Martin Luther King was born named Michael Luther King Jr. on January 15, 1928 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father changed both his and his brother’s names to Martin, so that they would resemble Martin Luther, who led the protestant reformation. Martin’s father and grandfather were both Baptist priests, and so he too looked to become one as well.
From a young age, Martin had great aspirations to be an educated man. He advanced rapidly, skipped two grades in highschool, …show more content…
From a young age Martin could see how he, along with many others, was treated differently by white people. There were separate bathrooms and schools for black and white people. As a child, one of Martin’s good friends was a white boy, and Martin couldn’t understand why there was separation between race. While he was taught the golden rule as a child, Martin couldn’t see how others were implementing that in their own lives. Black people were often lynched, weren’t granted full voting rights, and had to give up their seats on the bus for white people. Rosa Parks was a brave woman who refused to give up her seat for a white man, and was arrested because of it. This event led to the start of the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott, and Martin Luther was the leader of it. This started Martin’s desire for nonviolent …show more content…
Principle one of Martin Luther’s six principles of nonviolence states, “Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. It is active nonviolent resistance to evil. It is aggressive spiritually, mentally and emotionally.” Martin Luther displayed a tremendous amount of courage through all that he did for himself and for so many other people around him. While white people already despised Martin Luther and the actions he was taking, even some black people opposed Martin. They were against the nonviolent protests and wanted to respond in hatred and violence, but Martin showed great courage and stuck to his