![]() In 1957, King, Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, Joseph Lowery, and other civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to harness the organizing power of Black churches to conduct nonviolent protests to ultimately achieve civil rights reform. Fighting for change through nonviolent protestįrom the early days of the Montgomery boycott, King had often referred to India’s Mahatma Gandhi as “the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change.” King's role in the bus boycott transformed him into a national figure and the best-known spokesman of the civil rights movement. Gayle ( in which Colvin was a plaintiff ) that ended racial segregation on all Montgomery public buses. ![]() He was arrested during the campaign, which concluded with a United States District Court ruling in Browder v. King’s prominent and outspoken role in the boycott led to numerous threats against his life, and his house was firebombed. shakes hands with his lawyer as they stand in front of a group of cheering followers after King's conviction for his part in the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. The two incidents led to the Montgomery bus boycott, which was urged and planned by the President of the Alabama Chapter of the NAACP, E.D. Nine months later on December 1, 1955, a similar incident occurred when a seamstress named Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus. The local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) briefly considered using Colvin's case to challenge the segregation laws, but decided that because she was so young-and had become pregnant-her case would attract too much negative attention. King was on the committee from the Birmingham African-American community that looked into the case. ( Jim Crow laws created 'slavery by another name.') In March 1955, Claudette Colvin-a 15-year-old Black schoolgirl in Montgomery-refused to give up her bus seat to a white man, which was a violation of Jim Crow laws, local laws in the southern United States that enforced racial segregation. King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. law upholds equal rights for all people across the country regardless of race, color, or creed. Thanks to the efforts of a Baptist preacher, Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. They became the parents of four children: Yolanda King (1955–2007), Martin Luther King III (b. King married Coretta Scott on June 18, 1953, on the lawn of her parents' house in her hometown of Heiberger, Alabama. He earned a doctorate in systematic theology from Boston University in 1955. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Morehouse at age 19, and then enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, graduating with a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951. By the summer before his last year of college, King knew he was destined to continue the family profession of pastoral work and decided to enter the ministry. His brilliance was noted early, as he was accepted into Morehouse College, a historically Black school in Atlanta, at age 15. was so impressed by the history of Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther that he changed not only his own name, but also five-year-old Michael’s. His father, Michael King, was a pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Though King's name is known worldwide, many may not realize that he was born Michael King, Jr. Here’s what you need to know about King’s extraordinary life. Day was officially observed in all 50 U.S. Observed for the first time on January 20, 1986, it’s called Martin Luther King Jr. ![]() In 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor King for his commitment to equal rights and justice for all. Through his leadership, the civil rights movement opened doors to education and employment that had long been closed to Black America. His speeches-some of the most iconic of the 20th century-had a profound effect on the national consciousness. In the mid-1950s, King led the movement to end segregation and counter prejudice in the United States through the means of peaceful protest. The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is a civil rights legend. ![]()
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