Untold History; The Story of Martin Luther King - The Fight for Civil Rights

Learn more on Martin Luther King Jr Biography, Martin Luther King Jr Parents, Who Killed Martin Luther King Jr And Why, Martin Luther King Jr's Funeral Service, and Poor People's Campaign Martin Luther King.

Table of Contents

• Martin Luther King Jr Biography
• Martin Luther King Jr Parents
• Martin Luther King Early Life
• Martin Luther King Jr Wife - Coretta Scott King
•  Martin Luther King - The Fight for Civil Rights 
• Selma to Montgomery Marches - Bloody Sunday
• Poor People's Campaign Martin Luther King
• Who Killed Martin Luther King Jr And Why
• Martin Luther King Jr's Funeral Service

It is the 28th of august 1963 on the national mall in Washington DC the sun beats down on the quarter of a million people who stand in anticipation of a speech soon to become legendary in political history.

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Martin Luther King Jr Biography

Martin Luther King Jr steps up to the podium surrounded on all sides by activists and leaders of the civil rights movement and gazes over the crowd which stretches all the way back to the Washington monument.

He is welcomed with cheers which soon die away into silence and he begins his speech which will be remembered forever by words which will echo through time “I have a dream”.

Martin Luther King Jr Parents

The man known to history is the reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr was born Michael Luther King Jr on the 15th of January 1929 in Atlanta Georgia. Martin Luther King Jr's father the reverend Michael King Senior grew up in rural Georgia and moved to Georgia state capital Atlanta in 1914 enrolling in Morehouse College aged 27

In 1926 where he trained for the ministry and joined the reverend A.D Williams in the Ebenezer Baptist Church as an assistant pastor where he would eventually rage the congregation from 600 to several thousand. 

Martin Luther King Jr 's mother was Alberta Christina Williams the daughter of the aforementioned Reverend A.D Williams and a native of Atlanta. Growing up in Sweet Auburn, one of the city's busiest black neighborhoods in which the Ebenezer church was located.

Michael and Alberto were married in 1926 and moved into the house of A.D Williams on Auburn Avenue and in the three years between 1927 and 1930 the couple had three children. Martin’s older sister Christine King born in 1927, Martin born in 1929

Originally christened Michael King Jr and his younger brother Alfred Daniel who was known as A.D and was born in 1930.

In 1931 Michael King Senior took over as pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church following the death of Alberta’s father the reverend A.D Williams and in 1934 King Senior was sent on a trip which included stops in Rome, Tunisia, Egypt, Jerusalem, as well as Berlin for a meeting of the Baptist World Alliance and whilst in berlin at the end of the trip king senior visited sites associated with Martin Luther the protestant reformation leader whilst also witnessing the rise of Nazism 

Indeed this trip had such a profound effect on the pastor that when he returned home in 1934 he began referring to himself as Martin Luther King Senior and changed the name on his son's birth certificate to Martin Luther King Jr. 

In 1957 when Martin Luther King Jr was 28. Martin Luther King Jr was born into a world rife with racial discrimination as Georgia in the American South was still under the influence of the Jim Crow Laws many of which were not abolished until the mid-1960s keeping black and white Americans strictly segregated with blacks discriminated against in many other areas of society 

And the attempts by activists to change matters had only a limited influence in the south for example

The 1896 Plessy versus Ferguson case in which the U.S Supreme Court ruled that segregation was constitutional provided that the facilities for black citizens were of the same standard as those provided to white citizens, this became known as the separate but equal doctrine although standards for blacks were rarely if ever equal to those provided to whites

As a child Martin Luther King Jr 's best friend was a white boy who lived over the road from his family's house in Atlanta although when the two came to start school the boy's parents informed Martin Luther King Jr that he could no longer play with their son as he was black following which his childhood friend went on to attend an all-white school and Martin Luther King Jr never played with him again.

But his parents took the opportunity to explain to their son about the History of Slavery and discrimination against blacks, whilst also instilling in him the Christian tenet of love thy neighbor as thyself

Martin Luther King Jr was a strong-willed child and had a quick temper and was known to get into the occasional fistfight although he was well liked and throughout his youth.

He found comfort and love from his grandmother Jenny Williams who provided solace from his often volatile father who would subject Martin Luther King Jr to beatings which made tears stream from his eyes but he would always stand strong indeed King Senior would set an example to his son of how to stand up against discrimination.

Once in a shoe shop with his son he was told that he had to stand at the back of the store.

He refused saying that he would stand and buy shoes at the front of the store or he would not buy their shoes growing up a Devout Christian Martin Luther King Jr could recite passages from the bible when aged only five developing an early fascination with rhetoric. 

He also expanded his vocabulary by reading dictionaries and he reportedly said to his mother “When I grow up I’m going to get me some big words.”

Martin Luther King Early Life

At the age of 13 Martin Luther King Jr enrolled in the Booker T High School in 1942 which was the only high school for African American Students in the city and had been established following pressure from local black leaders including Martin Luther King Jr’s grandfather. 

He gained average marks but excelled at public speaking and one evening Martin Luther King Jr took part in a debating competition in Dublin Georgia winning first prize but on the bus ride home he sat alongside his teacher Mrs Bradley and when the bus became overcrowded the young Martin Luther King Jr and his teacher were ordered by the bus driver to stand in order to let a white man sit down. 

An incident that Martin Luther King Jr would later write made him the Angriest that I’ve ever been in my life Martin Luther King Jr graduated from high school in 1944 and enrolled in Morehouse College.

