Leading the Way
Americans celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day this week. Dr. King led America’s struggle for equal rights for people of all races during the 1950s and ’60s. He was known for his strong belief in nonviolence.
What kind of doctor?
Martin Luther King Jr. was not a medical doctor. He received a PH.D., or a doctor of philosophy degree, from Boston University. His degree was in theology, or the study of religion.
King’s early life
King was born on Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He had an older sister, Christine, and a younger brother, A.D.
He was named after his father, Michael King
Sr. When Dr. King was a little boy, his father changed his own name and his son’s to Martin
Luther King Sr. and
Jr. Young Martin was called M.L. by family members and friends.
King Sr. was the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Dr. King’s grandfather, A.D. Williams, had also been a pastor at the church. Later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor there, too.
Fighting for civil rights
In the 1950s and ’60s, Black people were joining in the fight for their civil, or citizens’, rights. Dr. King started the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to help organize and support protests against discrimination, or unfairness.
He became a symbol of the movement for equality when he led a boycott against the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama, after Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on a city bus. A boycott is a refusal to deal with a business or use a service.
Civil rights victory
Dr. King wanted the protests to be peaceful, but that was not always possible. After some large and sometimes violent events in Southern cities, President John F. Kennedy presented a bill to Congress that would make discrimination illegal.
With the 1963 March on Washington, which included more than 250,000 people, Dr. King and his supporters hoped to convince
Congress to pass the bill.
The Civil
Rights Act of
1964 made it illegal to discriminate against people in public places based on their race. It also called for equal chances for jobs and education.