Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American
clergymanThe term pastor usually refers to an ordained person within a Christian church. In some countries the term is more usually used in traditional Protestant churches but is also used in reference to priests and bishops within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches. The...
, activist and prominent leader in the African-American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and he is frequently referenced as a
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
icon today. King is recognized as a
martyrA martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce a belief, usually religious.-Meaning:...
by two Christian churches. A
BaptistThe Progressive National Baptist Convention is a convention of African-American Baptists emphasizing civil rights and social justice....
minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955
Montgomery Bus BoycottThe Montgomery Bus Boycott was a political and social protest campaign started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system. Many historically significant figures of the civil rights movement were involved in the boycott,...
and helped found the
Southern Christian Leadership ConferenceThe Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963
March on WashingtonThe March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C. on August 28 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr...
, where King delivered his "
I Have a Dream"I Have a Dream" is the popular name given to the public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., in which he called for racial equality and an end to discrimination...
" speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest
oratorAn orator, or oratist, is a speaker.An orator may also be called an oratarian - literally, "one who orates".-Etymology:...
s in U.S. history.
In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the
Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:...
for his work to end
racial segregationRacial segregation is the separation of different racial groups in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a washroom, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home. Segregation may be mandated by law or exist through social...
and
racialRacism is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. In the case of institutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or benefits, or get preferential treatment...
discriminationDiscrimination is a sociological term refering to treatment taken toward or against a person of a certain group that is taken in consideration based on class or category. The United Nations explains: "Discriminatory behaviours take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion or...
through
civil disobedienceCivil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical violence. It is one of the primary methods of nonviolent resistance...
and other
non-violentNonviolence is a philosophy and strategy for social change that rejects the use of violence. As such, nonviolence is an alternative to passive acceptance of oppression and armed struggle against it...
means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
, both from a religious perspective. King was
assassinatedMartin Luther King Jr., a prominent American Civil Rights leader and, according to a Gallup poll conducted in 2000, the second most admired person of the 20th century, was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39...
on April 4, 1968, in
Memphis, TennesseeMemphis is a city in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4
th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River....
. He was posthumously awarded the
Presidential Medal of FreedomThe Presidential Medal of Freedom is a decoration bestowed by the President of the United States and is, along with theequivalent Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress, the highest civilian award in the U.S...
in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S.
national holidayIn the United States, a federal holiday is a public holiday recognized by the United States government. Non-essential federal government offices are closed...
in 1986.
Early life
Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta,
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
. He was the son of the Reverend
Martin Luther King, Sr.Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. , born as Michael King was a Baptist minister, an advocate for social justice, an early civil rights leader and the father of Martin Luther King, Jr.King, Sr...
and
Alberta Williams KingAlberta Christine Williams King was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s mother and the wife of Martin Luther King, Sr. She played a significant role in the affairs of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her father, husband and son all served as pastor...
. King's father was born "Michael King," and Martin Luther King, Jr., was originally named "Michael King, Jr.," until the family traveled to Europe in 1934 and visited Germany. His father soon changed both of their names to Martin in honor of the German Protestant leader
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
. He had an older sister,
Willie Christine KingChristine King Farris is the eldest and only living sibling of the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. She teaches at Spelman College and is the author of several books and a public speaker on various topics, including the King family, multicultural education, and teaching...
, and a younger brother
Alfred Daniel Williams KingAlfred Daniel Williams King , known as A. D. King, was the younger brother of American civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Like his older brother, A. D. King was a Baptist minister and civil rights activist....
. King sang with his church choir at the 1939 Atlanta premiere of the movie
Gone with the WindGone with the Wind is a 1939 American drama romance film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel of the same name and directed by Victor Fleming...
.
Growing up in Atlanta, King attended Booker T. Washington High School. He skipped ninth and twelfth grade, and entered
Morehouse CollegeMorehouse College is a private, all-male, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is one of four remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States, and a member of the Black Ivy League....
at age fifteen without formally graduating from high school. In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a
Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
degree in
sociologySociology is the scientific or systematic study of human societies. It is a branch of social science that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, often with the goal of applying such...
, and enrolled in
Crozer Theological SeminaryThe Crozer Theological Seminary was a multi-denominational religious institution located in Upland, Pennsylvania. The school, which occupied the former Crozer Hospital , mostly served as an American Baptist Church school, training seminarians for the entry into the Baptist ministry...
in
Chester, PennsylvaniaChester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, with a population of 36,854 at the 2000 census. Chester is situated on the Delaware River, between the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware....
, from which he graduated with a
Bachelor of DivinityIn Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies....
degree in 1951. King then began doctoral studies in
systematic theologySystematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology that attempts to formulate an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the Christian faith and beliefs. Inherent to a system of theological thought is that a method is developed, one which can be applied both broadly and particularly...
at
Boston UniversityBoston University is a private nonsectarian university located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Although chartered by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869, Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont in 1839...
and received his
Doctor of PhilosophyDoctor of Philosophy, abbreviated PhD , for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", or alternatively, DPhil, for the equivalent , is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities...
on June 5, 1955. A 1980s inquiry concluded portions of his dissertation had been
plagiarizedPlagiarism, as defined in the 1995 Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary, is the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered...
and he had acted improperly but that his dissertation still "makes an intelligent contribution to scholarship."
King married
Coretta ScottCoretta Scott King was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.Mrs...
, on June 18, 1953, on the lawn of her parents' house in her hometown of
Heiberger, AlabamaHeiberger, Alabama is a small settlement located near Marion in Perry County, Alabama. It is best known for being the birthplace of civil rights leader Coretta Scott King.-References:...
. King and Scott had four children;
Yolanda KingYolanda Denise King was the first-born child of Coretta Scott King and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Her younger siblings are Martin Luther King, III, Dexter Scott King, and Rev. Dr...
,
Martin Luther King IIIMartin Luther King III is an American human rights advocate and community activist. He is the eldest son and oldest living child of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. His siblings are Dexter Scott King, Rev. Bernice Albertine King, and the late Yolanda Denise King...
,
Dexter Scott KingDexter Scott King is the second son of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. His siblings are Martin Luther King III, the Reverend Bernice Albertine King, and the late Yolanda Denise King....
, and
Bernice KingDr. Bernice Albertine King is the second daughter and youngest child of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr and Coretta Scott King. Her older siblings are Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King, and the late Yolanda Denise King...
. King became pastor of the
Dexter Avenue Baptist ChurchDexter Avenue Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. The church was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1974. In 1978 the official name was changed to the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
in
Montgomery, AlabamaMontgomery is the capital, second most populous city, and the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the Southern U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. The city population was 201,568...
when he was twenty-five years old in 1954.
Populist tradition and Black populism
Harry C. Boyte, a self-proclaimed
populistPopulism is a political discourse that juxtaposes "the people" with "the elites." Populism may comprise an ideology urging social and political system changes and/or a rhetorical style deployed by members of political or social movements...
, field secretary of the
Southern Christian Leadership ConferenceThe Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
and
whiteWhite people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
civil rights activist describes an episode in his life that gives insight on some of King's influences:
My first encounter with deeper meanings of populism came when I was nineteen, working as a field secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in St. AugustineSt. Augustine is the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, in the United States. Founded in 1565, it is the oldest continuously occupied European established city, and the oldest port, in the continental United States. St. Augustine lies in a region of Florida known as The First Coast, which...
, FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
in 1964. One day I was caught by five men and a woman who were members of the Ku Klux KlanKu Klux Klan , informally known as The Klan, is the name of several past and present hate group organizations in the United States whose avowed purpose was to protect the rights of and further the interests of white Americans by violence and intimidation. The first such organizations originated in...
. They accused me of being a "communist and a YankeeThe term Yankee, sometimes abbreviated to Yank, has a few related meanings, often referring to someone either of general United States origin or more specifically, within the US, to people of Northern origin or heritage. Its meaning has varied over time...
." I replied, "I'm no Yankee – my family has been in the South since before the RevolutionThe American Revolution is the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America at first rejected the governance of the Parliament of Great Britain, and later the British monarchy itself, to become the sovereign United States of...