His father's Alma Mater age 15 although Martin Luther King Jr didn't have a clear idea as to what, he wanted to do following college. He was known for his first class public speaking abilities and had been part of the school's debating team although initially he held only a moderate commitment to his studies but one summer Martin Luther King Jr worked on a tobacco farm in Connecticut a northern state which did not maintain segregation and had his first taste of a more equal society which instilled in Martin Luther King Jr. 

A want for equality of treatment between citizens traveling home King changed trains in Washington D.C and whereas in the north Martin Luther King Jr had been able to sit anywhere. He wished on the second leg of his journey Martin Luther King Jr was forced to sit in a Blanks-Only Area of the train an experience which added to his growing sense of injustice

When coming to choose a career Martin Luther King Jr was inspired by his grandfather A.D Williams a pastor and a founding member of the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People or NAACP, a civil rights movement originally founded in 1909.

He was also inspired by his teacher Dr Benjamin Mays of Morehouse College to become a minister. 

Martin Luther King Jr’s father Michael was overjoyed that his son wished to become a fellow clergyman and invited him to give a practice sermon at the Ebenezer Church following which the congregation showered him with praise and so deciding to pursue Theology further.

Martin Luther King Jr enrolled in the Crosser Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania.

After graduating from Morehouse in 1948 as one of the very few black students over the course of his studies Martin Luther King Jr became increasingly engaged with the life and works of Mohandas Gandhi the Anti-Colonial activist and Scholar from India who emphasized Non-Violence and Soul Force as a means of fighting an oppressive system.

And Martin Luther King Jr was so enraptured with his emphasis on love tolerance and peace that, one evening he went out and bought half a dozen books on Gandhi. 

Martin Luther King Jr graduated from Crozer in 1951 with the best marks in his year following which Martin Luther King Jr chose to continue his studies at Boston University.

Martin Luther King Jr Wife - Coretta Scott King

And over the summer Martin Luther King Jr also preached at the Ebenezer Church in September, he drove north in his new green Chevrolet to Boston in order to start his PhD and whilst at Boston King took courses in philosophy and theology which he found an enjoyable challenge.

And it was during this time that Martin Luther King Jr also met Coretta Scott who he fell in love with.

Coretta Scott King was born in 1927 and was a native of Alabama. as a young girl she studied vocals at the new England Conservatory of Music, but one day in 1952 Martin Luther King Jr called Coretta Scott King arranging to meet her. the very next day and it was at this meeting that Martin Luther King Jr told her that she possessed all the values which he sought in a wife namely Character, Intelligence, Personality, and Beauty, and Coretta Scott King was taken aback replying that it was far too early to talk of marriage. 

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Although the two formed a solid connection and continued to meet regularly for long walks together Martin Luther King Jr continued to mention marriage which Coretta Scott King would brush aside with a laugh because as a talented singer she wished to pursue a career in music and knew that marriage to Martin Luther King Jr would end this aspiration.

Although one day when Martin Luther King Jr approached the subject once again Coretta Scott King turned to him and agreed to be his wife Martin Luther King Senior gave his blessing for the marriage to go ahead and so the two were married on the 18th of June 1953.

Toward the end of his PhD course Martin Luther King Jr was flooded with offers of employment from both Boston University and Morehouse College and although tempted by the offers, he instead decided to join the ministry.

Martin Luther King Jr subsequently applied for the position of pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama.

Giving his first sermon at the church in May 1954 where his eloquent and academic style was very well received.

Two weeks later the US Supreme Court ruled on the brown versus board of education case which had been brought to the court to address the matter of segregation in schools. With the court ruling that as a practice segregation was unconstitutional thus ordering the integration of schools across the United States.

As a dedicated pastor Martin Luther King Jr would wake at 5 30 am to write his sermons for the Sunday service whilst also completing his PhD dissertation which he submitted in June 1955 earning the title the reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr and his settled and happy life would become even happier when in November King and Coretta Scott King welcomed their first child Yolanda.

However 1955 was soon to become turbulent when on the 1st of December a black woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man whilst riding the bus home from work.

Whereupon the bus driver called the police and she was arrested following which Parks called Edgar Nixon president of the Montgomery Chapter of the NAACP who used Park's treatment as a spark for protest for equal civil rights.

One of the first people Nixon called was Martin Luther King Jr who was one of the most prominent black clergymen in the city,  by this time and they convened a meeting the next day Friday 2nd of December at which it was decided a boycott of all buses would be called set for December 5th with ministers spending the weekend encouraging their congregations to obey the boycott and refused to take the bus into work.

Volunteers worked late into the night distributing leaflets and pamphlets although on the morning of the fifth. 

Martin Luther King Jr woke with a great concern that the boycott would fail for fear of retribution from organizations like the Ku Klux Klan as well as the practical matter of how people would get to work

Reasons that could potentially destroy all possibility of a boycott Martin Luther King Jr pulled back the curtains of his living room to see silent bus stops and empty buses rolling past his house.

The boycott despite all his fears had been a success and so in light of this the same evening a meeting was convened and the Montgomery Improvement Association or MIA was formed which decided that the boycott should be continued until the bus companies employed black drivers and allowed black seating to be protected and ended the abuse of black passengers.

The protesters were encouraged by Martin Luther King Jr to remain peaceful and to endure the abuse leveled against them without responding in kind and so the boycott continued and concerned city administrators tried their hardest to force an end to the movement attempting to arrest taxi drivers for offering protesters low affairs the same price as a bus ticket for wherever they needed to go in the city but Martin Luther King Jr responded and circumvented the city's ploy by organizing a carpool.

