Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929. He received the B. A. degree in 1948
from Morehouse College. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological
Seminary in Pennsylvania, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. And then he enrolled in
graduate studies at Boston University, receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and
married Coretta Scott. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.
In 1954, Martin Luther King became a pastor in Alabama. What’s more, King was a
member of the executive committee of the National Association. Early in December, 1955,
he
accepted the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of
contemporary
times. Around December 21, 1956, King was
arrested, his home was
bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I INTRODUCTION
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), American clergyman and Nobel Prize winner, one of the
principal leaders of the American civil rights movement and a prominent advocate of
nonviolent protest. King‟s challenges to segregation and racial discrimination in the 1950s
and 1960s helped convince many white Americans to support the cause of civil rights in the
United States. After his assassination in 1968, King became a symbol of protest in the
struggle for racial justice.
II EDUCATION AND EARLY LIFE
Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the eldest son of Martin Luther King, Sr.,
a Baptist minister, and Alberta Williams King. His father served as pastor of a large Atlanta
church, Ebenezer Baptist, which had been founded by Martin Luther King, Jr.‟s, maternal
Martin Luther King
>Martin Luther King Essay:
Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the pioneers
who fought for the black people’s civil rights
movement in America. He was a national figure
and a brilliant orator who knew what to say to
make any person understand his heart.
He stayed true to his morals and values
throughout his activism. King set the foundation
for racial equality from the 1950s till his death in
1968 that continues even today. His leadership
and work were the reason for the end of legal segregation across America. In all that he did,
he followed non-violence as his fundamental
base. This was something that was an influence
of Mahatma Gandhi and his role in the
independence of India. He is well known for his
speech ‘I have a dream,’ and a year after this
speech, the law prohibiting racial discrimination
Transcription by Michael E. Eidenmuller. Copyright Status: Restricted, seek permission. Page 1 Martin Luther King, Jr.:“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”
delivered 3 April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee
AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It's always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world. I'm delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow. Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there. I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon. And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality. But I wouldn't stop there. I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire. And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders. But I wouldn't stop there.
