Martin Luther King Short Bio

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
By: Karim Murray

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Kings named their son Michael Luther King Jr. after his father, Michael Luther King. Before long, his family called the baby M.L. M.L.’s father was a pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He grew up hearing Bible stories at home and at church. M.L. enjoyed music and memorizing songs. He loved learning new words. M.L. exclaimed, “When I grow up, I’m going to get some big words!” Pastor King later changed his name to Martin to honor religious leader Martin Luther. M.L.’s parents changed his name, too. Michael Luther King Jr. became Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Jr. was so eager to learn that he tried to go to school when he was five years old. He was too young to go to school that year. Martin Jr. went to first grade when he was six years old.

Martin Jr. played with his sister, Christine, and his brother, Alfred Daniel. Monopoly, Chinese checkers and marbles were Martin Jr.’s favorite indoor games. He also played the piano, violin and he sang. Outside, Martin Jr. rode his bike, football, baseball, flew kites, and built a tree house with his brother Alfred. Martin also liked to play tricks on people. One day, he loosened the leg on a piano bench. When his piano teacher sat down, he crashed to the floor. Martin Jr. had a bad experience when he was six. He and his friends often played games in his big backyard. One day, Martin Jr. asked two white friends to play with him , but their mother told Martin Jr. that her boys could never play with him again.

Martin Jr. was so upset. His parents explained about the laws separating African Americans and white people. African American children couldn’t go to the same schools as white people. They couldn’t share drinking fountains or restrooms with white people. If an African American got on a bus had to give up his or her seat for a white person.

Although the laws were wrong, Martin’s Jr. Mother told her son to always remember that he was somebody. At school, Martin worked so hard that he went to high school when he was only thirteen!
When he was in the eleventh grade, Martin Jr. wrote a special speech and won a prize. He was so excited that his “big words” had pleased people. On the bus ride home, however, Martin Jr. was told to give up his seat to a white man. Martin said, “It was the angriest I have ever been in my life.”

Martin Jr. skipped the twelfth grade and went to Morehouse College in Atlanta. He tried to decide how he could best help African Americans. He questioned whether he should be a doctor, a lawyer or a Minister? Martin Jr. decided to become a Minister like his father.

Martin Jrs. first sermon was in a small room at Ebenezer Baptist Church. He spoke so powerfully that many people crowded into the room to hear him. More and more people came tp hear him and before long he was preaching in a larger room so that more people could her his inspiring sermons.

Martin Jr. returned to College again and earned a doctorate in theology. He was now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He met a girl called Coretta Scott at the College where he earned his doctorate and in 1953 Martin Jr. and Coretta Scott got married.

Martin Jr. and his wife moved to Montgomery, Albama. There he worked hard at being a good Minister and community leader.

On December 1, 1955, an African American woman, named Rosa Park, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. She was arrested and taken to jail for breaking the law that required African Americans to give up their bus seats to white Americans.

Her arrest angered many African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama. They refused to ride on the buses until the law was changed.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. agreed to lead the bus boycott. He and his family were threatened and their home was bombed but he knew that what they were doing was right. Eventually the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to decide on whether the bus segregation law was good. The Court decided that the boycott was wrong. Dr. King and his fellow boycotters had won.

Dr. King led more battles to end unfair laws in the United States. He worked to ensure that all children could go to schools together. He tried to change laws so that African Americans could vote in elections and be paid the same wage as white people.

At times Dr. King was jailed because he stood up for what he knew was right. On the 28th of August 1963 Dr. King gave a famous speech entitled “I Have A Dream”. Millions of people heard him say “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by content of their character”.

In 1964 Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent efforts to change the unfair laws in the United States of America.

On April 4th 1968 Dr. King was tragically shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee, ending his dream of equal rights for all Americans. People around the world were saddened by the death of this peaceful leader who gave his life to make the world a better place for all.