In February 1956 Martin Luther King Jr was to suffer a far more violent retribution when his house was bombed and although Coretta Scott King, baby Yolanda and Martin Luther King Jr were all unharmed. His home had suffered significant damage in response to this black protesters gathered outside Martin Luther King Jr’s home with torches and bottles.

Some even had guns following which Martin Luther King Jr stood upon his splintered porch and raised his hand for silence ordering those gathered to lower their weapons and speaking passionately to the crowd.

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He re-emphasized the virtue of peaceful protest telling those gathered there quote “We must meet hate with love” news of Martin Luther King Jr 's actions had reached far and wide and led to the fellowship of reconciliation or the for a British Organization based in New York which was committed to civil disobedience as a form of protest and sending a representative Glenn Smiley to meet with the MIA in Montgomery.

Smiley taught protesters the tactics of civil disobedience or how to apply peaceful pressure to state systems and how to cope when attacked, arrested, spat at, or insulted.

But the police continued to harass protesters and arrested those in carpools for minor speeding and parking offences with Martin Luther King Jr himself arrested by the police for driving at 30 miles per hour in a 25 mile per hour zone. Although the boycott continued undeterred and Montgomery authorities were unable to bring it to an end.

On the 4th of February 1955 the MIA decided to take the case of four black women to a U.S District Court which differed from state courts in that they ruled on violations of federal and not state law and thus had a better chance of backing the pleas of black citizens in the south.

The four women had been discriminated against on buses and the MIA wished to use their plight to force a legal end to segregation on public transport knowing that if the case got to the U.S Supreme Court it could end the practice nationwide.

In fear Montgomery authorities arrested Martin Luther King Jr and his associates on a charge of violating an antiquated law against boycotts leading to his trial in a State Court which found him guilty fining him one thousand dollars. Although the case backfired when news of Martin Luther King Jr's arrest reached national newspapers and the MIA received nationwide donations amounting to over two hundred thousand dollars.

After which all charges were dropped on the 20th of December 1956. 

The Supreme Court ruled on the MIA's case banning segregation on buses and public transportation across the US and 381 days after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat segregation had been ruled unconstitutional which was a massive win for Martin Luther King Jr and the MIA which demonstrated the power of sustained peaceful non-violent civil disobedience.

The Montgomery boycott had inspired many others notably in Birmingham at mobile Alabama and Tallahassee in Florida and Martin Luther King Jr believed that these movements could be unified around a wider platform of civil rights and called a meeting in January 1957 to coordinate their efforts

During the conference Martin Luther King Jr 's aid and close friend Ralph Abernathy got a call to say that his church had been bombed. As one of many attacks leveled at black churches following the Supreme Court ruling performed in part by the white supremacist organization the Ku Klux Klan or KKK who burned crosses and organized arsenal attacks against stores and churches.

In retaliation against the peaceful protests of the MIA, when they learned of the attack Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr left Atlanta and headed back to Montgomery. Although they made sure to call another meeting in New Orleans before their departure.

This second meeting in the Louisiana City of New Orleans led to the establishment of the Southern Christian Leadership Council or SCLC with Martin Luther King Jr elected president and Abernathy elected treasurer.

The first move of the SCLC was to contact President Eisenhower and ask him to use his power to enforce the Brown versus Board Of Education ruling against segregation in schools which remained largely ignored in many areas of the south and although the SCLC wrote to the White House twice they were ignored on both occasions.

Following this rebuff from Eisenhower, the SCLC were invited to a joint NAACP and Trade Union led prayer pilgrimage for freedom which was organized by a Philips Randolph and Roy Wilkins to which Martin Luther King Jr agreed and the SCLC joined the movement.

Planning to march on Washington DC on May 17 1957 this date selected as it marked the anniversary of the Brown versus Board Of Education case, three years earlier on the 17th of May 20 000 people showed up at the National Mall in Washington DC and gathered before the Lincoln Memorial for a day filled with music and speeches with Martin Luther King Jr proving to be the star of the show.

He used his speech to plead with the Federal Government to uphold the 15th Amendment passed in 1869 to give black citizens the right to vote. As it was being violated by Southern State Governments who introduced ID Checks and Tests Designed to disenfranchise black voters.

Following the pilgrimage Vice President Richard Nixon agreed to meet with Martin Luther King Jr and although the meeting had no direct effect. It demonstrated that through organization and peaceful protest the SCLC and the wider Civil Rights Movement could appeal to the highest authorities in the land.

Following his speech at the Lincoln Memorial Martin Luther King Jr was in demand to give speeches all over the US which he did in order to raise funds for the SCLC, meaning he was seldom at home after mid-1957 leaving Coretta Scott King to raise their children now including baby Martin iii born the same year in October. 

During this time Martin Luther King Jr did find time to write his first book entitled Stride Toward Freedom The Montgomery story which was published by Stanley Leveson

An early white supporter of the civil rights movement and following the publication of his book Martin Luther King Jr embarked on a book tour designed to raise funds for the civil rights movement.

However in 1958 when in Harlem New York

He was stabbed by a Black Woman Izola Curry who approached him at his signing table asking are you Martin Luther King. When he replied yes she plunged a steel letter opener into his chest Martin Luther King Jr was rushed to hospital and Curry was detained and later declared criminally insane and transferred to a secure Mental Hospital but mercifully king survived although this was only the first of many brushes with death he suffered in 1959 when approached by a charitable organization who offered to pay for him to visit India.

Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King embarked on a month-long trip to the country meeting with Prime Minister Nehru who had been a close friend of Gandhi and whilst there he placed a wreath for the tomb of his hero who was seen as the very heart of the non-violence movement and was now widely championed by Civil Rights Activists in the U.S.