. And I'm not a communist. I'm a populist. I believe that blacks and poor whites should join to do something about the big shots who keep us divided." For a few minutes we talked about what such a movement might look like. Then they let me go.
When he learned of the incident, Martin Luther King, head of SCLC, told me that he identified with the populist tradition and assigned to organize poor whites.
Thurman
Civil rights leader, theologian, and educator
Howard ThurmanHoward Thurman was an influential American author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader. He was Dean of Theology and the chapels at Howard and Boston universities for more than two decades, wrote 20 books, and in 1944 helped found the first racially integrated, multicultural...
was an early influence on King. A classmate of King's father at
Morehouse CollegeMorehouse College is a private, all-male, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is one of four remaining traditional men's colleges in the United States, and a member of the Black Ivy League....
, Thurman mentored the young King and his friends. Thurman's missionary work had taken him abroad where he had met and conferred with Mahatma Gandhi. When he was a student at Boston University, King often visited Thurman, who was the dean of Marsh Chapel. Walter Fluker, who has studied Thurman's writings, has stated, "I don't believe you'd get a Martin Luther King, Jr. without a Howard Thurman".
Gandhi and Rustin
Inspired by Gandhi's success with non-violent activism, King visited the Gandhi family in India in 1959, with assistance from the Quaker group the
American Friends Service CommitteeThe American Friends Service Committee is a Religious Society of Friends affiliated organization which provides humanitarian relief and works for social justice, peace and reconciliation, human rights, and abolition of the death penalty...
. The trip to India affected King in a profound way, deepening his understanding of non-violent resistance and his commitment to America's struggle for civil rights. In a radio address made during his final evening in India, King reflected, "Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation." African American civil rights activist
Bayard RustinBayard Rustin was an American civil rights activist, important largely behind the scenes in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and earlier, and the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom . He counseled Martin Luther King, Jr. on the techniques of nonviolent...
, who had studied Gandhi's teachings, counseled King to dedicate himself to the principles of non-violence, served as King's main advisor and mentor throughout his early activism, and was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Rustin's open
homosexualityHomosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
, support of
democratic socialismDemocratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations, to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation...
, and his former ties to the
Communist Party USAThe Communist Party of the United States of America is a Marxist-Leninist political party in the United States.During the first half of the 20th century it was the largest and most widely influential communist party in the country, and played a prominent role in the U.S...
caused many white and African-American leaders to demand King distance himself from Rustin.
Delivering the message
Throughout his career of service, King wrote and spoke frequently, drawing on his experience as a preacher. His "
Letter from Birmingham JailThe Letter from Birmingham Jail or Letter from Birmingham City Jail, is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King, Jr., an American civil rights leader...
", written in 1963, is a "passionate" statement of his crusade for
justiceJustice is the concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, fairness, or equity.-Concept of justice:Justice... concerns the proper ordering of things and persons within a society. As a concept it has been subject to philosophical, legal, and theological reflection and...
. On October 14, 1964, King became the youngest recipient of the
Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:...
, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States.
Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955
In March 1955, a fifteen-year-old school girl,
Claudette ColvinClaudette Colvin is a pioneer of the African American civil rights movement.She hailed from Alabama, and in 1955, at the age of 15, she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white person, in violation of local law. Her arrest preceded that of Rosa Parks' by nine months...
, refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in compliance with the Jim Crow laws. King was on the committee from the Birmingham African-American community that looked into the case;
Edgar NixonEdgar Daniel Nixon was an American civil rights leader and union organizer who played a crucial role in organizing the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. Nixon also led the Montgomery branch of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters union, known as the Pullman Porters Union...
and
Clifford DurrClifford Durr was an Alabama lawyer who played an important role in defending activists and others accused of disloyalty during the New Deal and McCarthy eras and who represented Rosa Parks in her challenge to the constitutionality of the ordinance requiring the segregation of passengers on buses...
decided to wait for a better case to pursue. On December 1, 1955,
Rosa ParksRosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African American civil rights activist whom the U.S. Congress later called the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement."...
was arrested for refusing to give up her seat. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, urged and planned by Nixon and led by King, soon followed. The boycott lasted for 385 days, and the situation became so tense that King's house was bombed. King was arrested during this campaign, which ended with a United States District Court ruling in
Browder v. GayleBrowder v. Gayle, 142 F. Supp. 707 , was a case heard before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama regarding Montgomery bus segregation laws...
that ended
racial segregationRacial segregation is the separation of different racial groups in daily life, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a washroom, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home. Segregation may be mandated by law or exist through social...
on all Montgomery public buses.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
In 1957, King,
Ralph AbernathyRalph David Abernathy was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 20th Century, a minister, civil rights leader and a close associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Following King's assassination, Dr...
, and other civil rights activists founded the
Southern Christian Leadership ConferenceThe Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
(SCLC). The group was created to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests in the service of civil rights reform. King led the SCLC until his death. In 1958, while signing copies of his book
Strive Toward Freedom in a Harlem department store, he was stabbed in the chest by
Izola CurryIzola Curry was an African-American woman who attempted to assassinate civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Born in Georgia, she stabbed King with a letter opener at a New York City book signing on September 20, 1958...
, a deranged black woman with a letter opener, and narrowly escaped death.
Gandhi's nonviolent techniques were useful to King's campaign to correct the civil rights laws implemented in Alabama. King applied non-violent philosophy to the protests
organizedCommunity organizing is a process by which people living in proximity to each other are brought together in an organization to act in their shared self-interest. Unlike other forms of more consensual "community building," community organizers generally assume that social change necessarily...
by the SCLC. In 1959, he wrote
The Measure of A Man, from which the piece
What is Man?"What is man?" is a piece from Measure of a Man which was written by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1959.King begins by stating that he will attempt to answer the question “what is man”, which he believes leads to determining the political, social and economic structure of society. He raises issues of...
, an attempt to sketch the optimal political, social, and economic structure of society, is derived. His SCLC secretary and personal assistant in this period was
Dora McDonald.
The
FBIThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency. The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
, under written directive from then Attorney General
Robert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician. He was a younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and acted as one of his advisers during his presidency. From 1961 to 1964, he was the U.S...
, began
telephone tappingTelephone tapping is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The telephone or wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on the telephone line...
King in 1963. J. Edgar Hoover feared
CommunistsCommunism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human...
were trying to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement, but when no such evidence emerged, the bureau used the incidental details caught on tape over the next five years in attempts to force King out of the preeminent leadership position.
King believed that organized, nonviolent protest against the system of southern segregation known as
Jim Crow lawsThe Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality and voting rights. Journalistic accounts and televised footage of the daily deprivation and indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment of civil rights workers and marchers, produced a wave of sympathetic public opinion that convinced the majority of Americans that the
Civil RightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights and freedoms that protect individuals from unwarranted government action and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression....
Movement was the most important issue in American politics in the early 1960s.
King organized and led marches for blacks' right to
voteVoting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion—often following discussions, debates, or election campaigns.- Process of voting :...
,
desegregationDesegregation is the process of ending racial segregation, most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in Brown v...
,
labor rightsLabor rights or workers' rights are a group of legal rights and claimed human rights having to do with labor relations between workers and their employers, usually obtained under labor and employment law. In general, these rights' debates have to do with negotiating workers' pay, benefits, and safe...
and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted into the
law of the United StatesThe law of the United States consists of many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the United States Constitution, the foundation of the federal government of the United States...
with the passage of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed racial segregation in schools, public places, and employment...
and the 1965
Voting Rights ActThe National Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the United States. Echoing the language of the 15th Amendment, the Act prohibited states from imposing any "voting qualification...
.
King and the SCLC applied the principles of nonviolent protest with great success by strategically choosing the method of protest and the places in which protests were carried out. There were often dramatic stand-offs with segregationist authorities. Sometimes these confrontations turned violent.
