One of the world’s most revered leaders was Martin Luther King, Jr. King was born January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, in a world of extreme racial inequality. Growing up in a very religious family, King naturally became very spiritual himself. He earned a sociology degree from Morehouse College and attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. By the age of 25, King had completed his PhD and become a pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
Here, King witnessed severe discrimination as white people treated black people as if they simply did not matter. King saw this as both an act against his race and an act against God’s will and decided to finally make a change using nonviolence.
King helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957 and was a prominent member of the NAACP. He dedicated his life toward improving the lives of others through nonviolent resistance. However, his actions also eventually caused him to lose his life. Organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and other racist individuals despised what King was promoting and put all their efforts into stopping him.
On January 30, 1956, King’s house was bombed, putting the lives of his family in danger and on April 4, 1968, King was assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King’s legacy, however, lives on and continues to inspire people all around the world. His “I Have a Dream” speech has become very well-known and his nonviolent tactics have been paralleled with those of Gandhi.
As King once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” King’s words and actions will forever be remembered and appreciated for their life-changing effects. Even today, 58 years after King’s death, we celebrate his life and accomplishments.