Upon his return to the U.S later in 1959 Martin Luther King Jr was informed that the SCLC was almost bankrupt leaving him to immediately undertake a speaking tour to raise emergency funds but the realization that without his direct leadership the SCLC would be unable to flourish

In November 1959 he resigned from the Dexter Avenue Church as pastor knowing that his focus should be the SCLC and the championing of civil rights stating in his last sermon as pastor that “history has thrust upon me a responsibility from which I cannot turn away”

In early 1960 Martin Luther King Jr moved back to Atlanta Georgia and took up residence near his father's church the Ebenezer Baptist Church. This same year saw a presidential election fought between Richard Nixon for the Republicans and John F Kennedy better known as JFK for the democrats.

Many black voters including Martin Luther King Jr's father Martin Senior supported the republicans the party of Abraham Lincoln who famously stood against the persecution of blacks with the introduction of the emancipation proclamation and the 13th amendment designed to outlaw slavery in the U.S

Martin Luther King Jr remained undecided however as whilst Eisenhower had backed integration following the brown versus Board of Education ruling in 1954 and had even sent in the US Army to protect black students entering schools for the first time.

When they were attacked Martin Luther King Jr worried that he had done this on a Legal rather than a Moral Basis and was somewhat more inclined to favor Kennedy JFK as a presidential candidate requested a meeting with Martin Luther King Jr in mid-1960, to which Martin Luther King Jr agreed but informed the Democrat Campaign that he would also seek a meeting with Nixon in order to remain balanced between the two parties.

Although on learning this Kennedy’s campaign called off the meeting fearing that it would boost Nixon’s 

Already high pole in the black community on the same day as he'd intended to meet Kennedy. 

 Martin Luther King - The Fight for Civil Rights 

Martin Luther King Jr was invited to join a protest by the student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee or SNCC known as SNIK and with the meeting called off Martin Luther King Jr had no excuse but to join them.

The SNCC had planned to hold sit-ins in segregated restaurants and both expected and wished to be arrested for doing so knowing that if Martin Luther King Jr as the de facto leader of the civil rights movement was arrested with them

Their cause would not only gain local but national and even international attention before limited time only on the 19th of October 1960 Martin Luther King Jr and several other campaigners traveled to Rich’s restaurant in Atlanta Georgia and were refused entry. They remained in place and the police were called with all protesters including Martin Luther King Jr arrested for trespassing but William Hartsfield the mayor of Atlanta one of only a few progressive administrators in the south was appalled to learn that king had been interned in one of his jail cells and Hartsfield used his influence to get all charges dropped against the protesters.

Although the offence Martin Luther King Jr was charged with remained when caught speeding some weeks later in

1960 Martin Luther King Jr was arrested again brought before the Alabama State Court and charged with two offenses speeding and trespassing, and was sentenced to four months hard labour in the state penitentiary without bail.

The news of which made Coretta Scott King collapse in tears Mayor Heartsfield on learning of this called Democrat Headquarters to try and marshal the democrats campaigning power behind efforts to get Martin Luther King Jr released.

Although JFK declined fearing that involving himself in a controversial ongoing court case might threaten his election campaign. Instead John Kennedy telephoned Coretta Scott King to express his sympathies at the verdict Robert Kennedy the younger brother of JFK and a trained lawyer was able to help Martin Luther King Jr which he did when the future Attorney General called the judge presiding over the Martin Luther King Jr case and reminded him that on minor offenses such as these it was illegal to refuse defendant's bail.

At this argument the judge reversed his decision and Martin Luther King Jr was released on bail and this coupled with the news that JFK had called Coretta Scott King following the initial ruling gave Kennedy a massive boost in the polls that allowed him to win the presidency on the 8th of November 1960. 

In 1961 a new movement formed in Georgia and Alabama known as The Freedom Riders who sought to protest segregation on buses which continued despite the fact that it was illegal.

After the 1956 ruling of the Supreme Court and The Freedom Riders soon attracted a great deal of public attention, much of it highly negative with many protesters beaten and attacked by white passengers and civilians for sitting wherever they wished on buses.

Kennedy now president was faced with a predicament, he could either use the power of the

Federal Government to uphold the ruling of the Supreme Court or leave matters to State Governments knowing that the former if undertaken would pose a significant threat to his support in White Southern Communities.

Robert Kennedy now a U.S Attorney General sent a representative to Montgomery called John Siegenthaler who called a meeting with John Patterson the Governor of Alabama and asked him to protect The Freedom Riders from persecution and violence especially as the actions of protesters were wholly legal which Paterson refused. 

The next week Klansmen of the Ku Klux Klan ambushed The Freedom Riders in a bus station in Montgomery Alabama leading to a mass brawl with Sigintala arriving in the midst of the battle being knocked unconscious. This was one of the first incidents in which white citizens joined blacks in fighting against the Ku Klux Klan

On Sunday the 21st of May 1961 Martin Luther King Jr flew out to Montgomery to speak in support of The Freedom Riders who embraced his valued principles of non-violence and civil disobedience and Martin Luther King Jr spoke at Ralph Abernathy's first Baptist Church with hundreds gathering in the audience to hear him whilst outside the church a crowd of a few hundred white supremacists and clansmen gathered and began to jeer and chant racist abuse at the assembled congregation, following which the minister presiding over the church attempted to drown out the white supremacists by singing hymns.

Although the opposing group soon turned violent hurling bottles and bricks through the windows of the church, showering the congregation with broken glass and injuring some the church which was run by civil rights.