Albany movement
The Albany Movement was a
desegregationDesegregation is the process of ending racial segregation, most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in Brown v...
coalition formed in
Albany, GeorgiaAlbany is a city in and the county seat of Dougherty County, Georgia, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. It is the principal city of the Albany, Georgia metropolitan area.-Geography:Albany is located at ....
in November, 1961. In December King and the SCLC became involved. The movement mobilized thousands of citizens for a broad-front nonviolent attack on every aspect of segregation within the city and attracted nationwide attention. When King first visited on December 15, 1961, he "had planned to stay a day or so and return home after giving counsel." But the following day he was swept up in a mass arrest of peaceful demonstrators, and he declined bail until the city made concessions. "Those agreements", said King, "were dishonored and violated by the city," as soon as he left town. King returned in July 1962, and was sentenced to forty-five days in jail or a $178 fine. He chose jail. Three days into his sentence, Chief Pritchett discreetly arranged for King's fine to be paid and ordered his release. "We had witnessed persons being kicked off lunch counter stools ... ejected from churches ... and thrown into jail ... But for the first time, we witnessed being kicked out of jail."
After nearly a year of intense activism with few tangible results, the movement began to deteriorate. King requested a halt to all demonstrations and a "Day of Penance" to promote non-violence and maintain the moral high ground. Divisions within the black community and the canny, low-key response by local government defeated efforts. However, it was credited as a key lesson in tactics for the national
civil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights and freedoms that protect individuals from unwarranted government action and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression....
movement.
Birmingham campaign
The Birmingham campaign was a strategic effort by the SCLC to promote civil rights for African Americans. Many of its tactics of "Project C" were developed by Rev.
Wyatt Tee WalkerWyatt Tee Walker is a United States black pastor, national civil rights leader, theologian, and cultural historian. He was Chief of Staff for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and in 1958 an early board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference . He helped found the Congress for Racial...
, Executive Director of SCLC from 1960–1964. Based on actions in
Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in the state of Alabama in the United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County and includes part of Shelby County. According to a 2007 estimate, the city had a population of 229,800 The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2008 census estimates,...
, its goal was to end the city's segregated civil and discriminatory economic policies. The campaign lasted for more than two months in the spring of 1963. To provoke the police into filling the city's jails to overflowing, King and black citizens of Birmingham employed nonviolent tactics to flout laws they considered unfair. King summarized the philosophy of the Birmingham campaign when he said, "The purpose of ... direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation".
Protests in Birmingham began with a boycott to pressure businesses to sales jobs and other employment to people of all races, as well as to end segregated facilities in the stores. When business leaders resisted the boycott, King and the SCLC began what they termed Project C, a series of
sit-inA sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more persons nonviolently occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change.-Process:...
s and marches intended to provoke arrest. After the campaign ran low on adult volunteers, it recruited children for what became known as the "Children's Crusade". During the protests, the Birmingham Police Department, led by Eugene "Bull" Connor, used high-pressure water jets and police dogs to control protesters, including children. Not all of the demonstrators were peaceful, despite the avowed intentions of the SCLC. In some cases, bystanders attacked the police, who responded with force. King and the SCLC were criticized for putting children in harm's way. By the end of the campaign, King's reputation improved immensely, Connor lost his job, the "Jim Crow" signs in Birmingham came down, and public places became more open to blacks.
Augustine and Selma
King and SCLC were also driving forces behind the protest in
St. Augustine, FloridaSt. Augustine is the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, in the United States. Founded in 1565, it is the oldest continuously occupied European established city, and the oldest port, in the continental United States. St. Augustine lies in a region of Florida known as The First Coast, which...
, in 1964. The movement engaged in nightly marches in the city met by white segregationists who violently assaulted them. Hundreds of the marchers were arrested and jailed.
King and the SCLC joined forces with the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating CommitteeThe Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
(SNCC) in
Selma, AlabamaSelma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census. The city is best known for the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement and its Selma to Montgomery marches, three civil rights...
, in December 1964, where SNCC had been working on voter registration for several months. A sweeping injunction issued by a local judge barred any gathering of 3 or more people under sponsorship of SNCC, SCLC, or DCVL, or with the involvement of 41 named civil rights leaders. This injunction temporarily halted civil rights activity until King defied it by speaking at
Brown ChapelBrown Chapel A.M.E. Church is a church in Selma, Alabama, United States. This church was a starting point for the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 and played a major role in the events that led to the adoption of the Voting Rights Act of 1965...
on January 2 1965.
March on Washington, 1963
King, representing SCLC, was among the leaders of the so-called "Big Six" civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. The other leaders and organizations comprising the Big Six were:
Roy WilkinsRoy Wilkins was a prominent civil rights activist in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins most notable role was in his leadership of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People .During his latter life Wilkins was frequently referred to as the 'senior statesman'...
from the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored PeopleThe National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP and pronounced N-double-A-C-P, is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the...
;
Whitney YoungWhitney Moore Young Jr. was an American civil rights leader.He spent most of his career working to end employment discrimination in the United States and turning the National Urban League from a relatively passive civil rights organization into one that aggressively fought for equitable access to...
,
National Urban LeagueThe National Urban League , formerly known as the National League of black men and women, is a civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest community-based...
;
A. Philip RandolphAsa Philip Randolph was a prominent twentieth-century African-American civil rights leader and the founder of both the March on Washington Movement and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a landmark for labor and particularly for African-American labor organizing.-Early life:Randolph was born...
,
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car PortersThe Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was a labor union in the United States organized by the predominantly African-American Pullmans Porters...
;
John LewisJohn Robert Lewis is an American politician and was a leader in the American Civil Rights Movement. He was chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and played a key role in the struggle to end segregation...
,
SNCCThe Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
; and
James L. Farmer, Jr.James Leonard Farmer, Jr. was a Black civil rights activist who was one of the "Big Four" leaders of the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s James Leonard Farmer, Jr. (January 12, 1920 – July 9, 1999) was a Black civil rights activist who was one of the "Big Four" leaders of the...
of the
Congress of Racial EqualityThe Congress of Racial Equality or CORE is a U.S. civil rights organization that played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement from its foundation in 1942 to the mid-1960s...
. The primary logistical and strategic organizer was King's colleague
Bayard RustinBayard Rustin was an American civil rights activist, important largely behind the scenes in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and earlier, and the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom . He counseled Martin Luther King, Jr. on the techniques of nonviolent...
. For King, this role was another which courted controversy, since he was one of the key figures who acceded to the wishes of President
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
in changing the focus of the march. Kennedy initially opposed the march outright, because he was concerned it would negatively impact the drive for passage of civil rights legislation, but the organizers were firm that the march would proceed.
The march originally was conceived as an event to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in the
southern United StatesThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States...
and a very public opportunity to place organizers' concerns and grievances squarely before the seat of power in the nation's capital. Organizers intended to excoriate and then challenge the federal government for its failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks, generally, in the South. However, the group acquiesced to presidential pressure and influence, and the event ultimately took on a far less strident tone. As a result, some civil rights activists felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony;
Malcolm XMalcolm X , also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against...
called it the "Farce on Washington," and members of the
Nation of IslamThe Nation of Islam is a religious organization founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930, with the self-proclaimed goal of resurrecting the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of the black men and women of America. The N.O.I. also promotes...
were not permitted to attend the march.
The march did, however, make specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public school; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality; a $2
minimum wageA minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly wage that employers may legally pay to employees or workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labor. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion...
for all workers; and self-government for
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
, then governed by congressional committee. Despite tensions, the march was a resounding success. More than a quarter million people of diverse ethnicities attended the event, sprawling from the steps of the
Lincoln MemorialThe Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. and was dedicated on May 30, 1922. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French,...
onto the
National MallThe National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service, and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...
and around the reflecting pool. At the time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington's history. King's "
I Have a Dream"I Have a Dream" is the popular name given to the public speech by Martin Luther King, Jr., in which he called for racial equality and an end to discrimination...
" speech electrified the crowd. It is regarded, along with
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery...
's
Gettysburg AddressThe Gettysburg Address is a speech by Abraham Lincoln and one of the most quoted speeches in United States history. It was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, during the American Civil War, four...
and
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , the only U.S. President elected to more than two terms, was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's
Infamy SpeechThe Infamy Speech was delivered at 12:30 p.m. on December 8, 1941, by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one day after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii...
