Martin Luther King

Introduction

American Baptist pastor, civil rights advocate, Martin Luther King studied theology at Boston University. From his young age he was aware of the situation of social and racial segregation of blacks living in their country, and especially the southern states.

After becoming a Baptist pastor in 1954 took over a church in the city of Montgomery, Alabama. Soon he showed his charisma and his determination to fight for civil rights by peaceful methods, inspired by the figure of Mahatma Gandhi and the theory of civil disobedience of Henry David Thoreau. Shortly after arriving in Montgomery organized and led a massive boycott of nearly a year against segregation on city buses. (Carson, 1992, 230-250)

The Martin Luther King fame quickly spread throughout the country and then became director of the U.S. peace movement, first through the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and later the Congress of Racial Equality. Also, as a member of the Association for the Advancement of Colored People, he opened another front for improvements in their living conditions.

In 1960 he took a spontaneous black students sitting in Birmingham, Alabama, to start a nationwide campaign. On this occasion, Martin Luther King was jailed and later released through the intercession of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, then candidate for the U.S. presidency, but he managed to provide equal opportunities to the blacks people. (Abernathy, 1998, 123-125)

Youth

Luther King was the son of Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King , organist at a church. His father's name was Michael King, his father got a Nobel Peace Prize which was put in principle with the same name: Michael King, Jr. But on a trip to Europe in 1934, the father, during a visit to Germany, decided to change the names by Martin Luther in honor of the Protestant leader Martin Luther ...