Leader Ralph Abernathy was already under the protection of a few U.S Marshals who had been sent by Attorney General Kennedy in the wake of the freedom rider attacks with 12 marshal’s already standing guard.

Although faced with an ever-growing crowd of white supremacists they were forced to call for backup more Marshals arrived and in an ill-planned move they released tear gas to try and break up the group which whilst initially effective blew.

Back into the church and forced some of those inside to leave for fresh air at the same time a banging was heard from the back door of the church as white supremacists attempted to break in and attack the assembled congregation, leading Martin Luther King Jr to run into the church's office to telephone Kennedy, and after a short while silence fell outside believing that Kennedy had mobilized the US Army to come to their defense.

Martin Luther King Jr went outside only to find the Alabama National Guard had come to defend the church and Governor Patterson had indeed mobilized troops to come to their defense.

However the National Guard did little to break up the White Supremacist mob and only acted as a barrier between them and the church. After hours imprisoned in the church Martin Luther King Jr rang Kennedy again demanding to know whether there was any justice in the United States.

Motivating attorney general Kennedy to furiously ring Governor Patterson and demand that he use the National Guard to break up the mob who were dispersed at 4 30 a.m.

In December 1961 Martin Luther King Jr received an urgent request to speak from Dr William

Anderson the leader of the Albany Movement a civil rights group based in Albany Georgia, who had formed to increase Black Political Engagement and turn out although which gained only limited success.

In part due to mass preemptive arrests performed by the City's Police Department these arrests had dampened the mood of The Movement and it was hoped that a speech from Martin Luther King Jr would rally demonstrators and breathe a second life into the group and so Martin Luther King Jr traveled to the Shiloh Baptist Church. on Friday the 15th of December 1961 to speak to the assembled crowd and arriving alongside his close companion Ralph Abernathy.

Martin Luther King Jr had to fight his way to the front of the audience who greeted him with cheers of freedom, Martin Luther King Jr encouraged protesters to remain strong and hopeful finishing with the words “We Shall Overcome” a slogan which became a key message of the Civil Rights Movement and reinvigorated many of those listening in Albany and whilst Martin Luther King Jr had planned to return to Atlanta that evening.

He was convinced by Anderson to stay for a march to city hall the following day Saturday’s protest was a disaster with Martin Luther King Jr and 250 other protesters arrested for parading without a permit and Martin Luther King Jr refused bail and vowed to remain in jail until Albany was integrated and segregation ended with Abernathy also charged but posting pale as he was due to give a sermon the next day which was a Sunday.

Two days later Martin Luther King Jr was informed that the Mayor of Albany Acer Kelly had agreed to drop charges against the protesters and meet with members of the Albany Movement but only on the condition that Martin Luther King Jr posted bail and left the city as Martin Luther King Jr's internment had brought mass criticism to the city's administration and they were keen to remove themselves from the spotlight.

Martin Luther King Jr agreed and returned to Atlanta although on his arrival, he was angered to learn That Albany's Government hadn't kept their pledge and had failed to meet with representatives of the Albany Movement.

It had been a ruse designed to remove Martin Luther King Jr from town and so king and Abernathy returned to Albany in February 1962 to stand trial for parading without a permit both were found guilty and given a choice between a 178 dollar fine and imprisonment for 45 days both choosing the latter knowing that it would return media and political attention to Albany.

The president once again wished to help but was concerned over the loss of support in the south which his intervention would bring and three days after their trial Martin Luther King Jr and Abernathy were both released and confused they were informed that a well-dressed white man employed by Mayor Kelly paid their fines.

In order to remove Martin Luther King Jr and Abernathy from jail and the spotlight to which Martin Luther King Jr later said this is the one time I’m out of jail and I’m not happy to be out undeterred Martin Luther King Jr returned to Albany in July for a third time with a team of SCLC staff members.

And when Mayor Kelly refused to meet with them Martin Luther King Jr pledged to utilize Ghandian Techniques and fill up the jails whilst quote turning Albany upside down and on the 20th of July Albany officials called for an injunction or effective ban on protests from the SCLC.

Although this ruling was reversed by a Federal District Court four days later allowing the march to go ahead as planned on the 25th of July. Some 2000 demonstrators were riled when a black woman delivering food to SCLC protesters was beaten and jailed. An unprovoked intervention by the police which angered the crowd so much that they violated king's rule of non-violence and attacked the police with rocks and bottles. 

Martin Luther King Jr was appalled and called for a day of penance in order that protesters could repent for their violent actions a move which made Martin Luther King Jr unpopular with the Albany Movement

Some of whom were beginning to disagree with his non-violent stance and many of whom viewed the SCLC as muscling in on their protest and attempting to dictate to them how they could run it.

In light of this Martin Luther King Jr and Abernathy planned to leave Albany and held one final prayer meeting outside of city hall the evening before their departure.

However they were both arrested for causing a public disturbance being incarcerated for two weeks and forced to pay a 200 fine each after being found guilty at trial although both were released after a short period so as to save the city's administration from more unwanted press attention.

When Martin Luther King Jr and Abernathy left Albany it was as segregated and divided as it had been before their arrival with Martin Luther King Jr next traveling to Birmingham Alabama and although Albany had been a failure

Martin Luther King Jr was motivated to make his next protest a success designed to gain the attention of the Federal Government and the president who had so far remained indecisive about aiding the Civil Rights Movement.

President Kennedy had introduced a civil rights bill to congress although his support for it was short-lived and its passage had been highly limited in its success. A matter which Martin Luther King Jr was eager to address hoping to motivate Kennedy into introducing a new bill and maintaining support for it.