, as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory.
Stance on compensation
Martin Luther King Jr. expressed a view that black Americans, as well as other disadvantaged Americans, should be compensated for historical wrongs. In an interview conducted for
PlayboyPlayboy is an American men's magazine, founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with a presence in nearly every medium. Playboy is one of the world's best...
in 1965, he said that granting black Americans only equality could not realistically close the economic gap between them and whites. King said that he did not seek a full restitution of wages lost to slavery, which he believed impossible, but proposed a government compensatory program of US$50 billion over ten years to all disadvantaged groups. He posited that "the money spent would be more than amply justified by the benefits that would accrue to the nation through a spectacular decline in school dropouts, family breakups, crime rates, illegitimacy, swollen relief rolls, rioting and other social evils". He presented this idea as an application of the
common lawCommon law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals , rather than through legislative statutes or executive action, and to corresponding legal systems that rely on precedential case law....
regarding settlement of unpaid labor but clarified that he felt that the money should not be spent exclusively on blacks. He stated, "It should benefit the disadvantaged of
all races".
"Bloody Sunday", 1965
King and
SCLCThe Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
, in partial collaboration with
SNCCThe Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
, attempted to organize a march from
SelmaSelma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census. The city is best known for the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement and its Selma to Montgomery marches, three civil rights...
to the state capital of
MontgomeryMontgomery is the capital, second most populous city, and the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the Southern U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. The city population was 201,568...
, for March 7, 1965. The first attempt to march on March 7 was aborted because of mob and police violence against the demonstrators. This day has since become known as
Bloody SundayThe Selma to Montgomery marches were three marches in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement. They were the culmination of the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama, launched by Amelia Boynton and her husband...
. Bloody Sunday was a major turning point in the effort to gain public support for the Civil Rights Movement, the clearest demonstration up to that time of the dramatic potential of King's nonviolence strategy. King, however, was not present. After meeting with President
Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon Baines Johnson , served as the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969 after his service as the Vice President of the United States from 1961 to 1963...
, he decided not to endorse the march, but it was carried out against his wishes and without his presence on March 7 by local civil rights leaders. Footage of
police brutalityPolice brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer. It is in some instances triggered by "contempt of cop", i.e., perceived disrespect towards police officers.Widespread...
against the protesters was broadcast extensively and aroused national public outrage.
King next attempted to organize a march for March 9. The SCLC petitioned for an injunction in federal court against the State of Alabama; this was denied and the judge issued an order blocking the march until after a hearing. Nonetheless, King led marchers on March 9 to the Edmund Pettus bridge, then held a short prayer session before turning the marchers around and asking them to disperse so as not to violate the court order. The unexpected ending of this second march aroused the surprise and anger of many within the local movement. The march finally went ahead fully on March 25. At the conclusion of the march and on the steps of the
state capitolThe Alabama State Capitol, also known as First Confederate Capitol, is located on Goat Hill in Montgomery, Alabama. The structure was built in 1851.-History:...
, King delivered a speech that has become known as "
How Long, Not Long"How Long, Not Long" is the popular name given to the public speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Alabama, after the successful completion of the Selma to Montgomery March on March 25, 1965...
".
Chicago, 1966
In 1966, after several successes in the South, King and others in the civil rights organizations tried to spread the movement to the North, with
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
as its first destination. King and Ralph Abernathy, both from the middle classes, moved into the slums of North Lawndale on the west side of Chicago as an educational experience and to demonstrate their support and empathy for the poor.
The SCLC formed a coalition with CCCO, Coordinating Council of Community Organizations, an organization founded by
Albert RabyAlbert Anderson Raby was a teacher at Chicago's Hess Upper Grade Center whose efforts on behalf of housing and school desegregation played a key role in leading Martin Luther King, Jr. to shift the fight for civil rights from the South.Raby had been born into poverty in Chicago, dropping out of...
, and the combined organizations' efforts were fostered under the aegis of The Chicago Freedom Movement. During that spring, several dual white couple/black couple tests on real estate offices uncovered the practice (now banned in the U.S.) of
racial steeringRacial steering refers to the practice in which real estate brokers guide prospective home buyers towards or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race...
. These tests revealed the racially selective processing of housing requests by couples who were exact matches in income, background, number of children, and other attributes, with the only difference being their race.
The needs of the movement for radical change grew, and several larger marches were planned and executed, including those in the following neighborhoods: Bogan,
Belmont CraginBelmont Cragin located on the Northwest Side of the City of Chicago, Illinois is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas.
-External links:* * Chicago Park District**...
,
Jefferson ParkJefferson Park is one of Chicago's 77 well-defined community areas as well as a neighborhood located on the city's Northwest Side. The territorial discrepancy between the two stems from the fact that the neighborhood of Jefferson Park occupies a larger swath of territory than the community area by...
,
Evergreen ParkEvergreen Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 20,821 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Evergreen Park is located at . The suburb is surrounded by the city of Chicago on three of its sides, while Oak Lawn and Hometown border it on the west...
(a suburb southwest of Chicago),
Gage ParkGage Park is one of Chicago's 77 well-defined community areas, located on the city's southwest side; it is also the name of a park within the neighborhood. Gage Park's population is largely working-class, and its housing stock is mostly bungalows. For generations, the neighborhood was Eastern...
and Marquette Park, among others.
In Chicago, Abernathy later wrote that they received a worse reception than they had in the South. Their marches were met by thrown bottles and screaming throngs, and they were truly afraid of starting a riot. King's beliefs mitigated against his staging a violent event, and he negotiated an agreement with Mayor
Richard J. DaleyRichard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
to cancel a march in order to avoid the violence that he feared would result from the demonstration. King, who received death threats throughout his involvement in the civil rights movement, was hit by a brick during one march but continued to lead marches in the face of personal danger.
When King and his allies returned to the south, they left
Jesse JacksonJesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to form...
, a seminary student who had previously joined the movement in the South, in charge of their organization. Jackson continued their struggle for civil rights by organizing the
Operation BreadbasketOperation Breadbasket was an organization dedicated to improving the economic conditions of black communities across the United States of America....
movement that targeted chain stores that did not deal fairly with blacks.
Opposition to the Vietnam War
Starting in 1965, King began to express doubts about the United States' role in the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
. In an April 4, 1967 appearance at the
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
Riverside ChurchThe Riverside Church in the City of New York is an interdenominational church in New York City, famous not only for its elaborate Gothic architecture—which includes the world's largest carillon—but also as a center for the promotion of progressive causes...
—exactly one year before his death—King delivered a speech titled "Beyond Vietnam". In the speech, he spoke strongly against the U.S.'s role in the war, insisting that the U.S. was in
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
"to occupy it as an American colony" and calling the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today". He also argued that the country needed larger and broader moral changes:
King also was opposed to the Vietnam War on the grounds that the war took money and resources that could have been spent on social welfare services like the
War on PovertyThe War on Poverty is the name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national poverty rate of around nineteen percent...
. The
United States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs at the same time. He summed up this aspect by saying, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death".
Many white
southernThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States...
segregationists vilified King; moreover, this speech soured his relationship with many members of the mainstream media.
LifeLife generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for
Radio HanoiRadio Hanoi was a propaganda radio station run by the North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War.In September 1967, Radio Hanoi transmitted a message by General Võ Nguyên Giáp entitled "The Big Victory, The Great Task". Unbenknownst to Americans listening to the message, it was actually an...
", and
The Washington PostThe Washington Post is the newspaper with the largest circulation in Washington, D.C. and is the city's oldest paper, founded in 1877. Being located in the nation's capital, it has a particular emphasis on national politics and international affairs...
declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."
King stated that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands". King also criticized the United States' resistance to North Vietnam's land reforms. He accused the United States of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children."
The speech was a reflection of King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive
Highlander Research and Education CenterThe Highlander Research and Education Center, formerly known as the Highlander Folk School, is a liberal leadership training school and cultural center located in New Market, Tennessee. Founded in 1932 by activist Myles Horton, educator Don West, and Methodist minister James A. Dombrowski, it was...
