Martin Luther King 5

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929, to his parents Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King in Atlanta, Georgia.   Martin Luther King, Jr. was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin.   He spent his childhood under the watchful eye of his father's church, even singing with the church choir.   Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen.   He received his B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College; a Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated.  

As a young man, Martin had some question as to what he wanted to do with his life. Should he be a doctor, or perhaps a lawyer? In either profession, he would be in a position to help people. However, he came to realize that he could best serve God and his people by becoming a minister. He studied hard. He gave his first sermon to his father's congregation when he was only seventeen years old. The son of the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Dr. King was ordained in 1947.   In Boston, he met and married Coretta Scott.   Two sons and two daughters were born into the family. In 1954, he became a minister of a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama.  

Dr. King experienced racism early in life. He decided to do to something to make the world a better and fairer place. Dr. King became a civil rights activist early in his career. In Montgomery, Dr. King became a respected leader in the struggle to help African Americans achieve the full and equal citizenship to which they were entitled.   When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus on December 1, 1955, he led the Montgomery Bus Boycott against public bus transportation, which required that Blacks sit at the back of busses. From that time on the list of non-violent protests that were led by Dr. King goes on and on including lunch counter sit-ins to do away with the practice of not...