In early 1962 Martin Luther King Jr and his associates planned a new movement which they hoped would be impossible to ignore and one which would appeal to the president, in particular making sure to stage the event in Birmingham Alabama commonly acknowledged as the most segregated city in the United States.

Staging a protest in Birmingham was a risky venture as it was home to a large number of Ku Klux Klan members and had been the site of several white supremacist bomb attacks giving the city the nickname Bombingham.

Coupled with this, the city's government remained wholly opposed to integration and was willing to use violence to demonstrate their opposition a doctrine championed by Eugene Bull Connor the public safety commissioner known for abusing and arresting blacks for no apparent reason.

Martin Luther King Jr hoped that the reaction of the government and citizens of Birmingham to a peaceful civil rights protest would demonstrate their plight to the rest of the nation and to the president calling this new movement Project C for confrontation and planning to begin.

On the 3rd of April 1962 the height of the Easter shopping season Birmingham remained in an odd political situation as a new mayor Albert Boudwell had just been elected

The post also contested by Bull Connor who subsequently brought a legal challenge against Bowdwell which meant that whilst the court was reaching a verdict Birmingham had effectively two governments with Connor still in command of the police.

During the first week of protests Connor made 102 arrests against protesters following which their numbers were diminished as few wished to risk arrest and persecution at the hands of the police in such a hostile city and this threat was coupled with the ever-present fear of attack from The Ku Klux Klan.

Birmingham remained quiet for several days and reporters who had arrived expecting headline news began to pack up and leave with Martin Luther King Jr fearing that the protest had been another failure after the events of Albany but salvation came when a court issued Bull Connor with an injunction against further protests by the SCLC meaning that if protesters from the organization demonstrate it they would face instant arrest giving Martin Luther King Jr the perfect opportunity to be arrested himself.

Bringing headlines and national attention back to Alabama, Martin Luther King Jr called an immediate press conference and informed the media that he would be leading the march on the 12th of April Good Friday stating “I am prepared to go to jail and stay there as long as necessary and on Good Friday morning.

Martin Luther King Jr led 50 protesters out from the SCLC's offices in Birmingham and began to lead them toward city hall but he was soon arrested and interned in a police van an event captured by photographers and soon splashed all over the front pages of national newspapers.

Successfully bringing hoped for and much needed attention back to the plight of protesters in Alabama

Coretta Scott King was disturbed to hear that her husband had once again been arrested a feeling exacerbated by the birth of their fourth child Bernice only two weeks earlier and whilst Martin Luther King Jr was usually quickly in touch with Coretta Scott King after being jailed this time he did not make contact and after two days with no news Coretta Scott King telephoned to the white house president Kennedy called her back the following day and assured her that her husband was well and that he was working to get him released. 

Following which Martin Luther King Jr was let out of solitary confinement and allowed to call his wife eight days later king and Abernathy both posted bail and were released from prison in order to consult with their lawyers in anticipation of their trial said to happen two days later.

The court found them in contempt of the law although when informed that Abernathy and Martin Luther King Jr planned to appeal their sentences the court set them free with no punishment as city authorities wish to avoid any more negative attention in the press which would result from a sustained court case.

During the time that Martin Luther King Jr was incarcerated eight white clergymen in Birmingham wrote a letter which was published in the Birmingham news criticizing the SCLC and calling on the black community to boycott the protests whereupon Martin Luther King Jr whilst still interned in a jail cell wrote an impassioned 6500 word response.

Entitled letter from Birmingham City jail justifying the protests and calling for solidarity and support for the movement a document which became one of the principal works of the Civil Rights Movement.

Whilst Martin Luther King Jr had been imprisoned his aide James Bevel formed a plan to use children as protesters in their next march, which he suggested to Martin Luther King Jr whilst visiting him in Birmingham jail and although he was at first hesitant due to concerns for the children's safety.

Martin Luther King Jr eventually agreed James Bevel planned the march for the 2nd of May and on that morning over 1 000 children of elementary and high school age gathered at the 16th Street Baptist Church first to hear king speak and then to march through the Centre of Birmingham clapping and singing

“We shall overcome” the protest lasted four hours and many of the children knelt and prayed as they were arrested. Embracing the doctrine of non-violence as encouraged by Martin Luther King Jr but so many of the children were arrested the Chief Connor was forced to use school buses to transport them to the City's Police Stations.

James Bevel had organized another wave of protests for the afternoon, although their sustained pressure led to the reform of police tactics which soon became far more violent with the use of fire hoses and dogs used against children, And the crowds who had gathered to cheer them on and the images of officers using fire hoses to push children to the ground and the use of violence against a peaceful youthful crowd enraged and terrified the American public 

When they were shown on the front pages of national newspapers and letters came flooding into the White House from all over the country from concerned citizens demanding that something be done.

Attorney General Kennedy sent a representative Burke Marshall to Birmingham to address the situation which had become more volatile after the children's protest which had breathed new life into Project C with thousands of protesters turning out to march in outrage of the violence.

The city employed against their children this weight of pressure was too much for Birmingham's Officials and they announced that they would be active in promoting and supporting integration in line with Federal Law where upon Martin Luther King Jr called off Project C which had been a great success.

There followed an uneasy peace with Bull Connor calling for all white citizens to boycott stores who embraced integration.

The situation grew worse when on the following night around 1 000 KKK clansmen gathered outside of the city and proclaimed that both the protesters and the City's Government were responsible

The KKK bombed the Gaston Motel in which king and his aides were staying as well as the church of King's Brother A.D King a Birmingham pastor.