, with whom King was affiliated. King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation. Toward the end of his life, King more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice. Though his public language was guarded, so as to avoid being linked to communism by his political enemies, in private he sometimes spoke of his support for
democratic socialismDemocratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations, to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation...
. In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism" and claimed, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism."
King had read
MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a Germanphilosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism...
while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism," he also rejected Communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism," and its "political totalitarianism."
King also stated in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar....it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring". King quoted a United States official, who said that, from Vietnam to
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
to
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution" King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America," and said that the United States should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the
Third WorldThe term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned or neutral with either capitalism and NATO or communism and the Soviet Union...
rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution.
King spoke at an Anti-Vietnam demonstration where he also brought up issues of civil rights and the draft.
Poor People's Campaign, 1968
In 1968, King and the SCLC organized the "Poor People's Campaign" to address issues of economic justice. The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C. demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the United States. King traveled the country to assemble "a multiracial army of the poor" that would march on Washington to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol until Congress created a bill of rights for poor Americans.
However, the campaign was not unanimously supported by other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Rustin resigned from the march stating that the goals of the campaign were too broad, the demands unrealizable, and thought these campaigns would accelerate the backlash and repression on the poor and the black. Throughout his participation in the civil rights movement, King was criticized by many groups. This included opposition by more militant blacks and such prominent critics as
Nation of IslamThe Nation of Islam is a religious organization founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930, with the self-proclaimed goal of resurrecting the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of the black men and women of America. The N.O.I. also promotes...
member
Malcolm XMalcolm X , also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against...
.
Stokely CarmichaelStokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael , also known as Kwame Toure, was a Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. He rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of...
was a separatist and disagreed with King's plea for
racial integrationRacial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...
because he considered it an insult to a uniquely African-American culture.
Omali YeshitelaOmali Yeshitela the founder of the Uhuru Movement based in St. Petersburg, Florida.-Early background:...
urged Africans to remember the history of violent European colonization and how power was not secured by Europeans through integration, but by violence and force.
King and the SCLC called on the government to invest in rebuilding America's cities. He felt that Congress had shown "hostility to the poor" by spending "military funds with alacrity and generosity". He contrasted this with the situation faced by poor Americans, claiming that Congress had merely provided "poverty funds with miserliness". His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: he cited systematic flaws of "racism, poverty, militarism and materialism", and argued that "reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced".
Assassination
On March 29, 1968, King went to
Memphis, TennesseeMemphis is a city in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4
th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River....
in support of the black sanitary public works employees, represented by
AFSCMEThe American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is the second- or third-largest labor union in the United States and one of the fastest-growing, representing over 1.4 million employees, primarily in local and state government and in the health care industry. AFSCME is part of the...
Local 1733, who had been on strike since March 12 for higher wages and better treatment. In one incident, black street repairmen received pay for two hours when they were sent home because of bad weather, but white employees were paid for the full day.
On April 3, King addressed a rally and delivered his "
I've Been to the Mountaintop"I've Been to the Mountaintop" is the popular name of the last speech delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr.King spoke on 3 April, 1968, at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. The next day, King was assassinated....
" address at
Mason TempleMason Temple, in Memphis, Tennessee, is the International Sanctuary and central headquarters of the Church of God in Christ, the largest African American Pentecostal group in the world....
, the world headquarters of the Church of God in Christ. King's flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat against his plane. In the close of the last speech of his career, in reference to the bomb threat, King said the following:
And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
King was booked in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, owned by Walter Bailey, in Memphis. The Reverend
Ralph AbernathyRalph David Abernathy was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 20th Century, a minister, civil rights leader and a close associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Following King's assassination, Dr...
, King's close friend and colleague who was present at the assassination, swore under oath to the
United States House Select Committee on AssassinationsThe United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations ' was established in 1976 to investigate the John F. Kennedy assassination and the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination. The Committee investigated until 1978, and in 1979 issued its final report, concluding that...
that King and his entourage stayed at room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often it was known as the 'King-Abernathy suite.' King was shot at 6:01 p.m. April 4, 1968 while he was standing on the motel's second floor balcony. The bullet entered through his right cheek smashing his jaw and then traveled down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder. According to
Jesse JacksonJesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to form...
, who was present, King's last words on the balcony were to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: "Ben, make sure you play "
Take My Hand, Precious Lord"Take My Hand, Precious Lord" is a gospel song, written August 1932 by Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey , melody by George N. Allen .-History:...
" in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty." Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor. The events following the shooting have been disputed, as some people have accused Jackson of exaggerating his response.
After emergency surgery, King was pronounced dead at
St. Joseph's HospitalSaint Joseph Hospital is the hospital where Martin Luther King Jr. was pronounced dead at 7:05pm in Memphis, Tennessee....
at 7:05 p.m. According to biographer
Taylor BranchTaylor Branch is an American author and historian best known for his award-winning trilogy of books chronicling the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and some of the history of the American civil rights movement...
, King's autopsy revealed that though only thirty-nine years old, he had the heart of a sixty-year-old, perhaps a result of the stress of thirteen years in the civil rights movement.
The assassination led to a nationwide wave of
riotsTypical of mass racial violence in the United States were the numerous public spectacles where nearly 5,000 black Americans were murdered by white American lynch mobs between 1890 and 1960. In her recent book, Sherrilyn A...
in more than 100 cities. Presidential nominee Robert Kennedy was on his way to Indianapolis for a campaign rally when he was informed of King's death. He gave a short
speechA speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. was given by New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy on April 4, 1968. Kennedy was campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. He had spoken at the University of Notre Dame and Ball State University earlier that day.During his...
to the gathering of supporters informing them of the tragedy and asking them to continue King's idea of non-violence. President Lyndon B. Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning for the civil rights leader. Vice-President
Hubert HumphreyHubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
attended King's funeral on behalf of Lyndon B. Johnson, as there were fears that Johnson's presence might incite protests and perhaps violence. At his widow's request, King's last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church was played at the funeral. It was a recording of his "Drum Major" sermon, given on February 4, 1968. In that sermon, King made a request that at his funeral no mention of his awards and honors be made, but that it be said that he tried to "feed the hungry", "clothe the naked", "be right on the [Vietnam] war question", and "love and serve humanity". His good friend
Mahalia JacksonMahalia Jackson was an African-American gospel singer. With her powerful, distinct voice, Mahalia Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world and is the first Queen of Gospel Music...
sang his favorite hymn, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", at the funeral. The city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on terms favorable to the sanitation workers.
Two months after King's death, escaped convict
James Earl RayJames Earl Ray was a habitual criminal convicted of the assassination of American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which occurred on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.- Early life :...
was captured at
London Heathrow AirportLondon Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , located in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the world's busiest airport in terms of international passenger traffic. It is the world's second busiest airport in total passenger traffic. It is also the largest and busiest airport in the United Kingdom...
while trying to leave the United Kingdom on a false Canadian passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd. Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's
murderMurder, as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
. He confessed to the assassination on March 10, 1969, though he recanted this confession three days later. On the advice of his attorney
Percy ForemanPercy Eugene Foreman was a criminal defense attorney from Houston, Texas. Foreman was born near Bold Springs, Texas, and moved to Livingston, Texas when he was six years old. He was the son of William P. Foreman, a former sheriff of Polk County, Texas...
, Ray pleaded guilty to avoid a trial conviction and thus the possibility of receiving the death penalty. Ray was sentenced to a 99-year prison term. Ray fired Foreman as his attorney, from then on derisively calling him "Percy Fourflusher". He claimed a man he met in
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
,
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
with the alias "Raoul" was involved and that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy. He spent the remainder of his life attempting (unsuccessfully) to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had. On June 10, 1977, shortly after Ray had testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he did not shoot King, he and six other convicts escaped from
Brushy Mountain State PenitentiaryBrushy Mountain State Penitentiary now renamed Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex was a large maximum-security prison near the town of Petros, Tennessee, operated by the Tennessee Department of Correction. It was established in 1896 and operated until 2009.-History:The prison was built from...
in
Petros, TennesseePetros, is an unincorporated town in Morgan County, Tennessee, United States, located on State Route 116.Petros is historically a coal mining town and is also the home of Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary. Some of the town and coal mine scenes for the movie October Sky were filmed...
