civil rights protesters increased, and King was arrested and jailed for his part in the protests.
After his release, King led the enormous civil rights march on Washington D.C. on August 28th 1963, where 250.000 people listened to his famous speech 'I have a dream', predicting a day when the promise of freedom and equality for all would become a reality in America.
In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1965, he led a campaign to register blacks to vote. The same year the US Congress passed the Voting Rights Act outlawing the discriminatory practices that had barred blacks from voting in the south.
As the Civil Rights Movement became more and more radicalised, King found that his message of peaceful protest was not shared by many in the younger generation. King began to protest against the Vietnam war and poverty levels in the US. He was assassinated on 4th April 1968 during a visit to Memphis, Tennessee.
When MLK returned to the South he became a pastor of a Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He worked to get civil rights for black people and was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
King first achieved national renown when he led the first black non-violent demonstration in the USA, the bus boycott in 1955. This was organised after Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man - in the segregated South, black people could only sit at the back of the bus. After 382 days' boycott the bus company changed the regulations, and the supreme court declared such segregation unconstitutional.
In 1957, King was active in the organisation of the Southern Leadership Christian Conference (SCLC), formed to co-ordinate protests against discrimination. He advocated non-violent direct action based on the methods of Gandhi.
In 1963, King led mass protests against discriminatory laws in Birmingham, Alabama where the white population were violently resisting desegregation. During the manifestation, attacks against civil rights protesters increased, and King was arrested and jailed for his part in the protests.
After his release, King led the enormous civil rights march on Washington D.C. on August 28th 1963, where 250.000 people listened to his famous speech 'I have a dream', predicting a day when the promise of freedom and equality for all would become a reality in America.
In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1965, he led a campaign to register blacks to vote. The same year the US Congress passed the Voting Rights Act outlawing the discriminatory practices that had barred blacks from voting in the south.
As the Civil Rights Movement became more and more radicalised, King found that his message of peaceful protest was not shared by many in the younger generation. King began to protest against the Vietnam war and poverty levels in the US. He was assassinated on 4th April 1968 during a visit to Memphis, Tennessee.