Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968): Martin Luther King stands alongside John F. Kennedy as one of the strikingly iconic images of 1960s America, one of the figures who inspired a revolution of political will and social perception.
Born on 15 January 1929, to Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Christine King in Atlanta, Georgia, King was a gifted student. It was while studying towards his Divinity degree in 1951, that King first discovered the teachings of Mahatma Ghandi, whose inspiration would be seen in many of King's future ideas. In 1953, King married Coretta Scott. The world that Martin Luther King and his new family found themselves in during the late 1950s was one where racial segregation was an accepted norm, whether in schools, churches, or on public transport.
When Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on a bus for a white man - in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955 - the black civil rights movement found an unexpected opportunity to begin a push that would eventually remove all officially sanctioned segregation throughout the United States . And Dr. King was at the forefront of that push. (https://web.archive.org/web/20081229032957/http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/parks01.html)
Four days after Rosa Parks was arrested, on the first day of a boycott of the buses by black passengers, King was appointed as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association. Placing himself so publicly at the forefront of the movement, he soon found himself and his family to be targets for white hate. In January of the next year, a bomb was thrown at his house. The King family would face similar threats and acts of violence all through Martin's lifetime.
On 21 February 1956, King was one of those arrested as a consequence of the boycott. By 4 June, however, a US District Court ruled that such segregation on city bus lines was unconstitutional, a decision confirmed in November by the Supreme Court. Before the end of the year, Federal injunctions had been served, and the Montgomery bus system was officially unsegregated.
This was the first of King's victories. Although the success was by no means solely his, the methods of non-violent opposition utilised for this protest were to become a trademark of Dr. King. This ideology contrasted sharply with that represented by the other prominent black civil rights leader of the time, Malcolm X, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X) but many people responded strongly to King's gifts as an orator, to his message of optimism and compassion, and to his sheer presence as a human being.
Throughout his lifetime, King's activities were closely monitored by the FBI, under the control of the controversial J. Edgar Hoover. Evidence collected by Hoover's agents, combined with rumour and innuendo, has cast a shadow over the official view of Martin Luther King. Hoover was looking for dirt, and compiled a dossier that accused King of infidelity, beating women and of being a Communist. (https://web.archive.org/web/20041019083224/http://archive.aclu.org/features/f011702a.html).
From 1957 onwards, King's reputation as a civil rights leader and powerful orator grew. He appeared on the cover of Time in February and met then-Vice President Richard Nixon in June. (https://web.archive.org/web/20090316061938/http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/king.html). 1958 saw the publication of his first book, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, his version of the incidents surrounding the bus boycott
. By 1960, Dr. King was a major voice in US political life. He met with Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy to discuss racial policy. In keeping with his belief in non-violent protest, King's continued civil rights demonstrations would take the form of sit-ins and obstructions, often leading to his arrest. The sight of Martin Luther King being bundled off to jail brought the causes he was helping much public sympathy and support.
August 28 1963 saw the 'March on Washington', regarded as the first major, integrated protest march in American history. (https://web.archive.org/web/20040608193544/http://www.life.com/Life/mlk/mlk06.html). At the end of the march, Dr. King delivers the I Have A Dream speech at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC. (https://web.archive.org/web/20060831163009/http://www.mecca.org/~crights/dream.html) Racial tension, however, was increasing; 1964 saw riots all across the country, notably in New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
King was growing as an international figure. In 1964, he visited West Berlin, invited by the then-mayor, Willy Brandt, had an audience with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican, then, most significantly, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. (https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel-prize-lessons-theme-martin-luther-king-jr-and-the-civil-rights-movement/)
The following year, Malcolm X was assassinated in New York. Violence was escalating in areas of racial tension, including Montgomery, Alabama. Protesters were regularly beaten by police officers, often resulting in serious injuries or even fatalities. In Watts, Los Angeles, riots left 35 people dead. In March a protest rally reached Montgomery, under the protection of federal troops. Starting at an estimated 3, 000 marchers, by the time they reach their destination, it's believed they numbered nearly 30, 000 people. On reaching the capitol, the marchers were addressed by Dr. King.
1966 saw King talk openly about more than racial issues. He began to discuss his opposition to the Vietnam war and issues such as housing - arguing for protection for poor people, regardless of their race.
In 1967, the rioting was worsening growing to be some of the worst in American history. Fuelled by the uncertainty and anger created by the shootings of figures such as Malcolm X and John F. Kennedy, the sense of helpless rage directed at the nation's social structure and America's involvement in Vietnam, already strained civil relations were heading towards what seemed to be an inevitably violent conclusion.
In Mississippi, one black student was killed in a riot at Jackson State College; 23 people died in riots in New Jersey; and 43 died, with another 324 injured in riots in Detroit riots, labelled as the worst of the century.
The last year of Martin Luther King's life saw him cast his net even wider, including taking part in a march in support of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. This part of King's career is often glossed over or undervalued by historians and commentators of the time. (https://web.archive.org/web/20081011070216/http://www.fair.org/media-beat/950104.html/).
On April 3, he delivered his last speech, entitled “I See the Promised Land”. The contents of the speech seem eerily prescient in retrospect. (http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/speeches/mlk_promised_land.html). The next day, April 4 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead as he stood talking on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis. James Earl Ray was charged and found guilty of his murder.
King was buried on April 9, aged 39. After his death, Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, established The King Center as 'the official, living memorial dedicated to the advancement of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.' (https://thekingcenter.org/).
King's legacy is represented by Martin Luther King Day, celebrated in the United States on the third Monday in January every year. http://www.holidays.net/mlk/ Carl Gillingham [ CG ]