. They were recaptured on June 13 and returned to prison.
Allegations of conspiracy
Ray's lawyers maintained he was a
scapegoatThe scapegoat was a goat that was driven off into the wilderness as part of the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement, in Judaism during the times of the Temple in Jerusalem...
similar to the way that alleged
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
assassin
Lee Harvey OswaldLee Harvey Oswald was, according to three United States government investigations, the assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who was fatally shot on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas....
is seen by conspiracy theorists. One of the claims used to support this assertion is that Ray's confession was given under pressure, and he had been threatened with the death penalty. Ray was a thief and burglar, but he had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon.
Those suspecting a conspiracy in the assassination point out the two separate
ballisticsBallistics is the science of mechanics that deals with the flight, behavior, and effects of projectiles, especially bullets, gravity bombs, rockets, or the like; the science or art of designing and accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance.A ballistic body is a body which is...
tests conducted on the
RemingtonRemington Arms is a major American manufacturer of rifles, shotguns, other firearms, revolvers and ammunition. They also license the Remington name to hunting apparel, Arctic Cat ATV's, and other hunting and shooting products manufactured by other companies. It was founded in 1816 by Eliphalet...
Gamemaster recovered by police had neither conclusively proved Ray had been the killer nor that it had even been the murder weapon. Moreover, witnesses surrounding King at the moment of his death say the shot came from another location, from behind thick shrubbery near the rooming house – which had been inexplicably cut away in the days following the assassination – and not from the rooming house window.
Developments
In 1997, King's son
Dexter Scott KingDexter Scott King is the second son of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. His siblings are Martin Luther King III, the Reverend Bernice Albertine King, and the late Yolanda Denise King....
met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a
new trialNew trial refers to the of a court case. Depending on the rules of the jurisdiction, a new trial may occur if:*a jury is unable to reach a verdict ;...
. Two years later,
Coretta Scott KingCoretta Scott King was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.Mrs...
, King's widow, along with the rest of King's family, won a
wrongful death claimWrongful death is a claim in common law jurisdictions against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute...
against
Loyd JowersLoyd Jowers was the owner of a restaurant near the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. In December 1993, Jowers appeared in ABC's Prime Time Live and related the details of an alleged conspiracy involving the Mafia and the U.S. government to kill...
and "other unknown co-conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty and that government agencies were party to the assassination.
William F. PepperWilliam Francis Pepper is a barrister in the United Kingdom and admitted to the bar in numerous jurisdictions in the United States of America. His primary work is international commercial law. Pepper has represented governments in the Middle East, Africa, South America, and Asia...
represented the King family in the trial. King biographer
David GarrowDavid J. Garrow is an American historian and author of the book Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. He is also the author of Liberty and Sexuality, a history of the legal struggles over...
disagrees with William F. Pepper's claims that the government killed King. He is supported by author
Gerald PosnerGerald Posner is an investigative journalist and author of several books, including Case Closed which explores the John F. Kennedy assassination, and Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.- Biography :Posner was born in San Francisco, the only child of...
who has researched and written about the assassination.
In 2000, the
United States Department of JusticeThe United States Department of Justice is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans...
completed the investigation about Jowers' claims but did not find evidence to support allegations about conspiracy. The investigation report recommended no further investigation unless some new reliable facts are presented.
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
reported a church minister, Rev. Ronald Denton Wilson, claimed his father, Henry Clay Wilson—not James Earl Ray—assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr. He stated, "It wasn't a racist thing; he thought Martin Luther King was connected with communism, and he wanted to get him out of the way."
King's friend and colleague, James Bevel, disputed the argument that Ray acted alone, stating, "There is no way a ten-cent white boy could develop a plan to kill a million-dollar black man." In 2004,
Jesse JacksonJesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to form...
, who was with King at the time of his death, noted:
The fact is there were saboteurs to disrupt the march. And within our own organization, we found a very key person who was on the government payroll. So infiltration within, saboteurs from without and the press attacks. …I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray.
Riots
After King's assassination riots broke out in Chicago, Boston, Detroit, and Washington. Black leader James Farmer, Jr. and other called for non-violent action. "Dr. King would be greatly distressed to find that his blood had triggered off bloodshed and disorder... I think instead the nation should be quiet; black and white, and we should be in a prayerful mood, which would be in keeping with his life. We should make that kind of dedication and commitment to the goals which his life served to solving the domestic problems. That's the memorial, that's the kind of memorial we should build for him. It's just not appropriate for there to be violent retaliations, and that kind of demonstration in the wake of the murder of this pacifist and man of peace."
Stokely CarmichaelStokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael , also known as Kwame Toure, was a Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. He rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of...
called for immediate forceful action. "White America killed Dr. King last night. She made a whole lot easier for a whole lot of black people today. There no longer needs to be intellectual discussions, black people know that they have to get guns. White America will live to cry that she killed Dr. King last night. It would have been better if she had killed Rap Brown and/or Stokley Carmichael, but when she killed Dr. King, she lost."
Allegations of Communist connections
J. Edgar HooverJohn Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation — predecessor to the FBI — in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, the director of the
Federal Bureau of InvestigationThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency. The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
, for years had been paranoid about potential influence of communists in social movements such as labor unions and civil rights. Hoover directed the FBI to track King in 1957, and the SCLC as it was established (it did not have a full-time executive director until 1960); its investigations were largely superficial until 1962, when it learned that one of King's most trusted advisers was New York City lawyer
Stanley LevisonStanley David Levison was a Jewish businessman from New York, who had also attained a law degree from St. John's University. He was a life-long activist in progressive causes. He is best known as an advisor to, and close friend of the Rev...
. The FBI found Levison had been involved with the
Communist Party USAThe Communist Party of the United States of America is a Marxist-Leninist political party in the United States.During the first half of the 20th century it was the largest and most widely influential communist party in the country, and played a prominent role in the U.S...
. The FBI had observed his alienation from the Party leadership, but it feared he had taken a low profile in order to work as an "agent of influence" in order to manipulate King, a view it continued to hold despite its own reports in 1963 that Levison had left the Party. Another King lieutenant,
Hunter Pitts O'DellJack O'Dell , born 1924, is a prominent African-American member of the U.S. Civil Rights movement.-Early life:Jack O'Dell was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1924. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Merchant Marines, which functioned as a branch of the military forces for the duration of the...
, was also linked to the Communist Party by sworn testimony before the
House Un-American Activities CommitteeThe House Committee on Un-American Activities was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
(HUAC). However, there is no evidence that King himself or the SCLC were actually involved with any communist organizations.
The Bureau placed wiretaps on Levison's and King's home and office phones, and bugged King's rooms in hotels as he traveled across the country. The Bureau received authorization to proceed with wiretapping from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in 1963 and informed President John F. Kennedy, both of whom unsuccessfully tried to persuade King to dissociate himself from Levison.
For his part, King adamantly denied having any connections to Communism, stating in a 1965
Playboy interview that "there are as many Communists in this freedom movement as there are
EskimoEskimos or Esquimaux are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska and Canada, and all of Greenland....
s in
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
", and claiming that Hoover was "following the path of appeasement of political powers in the South" and that his concern for communist infiltration of the civil rights movement was meant to "aid and abet the salacious claims of southern racists and the extreme right-wing elements". Hoover did not believe his pledge of innocence and replied by saying that King was "the most notorious liar in the country." After King gave his "I Have A Dream" speech during the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, the FBI described King as "the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country". In December 1963, FBI officials who were gathered to a special conference alleged that King was "knowingly, willingly and regularly cooperating with and taking guidance from communists" whose long-term strategy was to create of a "Negro-labor" coalition detrimental to American security.