The black protesters were appalled and rioted in response which when over left 35 blacks and five whites injured and seven stores ablaze. Kennedy was fearful that this violence could erupt around the US and made a speech in which he threatened to use Federal Force including the U.S Army to restore order.

If needed which had the intended effect and calmed the situation in Birmingham and the scenes there proved to be a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement.

With ever greater numbers of people turning out to hear Martin Luther King Jr speak and to attend marches thus attracting greater attention from President Kennedy and the Federal Government. On the 11th of June 1963 Governor Wallace of Alabama defied the Supreme Court ruling and blocked two Black Students from entering the University of Alabama. Even standing in person outside the doors to the university and upon learning of this President Kennedy took command of the Alabama National Guard with their commander approaching Wallace and ordering him to stand down on behalf of the president which he did but the university was the last to integrate 

In the US the brutality of the public and the police against protesters in Birmingham convinced President Kennedy that he had to act in support of the civil rights movement and on the same night in June, he submitted a new civil rights bill to congress.

This came as a welcome surprise to Martin Luther King Jr who nonetheless remained committed to his new plan the March on Washington for jobs and freedom, which he organized alongside a Randolph the architect of the prayer pilgrimage for freedom in 1957 and they planned it for the 28th of August 1963.

The morning of the 28th saw many Civil Rights Organizations and religious groups gather on the national mall in Washington D.C before the Lincoln Memorial. The organizers had hoped for a hundred thousand attendees but were shocked when 250 000 arrived at around noon speeches were made from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the crowds.

Which now stretched all the way back to the Washington Monument by the Archbishop of Washington a Philip Randolph and most memorably from Martin Luther King Jr. What followed was one of the greatest political speeches of all time “I Have a Dream”

Martin Luther King Jr started off in a formal style but soon turned to an informal tone when he sensed that this would be more appropriate.

The speech like the rest of the day was joyful and uplifting encouraging all those listening to imagine a world quote in which people will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Kennedy was concerned about the possibility of violence at the protest and had 4 000 troops on standby in Washington D.C itself with a further 15 000 paratroopers on standby North Carolina.

However they were not needed and the protest remained peaceful and well natured the day ended with Martin Luther King Jr and others receiving the assurance of the President that he would do everything in his power to make sure that The Civil Rights bill was passed.

On the 22nd of November 1963 president John F Kennedy was assassinated whilst traveling in a motorcade in Dallas losing Martin Luther King Jr one of his greatest supporters in government and a good friend president Lyndon B Johnson who succeeded Kennedy said in his first presidential address that the greatest way to honor JFK would be the passing of the civil rights act

The continuing importance of which was thus made clear whilst the U.S Senate was debating the act protests against segregation in saint Augustine Florida had erupted into even greater violence than that of Birmingham with cattle prods acid bombs and automatic weapons used against peaceful protesters by the police and members of the Ku Klux Klan who attempted and failed to kill Martin Luther King Jr by firing on his beach house.

On the 19th of June 1964 the senate passed the act following which Martin Luther King Jr joined president Johnson in the east room of the white house to witness it being signed and the provisions against segregation in public places and discrimination in work and education were now law representing

One of the greatest achievements of the civil rights movement following this momentous achievement 

one weekend in October 1964 king was recovering in hospital after suffering from exhaustion when he was called by Coretta Scott King who informed him that he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his actions in the civil rights movement.

Martin Luther King Jr traveled to Norway to receive his prize stopping in London to visit parliament and Saint Paul's Cathedral, becoming the first Non-Anglican ever to preach in the church and he arrived in Oslo to receive his prize. 

On the 10th of December 1964. after which he donated the accompanying 54 600 prize money to the civil rights movement.

On his way home Martin Luther King Jr stopped off at the White House to meet with president Johnson and implored him to support a new voting rights bill as many black citizens in the south continued to face grave discrimination and the denial of the vote but Johnson declined.

on the 2nd of January 1965 Martin Luther King Jr stood before a crowd of 700 in the Brown Chapel Church in Selma Alabama using his speech to invite those gathered to join an SCLC march against the disenfranchisement of black citizens. As black voters came up against many barriers which prevented them from voting such as tests skewed to benefit white citizens only or placing polling stations away from black neighborhoods all of which were legal constitutionally but a de facto violation of the 15th amendment

On the 18th of January the SCLC led protests consisting of around 400 people to the Dallas County Courthouse in Alabama with Martin Luther King Jr and John Lewis the head of the SNCC.

In the lead whereupon they demanded to register as voters on mass however the police Chief Jim Clark was a man known for using clubs and cattle prods against civil rights protesters, and he demonstrated this violent streak. 

The following day when he shoved a black female protester over a moment photographed and printed in both the New York Times and the Washington Post. The SCLC decided to respond to this incident as well as the subsequent killing of a black man by White Supremacists in the nearby town of Marion with a march from Selma to the State Capital of Montgomery a distance of 54 miles. 

Selma to Montgomery Marches - Bloody Sunday

And a second march which would take place over a number of days the initial march was set for Sunday the 7th of march 1965 but Martin Luther King Jr was unable to attend so it was led instead by John Lewis of the SNCC but the march was unsuccessful as when protesters reached the Edmund Pettus bridge.

On their way to Montgomery they were greeted by state troopers who attacked them with clubs and tear gas to halt their journey. An event captured by national media and later Dubbed Bloody Sunday with incredible violence enacted by the state. 

On peaceful Demonstrators undeterred Martin Luther King Jr organized a new march to Montgomery with the support of several white ministers one of whom was later attacked and killed by a white supremacist one evening in Selma as he was leaving a restaurant. 

