Martin Luther King Jr Speeches

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) was a Baptist minister and social activist who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. He was inspired by advocates of nonviolence such as Mahatma Gandhi. His name was originally Michael, not Martin. At the age of 12, he seems to have tried to commit suicide. It was May of 1941 when his grandmother passed away after a heart attack. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday was first observed as a national holiday in 1986. King Jr. skipped two grades in high school, 9th and 11th, and entered college (Morehouse College) at the tender age of 15 in 1944. By 19, he received a bachelor’s degree in sociology. After graduating from college, he still had serious doubts about Christianity and the Bible and told his dad that he didn’t want to be a minister and
on January 15, 1929. He was first named Michael, after his father and they both changed their names to Martin when the boy was still young. He was the second child of Martin Luther King Sr. (1899-1984), a pastor, and Alberta Williams King (1904-1974), a former schoolteacher. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up in the city’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood, which was the home to some of the most conspicuous and rich African Americans in the country, with his older sister, the future Christine King Farris (born 1927), and younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King (1930-1969). They grew up in a good environment. Martin Sr. was more the tough, while his wife's kindness easily balanced out their father's strictness. His parents tried to protect their children from racism, but it was so hard back then. His father fought racism, not because his race suffered, but because he considered racism and discrimination to be a disrespect to God's will. He was strongly against any kind of class control in his children which left a lasting impression on Martin