The attempt to prove that King was a Communist was related to the feeling of many segregationists that blacks in the South were happy with their lot but had been stirred up by "communists" and "outside agitators". The civil rights movement arose from activism within the black community dating back to before World War I. Levison did have ties with the Communist Party in various business dealings, but the FBI refused to believe its own intelligence bureau reports that Levison was no longer associated in that capacity. In response to the FBI's comments regarding communists directing the civil rights movement, King said that "the Negro revolution is a genuine revolution, born from the same womb that produces all massive social upheavals—the womb of intolerable conditions and unendurable situations."
Allegations of adultery
Having concluded that King was dangerous due to communist infiltration, the focus of the Bureau's investigations shifted to attempting to discredit King through revelations regarding his private life. FBI surveillance of King, some of it since made public, attempted to demonstrate that he also engaged in numerous extramarital affairs. Further remarks on King's lifestyle were made by several prominent officials, such as Lyndon Johnson, who once said that King was a "hypocritical preacher".
Ralph AbernathyRalph David Abernathy was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 20th Century, a minister, civil rights leader and a close associate of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Following King's assassination, Dr...
, a close associate of King's, stated in his 1989 autobiography
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down that King had a "weakness for women". In a later interview, Abernathy said he only wrote the term "womanizing", and did not specifically say King had
extramarital sexExtramarital sex occurs when a married person engages in sexual activity with someone other than their marriage partner.Where extramarital sexual relations breach a sexual norm it may also be referred to as adultery, fornication, philandary, or infidelity. Those terms may also carry moral or...
. King's biographer
David GarrowDavid J. Garrow is an American historian and author of the book Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. He is also the author of Liberty and Sexuality, a history of the legal struggles over...
detailed what he called King's "compulsive sexual athleticism." Garrow wrote about numerous extramarital affairs, including one with a woman King saw almost daily. According to Garrow, "that relationship, rather than his marriage, increasingly became the emotional centerpiece of King's life, but it did not eliminate the incidental couplings that were a commonplace of King's travels." King explained his extramarital affairs as "a form of anxiety reduction". Garrow noted that King's sexual adventurism was the cause of "painful and overwhelming guilt".
The FBI distributed reports regarding such affairs to the executive branch, friendly reporters, potential coalition partners and funding sources of the SCLC, and King's family. The Bureau also sent anonymous letters to King threatening to reveal information if he did not cease his civil rights work. One anonymous letter sent to King just before he received the Nobel Peace Prize read, in part, "The American public, the church organizations that have been helping—Protestants, Catholics and Jews will know you for what you are—an evil beast. So will others who have backed you. You are done. King, there, is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite practical significant [sic]). You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy fraudulent self is bared to the nation." King interpreted this as encouragement for him to commit suicide, although William Sullivan, head of the Domestic Intelligence Division at the time, argued that it may have only been intended to "convince Dr. King to resign from the SCLC." King refused to give in to the FBI's threats.
On January 31, 1977,
United States district JudgeThe 94 United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
John Lewis Smith, Jr., ordered all known copies of the recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI's electronic surveillance of King between 1963 and 1968 to be held in the
National ArchivesThe United States National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents...
and sealed from public access until 2027.
Across from the Lorraine Motel, next to the rooming house in which James Earl Ray was staying, was a fire station. Police officers were stationed in the fire station to keep King under surveillance. Using papered-over windows with peepholes cut into them, the agents were watching the scene while Martin Luther King was shot. Immediately following the shooting, officers rushed out of the station to the motel, and Marrell McCollough, an undercover police officer, was the first person to administer first-aid to King. The antagonism between King and the FBI, the lack of an
all points bulletinAn all-points bulletin is a broadcast issued from one US law enforcement agency to another. It typically contains information about a wanted suspect who is to be arrested or a person of interest, whom law enforcement officers are to look for. They are usually dangerous or missing persons. As...
to find the killer, and the police presence nearby have led to speculation that the FBI was involved in the assassination.
Legacy
King's main legacy was to secure progress on
civil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights and freedoms that protect individuals from unwarranted government action and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression....
in the United States, which has enabled more Americans to reach their potential. He is frequently referenced as a
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
icon today. His name and legacy have often been invoked since his death as people have debated his likely position on various modern political issues.
On the international scene, King's legacy included influences on the
Black Consciousness MovementThe Black Consciousness Movement was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress leadership after the Sharpeville Massacre in...
and Civil Rights Movement in South Africa. King's work was cited by and served as an inspiration for
Albert LutuliAlbert John Lutuli , also known by his Zulu name "Mvumbi" , was a South African teacher and politician. Lutuli was elected president of the African National Congress , at the time an umbrella organisation that led opposition to the white minority government in South Africa...
, another black Nobel Peace prize winner who fought for racial justice in that country. The day following King's assassination, school teacher
Jane ElliottJane Elliott is an American teacher and anti-racism activist. While she has no formal training in psychology, she created the famous “blue-eyed/brown-eyed” exercise, first done with grade school children in the 1960s, and later became the basis for her career in diversity training.- Origin of the...
conducted her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise with her class of elementary school students in
Riceville, IowaRiceville is a city in Howard and Mitchell Counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 840 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Riceville is located at ....
. Her purpose was to help them understand King's death as it related to
racismRacism is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. In the case of institutional racism, certain racial groups may be denied rights or benefits, or get preferential treatment...
, something they little understood from having lived in a predominately white community.
King's wife,
Coretta Scott KingCoretta Scott King was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.Mrs...
, followed her husband's footsteps and was active in matters of social justice and civil rights until her death in 2006. The same year that Martin Luther King was assassinated, Mrs. King established the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to preserving his legacy and the work of championing nonviolent conflict resolution and tolerance worldwide. His son, Dexter King, currently serves as the center's chairman. Daughter Yolanda King is a motivational speaker, author and founder of Higher Ground Productions, an organization specializing in diversity training.
There are opposing views even within the King family — regarding the slain civil rights leader's religious and political views about homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people. King's widow Coretta said publicly that she believed her husband would have supported gay rights. However, his daughter Bernice believed he would have been opposed to gay marriage. The King Center includes discrimination, and lists
homophobiaHomophobia is defined as an "irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals", or individuals perceived to be homosexual; it is also defined as "unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality", "fear of or contempt for lesbians and gay...
as one of its examples, in its list of "The Triple Evils" that should be opposed.
In 1980, the Department of Interior designated King's boyhood home in Atlanta and several nearby buildings the
Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic SiteMartin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site established on October 10, 1980, consists of several buildings surrounding Martin Luther King, Jr.'s boyhood home on Auburn Avenue in the Sweet Auburn district of Atlanta, Georgia. Ebenezer Baptist Church, the church where King and his father Martin...
. In 1996, United States Congress authorized the
Alpha Phi AlphaAlpha Phi Alpha is the first intercollegiate fraternity established by African Americans. Founded on December 4, 1906, on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Alpha Phi Alpha has initiated over 185,000 men into the organization and has been open to men of all races since 1940...
fraternity to establish a foundation to manage fund raising and design of a
Martin Luther King, Jr. National MemorialThe Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial is a program of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity to erect a monument to American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. The monument will be located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C...
on the Mall in Washington, DC. King was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate
Greek-letterThe Greek alphabet is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. It is the first and oldest alphabet in the narrow sense that it notes each vowel and consonant with a separate symbol. It is as such in continuous use to...
fraternityFraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In English, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in North America, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
established by and for African Americans. King was the first
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
honored with his own memorial in the
National MallThe National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service, and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...
area and the first non-
PresidentThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
to be commemorated in such a way. The sculptor chosen was
Lei YixinLei Yixin born ca. 1953, is a prominent Chinese sculptor. He has been designated "Master Sculptor" at home.- Childhood and Education :Lei was born to a family of scholars in Changsha, Hunan, China....
. The King Memorial will be administered by the
National Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
.
King's life and assassination inspired many artistic works. In 1969
Maya AngelouMaya Angelou is an American autobiographer and poet. Having been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton, she is best known for her series of six autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adulthood experiences...
published her autobiography
I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a six-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma...
. In spring of 2006, a stage play about King was produced in Beijing, China with King portrayed by Chinese actor, Cao Li. The play was written by
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university located in Stanford, California, United States...
professor, Clayborne Carson.
