SAPA Foundation, Swiss Archive of the Performing Arts
Martin Luther King Jr. (bornMichael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) na he be an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist den political philosopher wey na he be one of de most prominent leaders of de civil rights movement from 1955 until ein assassination insyd 1968. Na he advance civil rights give people of color insyd deUnited States thru de use of nonviolent resistance den nonviolent civil disobedience againstJim Crow laws den oda forms of legalized discrimination.
A Black church leader, na King participate insyd den lead marches for de right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, den oda civil rights.[1] Na he oversee de 1955 Montgomery bus boycott wey he later cam turn de first presido of de Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As presido of de SCLC, he lead de unsuccessful Albany Movement insyd Albany, Georgia, wey he help organize sam of de nonviolent 1963 protests insyd Birmingham, Alabama. Na King be one of de leaders of de 1963 March on Washington, wer na he deliver ein "I Have a Dream" speech for de steps of de Lincoln Memorial, wey he help organize two of de three Selma to Montgomery marches during de 1965 Selma voting rights movement. Na de civil rights movement achieve pivotal legislative gains insyd deCivil Rights Act of 1964, deVoting Rights Act of 1965, den de Fair Housing Act of 1968. Na der be chaw dramatic standoffs plus segregationist authorities, wey na dem often respond violently.[2]
Na dem jail King chaw times. Na Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover consider King a radical wey he make am an object of de FBI ein COINTELPRO from 1963 dey go. FBI agents investigate am for possible communist ties, dem spy on ein personal life, wey na dem secretly record am. Insyd 1964, na de FBI mail King a threatening anonymous letter, wich na he interprete as an attempt make dem make am commitsuicide.[3] On October 14, 1964, na King win deNobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality thru nonviolent resistance. Insyd ein final years, na he expand ein focus make he include opposition towards poverty den de Vietnam War.
Insyd 1968, na King dey plan a national occupation of Washington, D.C., make dem call am de Poor People's Campaign, wen na dem assassinate am on April 4 insyd Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray, a fugitive wey komot de Missouri State Penitentiary, na dem convict am of de assassination, though de King family dey believe na he be a scapegoat. After a 1999 wrongful death lawsuit ruling name unspecified "government agencies" among de co-conspirators, na a Department of Justice investigation find no evidence of a conspiracy.[4] De assassination remain de subject of conspiracy theories. Na King ein death be followed by national mourning, as well as anger wey lead to riots insyd chaw U.S. cities. Na dem posthumously award King de Presidential Medal of Freedom insyd 1977 den de Congressional Gold Medal insyd 2003. Na dem establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday insyd cities den states thru out de United States wey begin insyd 1971; na dem first observe de federal holiday insyd 1986. De Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial for de National Mall insyd Washington, D.C., na dem dedicate am insyd 2011.
Na dem born Michael King Jr. on January 15, 1929, insyd Atlanta; na he be de second of three kiddies born to Michael King Sr. den Alberta King (née Williams).[5][6][7] Na Alberta ein poppie, Adam Daniel Williams,[8] be a minister insyd rural Georgia, wey he move to Atlanta insyd 1893,[7] wey he cam turn pastor of de Ebenezer Baptist Church insyd de year wey dey follow.[9] Na Williams marry Jennie Celeste Parks.[7] Na Michael Sr. be born to sharecroppers James Albert den Delia King of Stockbridge, Georgia;[6][7] na he be of Irish den likely Mende (Sierra Leone) descent.[10][11][12] As an adolescent, na Michael Sr. lef ein parents dema farm wey he walk to Atlanta, wer na he attain a high school education,[13][14][15] wey na he enrol insyd Morehouse College make he study for entry to de ministry.[15] Na Michael Sr. den Alberta begin dey date insyd 1920, wey na dem marry on November 25, 1926.[16][17] Til Jennie ein death insyd 1941, na dema home dey on de second floor of Alberta ein parents dema Victorian house, wer na dem born King.[16][17][18][19] Na Michael Jr. get an older sisto, Christine King Farris, den a younger bro, Alfred Daniel "A. D." King.[20]
1957: Doctor of Humane Letters, Morehouse College; Doctor of Laws, Howard University; Doctor of Divinity, Chicago Theological Seminary
1958: Doctor of Laws, Morgan State College; Doctor of Humanities, Central State College
1959: Doctor of Divinity, Boston University
1961: Doctor of Laws, Lincoln University; Doctor of Laws, University of Bridgeport
1962: Doctor of Civil Laws, Bard College
1963: Doctor of Letters, Keuka College
1964: Doctor of Divinity, Wesleyan College; Doctor of Laws, Jewish Theological Seminary; Doctor of Laws, Yale University; Doctor of Divinity, Springfield College
1965: Doctor of Laws, Hofstra University; Doctor of Humane Letters, Oberlin College; Doctor of Social Science, Amsterdam Free University; Doctor of Divinity, St. Peter's College
1967: Doctor of Civil Law, University of Newcastle upon Tyne; Doctor of Laws, Grinnell College
↑6.06.1"Birth & Family".The King Center. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. Archived fromthe original on January 22, 2013. RetrievedJanuary 22, 2020.
↑Nelson, Alondra (2016).The Social Life of DNA. Beacon Press. pp. 160–161.ISBN978-0-8070-2718-9.Kittles informed King that his Y-chromosome DNA analysis traced to Ireland and his mtDNA analysis associated him with the Mende.
Garrow, David.Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1989). Pulitzer Prize.ISBN978-0-06-056692-0
"James L. Bevel, The Strategist of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement", a 1984 paper by Randall Kryn, published with a 1988 addendum by Kryn in Prof. David Garrow'sWe Shall Overcome, Volume II (Carlson Publishing Company, 1989).
Glisson, Susan M. (2006).The Human Tradition in the Civil Rights Movement. Rowman & Littlefield.ISBN0-7425-4409-5.
Carson, Clayborne; Luker, Ralph E.; Russell, Penny A.; Harlan, Louis R., eds. (1992).The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume I: Called to Serve, January 1929 – June 1951. University of California Press.ISBN0-520-07950-7.
Lawson, Steven F.; Payne, Charles M.; Patterson, James T. (2006).Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945–1968. Rowman & Littlefield.ISBN0-7425-5109-1.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at BuffaloArchived June 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, digital collection of King's visit and speech in Buffalo, New York on November 9, 1967, from the University at Buffalo Libraries
BBCFace to Face interviewArchived February 24, 2020, at the Wayback Machine with Martin Luther King and John Freeman, broadcast October 29, 1961.
FBI file on Martin Luther King Jr.:Part 1Archived January 16, 2023, at the Wayback Machine andPart 2Archived January 30, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
