In today’s black history, Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of parents Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. When King was just 13 years old he became the youngest assistant manager of the Atlanta Journal Newspapers.

High School

While in high school, King loved English and History and chose Sociology as his main subject. He was also skilled in public speaking and became a member of the school’s debate team. Just a junior in High School King enrolled in the Historically Black College “Morehouse”. Enrollment was down due to World War ll. So Morehouse decided to accept High School juniors who were able to pass the entrance exam. The summer before King went to Morehouse he spent time working on a tobacco farm in Connecticut. He gained his first experience with the integrated North and he was surprised by the differences he observed. He wrote his father telling him that once he passed Washington D.C he felt no discrimination.

After graduating from Morehouse, King decided to get into ministry. He enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland Pennslyvania. In his third year at Crozer King fell in love with a white woman and was considering marrying her. However friends and family advised against it because they felt it would hurt his chances of pastoring in the South. After graduating with a Bachelor’s in Divinity King obtained his doctoral at Boston University.

After College

King became the Pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama. While there a 15-year-old Claudette Cole was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. Nine months later Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to do the same. These two incidents led to Edgar Nixon planning the Montgomery bus boycott, and having King lead it. This boycott lasted for 385 days and nearly bankrupted the Montgomery bus system. Despite that, the State refused to change the Jim Crow Laws, and the Federal Courts had to rule against racial segregation In Browder v. Gayle.

King fought for the rights of black people until his untimely death in 1968. He was in Memphis Tennessee to stand with black sanitation workers. The workers were striking for better wages and treatment. While there King was gunned down by James Earl Ray while he stood on the balcony of his hotel room. After admitting to killing Martin Luther King jr, Ray attempted to take back in confession. He died in a prison hospital at the age of 70.