King spoke earlier about what people should remember him for if they are around for his funeral. He said rather than his awards and where he went to school, people should talk about how he fought peacefully for justice.:
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
At the
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style and has been the residence of every...
Rose Garden on November 2, 1983, President
Ronald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor King. Observed for the first time on January 20, 1986, it is called Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Following President
George H. W. BushGeorge Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st President of the United States . He was also Ronald Reagan's Vice President , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence....
's 1992 proclamation, the holiday is observed on the third Monday of January each year, near the time of King's birthday. On January 17, 2000, for the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially observed in all fifty
U.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
s.
Awards and recognition
King was awarded at least fifty
honorary degreeAn honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements...
s from colleges and universities in the U.S. and elsewhere. Besides winning the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, in 1965 King was awarded the American Liberties Medallion by the
American Jewish CommitteeThe American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty". Reverend King said in his acceptance remarks, "Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free". King was also awarded the
Pacem in Terris AwardThe Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award has been awarded annually since 1964 in commemoration of the 1963 Encyclical "Pacem in Terris" of Pope John XXIII. It was created by the Davenport Catholic Interracial Council of the Diocese of Davenport in the U.S. state of Iowa. Since 1976 the award has...
, named after a 1963 encyclical letter by
Pope John XXIIIBlessed Pope John XXIII , born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli , known as Blessed John XXIII since his beatification, was elected as the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958.He called the Second Vatican Council but did not live to see it to completion,...
calling for all people to strive for peace.
In 1966, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America awarded King the
Margaret SangerMargaret Higgins Sanger Slee was an American birth control activist and the founder of the American Birth Control League . Although she was initially met with opposition, Sanger gradually won some support for getting women access to contraception...
Award for "his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity." King was posthumously awarded the
Marcus Garvey Prize for Human RightsMarcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH , was a publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, Black Nationalist, Pan-Africanist, and orator...
by
JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
in 1968.
In 1971, King was posthumously awarded the
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes:*In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word...
for his
Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam. Six years later, the
Presidential Medal of FreedomThe Presidential Medal of Freedom is a decoration bestowed by the President of the United States and is, along with theequivalent Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress, the highest civilian award in the U.S...
was awarded to King by
Jimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
. King and his wife were also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004.
King was second in
Gallup's List of Widely Admired PeopleGallup's List of Widely Admired People, a poll of United States citizens to volunteer the names of the individuals whom they most admire, is a list compiled annually by The Gallup Organization. This is the only question that Gallup has asked every year since its founding in the 1930s...
in the 20th century. In 1963 King was named Time Person of the Year and in 2000, King was voted sixth in the Person of the Century poll by the same magazine. King was elected third in
the Greatest AmericanThe Greatest American was a four-part American television series hosted by Matt Lauer in 2005. The show featured biographies and lists of influential persons in U.S. history, and culminated in a contest in which millions the audience nominated and voted for the person they felt was the "greatest...
contest conducted by the
Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel is an American satellite and cable TV channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It provides documentary programming focused primarily on popular science, technology, and history...
and AOL.
More than 730 cities in the United States have
streets named after KingStreets named after Martin Luther King, Jr. can be found in many cities of the United States and in nearly every major metropolis in America. The number of streets named after King is growing every year:...
.
King County, WashingtonKing County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2000 census was 1,737,034, and in 2009 was an estimated 1,909,300. By population, King is the largest county in Washington, and the 14th largest in the United States....
rededicated its name in his honor in 1986, and changed its logo to an image of his face in 2007. The city government center in
Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaHarrisburg is the capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 48,950, making it the tenth largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, Reading, Scranton, Bethlehem, Lancaster, and...
, is named in honor of King. King is remembered as a martyr by the
Episcopal Church in the United States of AmericaThe veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church is a continuation of an ancient tradition from the early Church which honors important people of the Christian faith. The usage of the term "saint" is similar to Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Those inclined to the Anglo-Catholic tradition...
(feast day April 4) and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in AmericaThe Lutheran Calendar of Saints is a listing which details the primary annual festivals and events that are celebrated liturgically by the Lutheran Church. The calendars of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod are from the 1978 Lutheran Book of...
(feast day January 15).
In 2002, scholar
Molefi Kete AsanteMolefi Kete Asante is a contemporary and progressive American scholar in the field of African studies and African American Studies. He is currently Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Temple University, where he founded the first PhD program in African American Studies...
listed Martin Luther King, Jr. on his list of
100 Greatest African Americans100 Greatest African Americans is a biographical dictionary of the one hundred historically greatest African Americans, as assessed by Molefi Kete Asante in 2002.-Criteria:Asante used five factors in establishing the list:...
.
Capital memorial
A memorial to King has been planned for construction on the
National MallThe National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service, and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...
in Washington, D.C., by the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. The Foundation hopes to begin construction of the memorial in 2009. In April 2009, the media reported that King's family had charged the Foundation $800,000 for the use of his words and image in fund-raising materials for the memorial.
Intellectual Properties Management Inc., an organization operated by King's family, has been charging the Foundation licensing and management fees since 2003. Cambridge University historian
David GarrowDavid J. Garrow is an American historian and author of the book Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. He is also the author of Liberty and Sexuality, a history of the legal struggles over...
, who won a
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by Hungarian-American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City....
for his biography of King, said of King's family's behavior, "One would think any family would be so thrilled to have their forefather celebrated and memorialized in D.C. that it would never dawn on them to ask for a penny." He added that King would have been "absolutely scandalized by the profiteering behavior of his children." King's family responded that the money would be used to maintain the King Center in Atlanta where King and his wife are entombed.
See also
- Anti-racism
Anti-racism includes beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. In general, anti-racism is intended to promote an egalitarian society in which people do not face discrimination on the basis of their race, however defined...
- Black Nobel Prize laureates
-Statistics:The above figures comprise awards solely to individuals and therefore exclude 23 instances of the award of the prize for Peace to organizations.-Nobel Prize in Literature:...
- Christian left
The Christian left is a term originating in the United States, used to describe a spectrum of left-wing Christian political and social movements which largely embraces social justice....
- American philosophy
American philosophy is the philosophical activity or output of Americans, both within the United States and abroad. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy notes that while American philosophy lacks a "core of defining features, American Philosophy can nevertheless be seen as both reflecting and...
- List of American philosophers
- Civil rights leaders
- Congressional Gold Medal recipients
- List of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates
- List of notable African Americans
- List of pacifists
- List of protest marches on Washington, DC
- List of religious leaders
- List of speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Opposition to the Vietnam War
Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War is significant because it was the first time a war was shown and accessed through the media to the public in the United States.-1945:...
- Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes or gaining advantage. Pacifism covers a spectrum of views ranging from the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved; to calls for the abolition of the institutions of the military and war;...
- Racism in the United States
Racism in the United States has been a major issue since the colonial era. Historically, the country has been dominated by a settler society of religiously and ethnically diverse Whites...
Further reading
- David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1989)
- Flip Schulke and Penelope McPhee, King Remembered, Foreword by Jesse Jackson (1986)
- Nick Kotz
Nathan "Nick" K. Kotz , born in San Antonio, Texas, is an American journalist, author, and historian. He is best known for his 2005 book Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws that Changed America chronicling the roles of President Johnson and Dr. King in the...
, Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws that Changed America (2005)
External links
- The King Center
- "Martin Luther King Jr. Collection", Morehouse College, RWWL
- Photo Essay: "The Last Days of Martin Luther King, Jr.", Time
- The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
- MLK online
- Martin Luther King Jr., "A New Sense of Direction (1968)"
- "Martin Luther King Jr.", The Seattle Times
- Speeches of Martin Luther King
- 1956 Comic Book: Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story
- Kirk, John A., "Martin Luther King, Jr.", New Georgia Encyclopedia
- "Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle", online encyclopedia, chronology and document library, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University.
- "Interview with Dr. Kenneth Clark", PBS
- "Martin Luther King, Jr.", Encyclopedia of Alabama
- Martin Luther King Jr.: Peacemaker - a slideshow by Life magazine
Video and audio material