This  second death pushed Governor Wallace into a panic and he flew to Washington to speak with President Johnson.

Selma to Montgomery Marches - Bloody Sunday

Johnson condemned the actions in Alabama as an American tragedy and on the 19th of March announced that he would introduce a new voting rights bill and when introducing the new bill to congress Johnson quoted Martin Luther King Jr stating that "as a society Americans shall overcome the racism” which had thus far dominated it .the reference reportedly brought a tear to king's eye as he watched the president speak

The second march from Salma to Montgomery was planned for the 21st of March and set off with a significant crowd of black and white protesters supported by The Jewish Theological Seminary of New York.

The protesters camped by the side of the road and shared food stories and solidarity with one another breaching Montgomery on the 25th of March 1965. 

On arrival Martin Luther King Jr gave a speech from the steps of the Montgomery Capitol Building joined by Rosa Parks and other civil rights leaders following which he delivered his petition against black disenfranchisement to Governor Wallace's office and made plans to leave the city with haste for fear of retribution from white supremacists who had already reportedly made plans to have Martin Luther King Jr assassinated.

However  the day was not without tragedy as within part of the Carpool organized by the SCLC to get protesters out of Montgomery and back to Selma. 

A woman named Viola Liutsu was travelling towards the city along route 80 when she was rammed and shot by members of the KKK, being killed instantly many have cited the march to Montgomery as the high point of the civil rights movement. with thousands in attendance from many different racial ethnic and religious backgrounds in a move which demonstrated the mass support

In some areas of the American public for voting and civil equality not all in the civil rights movement felt the same way however and a new movement led by Stokely Carmichael became ever more influential known as black power it unofficially supported the use of violence against the police and state authorities believing Martin Luther King Jr's approach of non-violence to be ineffective

But this new strand of violence weakened the civil rights movement as a whole which until the violence of black power in Watts La and other areas throughout 1966 had seen an increasing level of support from many areas of American Society

This new tendency of some towards violence alienated citizens who had formally supported organizations such as the SCLC which were now being sidelined by black power and the SNCC.

Moreover the violence equally affected the legal success of the civil rights movement with a new housing bill being declined by the senate in spring 1966 due to extremists on both sides of the divide a thinly veiled reference to Carmichael.

Poor People's Campaign Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King Jr was depressed and upset that his message of non-violence was beginning to falter although he remained committed to the cause regardless forming a new campaign known as the poor people's campaign or PPC which committed itself to eliminating poverty throughout the US for citizens of every color. 

A new march on Washington was planned by Martin Luther King Jr as part of this campaign as he wished to use it as a springboard for the return of non-violence as the founding creed of the civil rights movement and whilst working on plans for the PPC.

Martin Luther King Jr was invited by the reverend James Lawson to join a sanitation workers strike in Memphis Tennessee to which king agreed as this would demonstrate the plight of the poor as part of his new campaign.

Who Killed Martin Luther King Jr And Why

Martin Luther King Jr addressed a crowd of fifteen thousand in the Memphis Mason Temple on the 18th of march 1968 and although only planning to spend a single day in Tennessee, Martin Luther King Jr was invigorated by the crowd who embodied his message of peace and non-violence in a manner which reminded him of the Pre-Black Power Period of protest and vowing to return. 

Martin Luther King Jr flew back to Memphis on the 3rd of April 1968 intending to hold a Non-Violent March in favour of better working conditions and protections for black sanitation workers. he checked into The Lorraine Motel in a black neighborhood of the city alongside aids and his close friend Ralph Abernathy and speaking that night.

Martin Luther King Jr encouraged workers to persevere in a non-violent and peaceful manner stating “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”

Later that evening Martin Luther King Jr stepped out of his motel room which he shared with Abernathy onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel whereupon, he was shot in the neck and Abernathy ran out to find his friend unconscious and bleeding.

Martin Luther King Jr was rushed to hospital but doctors were unable to save him and he died at 7;05 pm on the 4th of April 1968. 

king's killer James L Ray was an escaped convict from the Missouri State Penitentiary and fired his shot from the bathroom of a building opposite the motel,  but he was subsequently caught by the FBI and sentenced to 99 years in prison.

And President Lyndon B Johnson on hearing of Martin Luther King Jr 's death declared a National Day of mourning with riots erupting in response in cities such as Washington D.C Baltimore and Detroit

Martin Luther King Jr's Funeral Service

Martin Luther King Jr 's funeral service was held at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta attended by Jackie Onassis the widow Of JFK,  Robert Kennedy and Vice President Hubert Humphrey on behalf of President Johnson.

Robert Kennedy now a presidential candidate spoke to a black crowd in Indianapolis just after king's death and soon became aware that they did not know of king's assassination but upon he informed them in an unscripted address emphasizing king's message of non-violence ensuring that Indianapolis was one of the only major cities to experience no violence after Martin Luther King Jr's death.

Coretta Scott King continued her husband's work diligently and led the march on behalf of the Memphis Sanitation Workers and the PPC only a few days after the death of her husband. 

Martin Luther King day is celebrated in the U.S on the third Monday of January every year and a memorial to him can be found off the National Mall in Washington D.C

Martin Luther King remains remembered by many as the conscience of his generation and as a man who led millions of fellow Americans forward into his dream of a more equal future.

king's message of non-violence remains a powerful one and his form of protest tenacity and peaceful disposition make him one of the most inspirational activists of modern times

What do you think of Martin Luther King Jr? 

How would he react to the protests currently ongoing in many parts of the world today please let us know in the comments section and in the meantime 

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