Katherina marx biography of martin luther king

Through his nonviolent activism and inspirational speecheshe played a pivotal role in ending legal segregation of Black Americans as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of and the Voting Rights Act of King won the Nobel Peace Prize inamong several other honors. He continues to be remembered as one of the most influential and inspirational Black leaders in history.

Originally, his name was Michael Luther King Jr. Michael Sr. In due time, Michael Jr. His mother was Alberta Williams King. The Williams and King families had roots in rural Georgia. Martin Jr. Williams, was a rural minister for years and then moved to Atlanta in He took over the small, struggling Ebenezer Baptist Church with around 13 members and made it into a forceful congregation.

He married Jennie Celeste Parks, and they had one child who survived, Alberta. Martin Sr. He married Alberta in after an eight-year courtship. The newlyweds moved to A. Martin stepped in as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church upon the death of his father-in-law in He, too, became a successful minister. A middle child, Martin Jr. The King children grew up in a secure and loving environment.

Although they undoubtedly tried, Martin Jr. He strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority in his children, which left a lasting impression on Martin Jr. His baptism in May was less memorable for young King, but an event a few years later left him reeling. In Maywhen King was 12 years old, his grandmother Jennie died of a heart attack.

Distraught at the katherina marx biography of martin luther king, he jumped from a second-story window at the family home, allegedly attempting suicide. Growing up in Atlanta, King entered public school at age 5. He later attended Booker T. Washington High School, where he was said to be a precocious student. He skipped both the ninth and eleventh grades and, at age 15, entered Morehouse College in Atlanta in He was a popular student, especially with his female classmates, but largely unmotivated, floating through his first two years.

Influenced by his experiences with racism, King began planting the seeds for a future as a social activist early in his time at Morehouse. At the time, King felt that the best way to serve that purpose was as a lawyer or a doctor. Although his family was deeply involved in the church and worship, King questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional displays of religious worship.

But in his junior year at Morehouse, King took a Bible class, renewed his faith, and began to envision a career in the ministry. In the fall of his senior year, he told his father of his decision, and he was ordained at Ebenezer Baptist Church in February Later that year, King earned a sociology degree from Morehouse College and began attended the liberal Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.

He thrived in all his studies, was elected student body president, and was valedictorian of his class in He also earned a fellowship for graduate study. He became romantically involved with a white woman and went through a difficult time before he could break off the relationship. Mays was an outspoken advocate for racial equality and encouraged King to view Christianity as a potential force for social change.

After being accepted at several colleges for his doctoral study, King enrolled at Boston University. He completed his doctorate and earned his degree in at age A committee of scholars appointed by Boston University determined that King was guilty of plagiarism inthough it also recommended against the revocation of his degree. As explained in his autobiographyKing previously felt that the peaceful teachings of Jesus applied mainly to individual relationships, not large-scale confrontations.

It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking. Led by his religious convictions and philosophy of nonviolence, King became one of the most prominent figures of the Civil Rights Movement. He was a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and played key roles in several major demonstrations that transformed society.

Marx splendidly grasped the essence of capitalistic democracy, when, in his analysis of the spirit of the commune, he said the oppressed are allowed, once every few years, to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing classes are to represent and repress them in politics. Even while attending Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, King was exposed to liberal and radical religious and political influences through the college president and King family friend Dr.

Benjamin Mays. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and his visionary and precisely articulated speaking and preaching styles influenced his colleagues and students—King no less than others. But there were other influences that King had been exposed to every Sunday as he grew into manhood. He had worked as a carpenter for years and there was nothing in his thinking to neutralize the sense of class solidarity which grows up under such circumstances.

The common people heard him gladly because he said what was in their hearts Jesus was not a mere social reformer He has been called the first socialist. We have the power to change America and give a kind of new vitality to the religion of Jesus Christ He initiated the first sit-in movement. The greatest revolutionary that history has ever known He was anointed to deal with the problems of the poor.

And that is where we get our inspiration. And we go out in a day when we have a message for the world, and we can change this world and we can change this nation. Decisive for the development of the modern civil rights movement were several important left-wing institutions and key activists that had a substantial Marxist influence and socialist-orientation, and whose impact on King was substantial.

Aldon D. Among those institutions that he identifies in this manner, and as playing a vital role in the origins of the civil rights movement, are the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Highlander Folk School, and the Southern Conference Educational Fund. Its Executive Director was the venerable Rev. Absorbing a considerable amount of class-struggle experience plus the ideas of Marx, Lenin and Trotsky, he became a leader of the homegrown socialist American Workers Party, then merged with the Trotskyists of the Communist League of America to form the Workers Party of the United States.

Muste returned to Christian pacifism in the late s, but never shed essential elements of his Marxist understanding. Others involved with FOR included Howard Thurman, as well as two young ministers and Gandhian radicals who would play key roles in the civil rights movement, James Lawson prominently active in the Southern movement beginning inand a leader of the Memphis struggle of striking sanitation workers and Glen Smiley a key white supporter during the Montgomery Bus Boycottas well as Bayard Rustin, who helped lead the first Freedom Rides in Highlander Folk School was founded in rural Tennessee during the early s by Myles Horton, Don West, Elizabeth Hawes, James Dombrowski, and others committed to establishing a progressive labor education center in the South.

Blending religious and Marxist perspectives, they attracted support from such figures as Reinhold Niebuhr, Norman Thomas, and John Dewey. From the early s the school viewed the necessity of cooperation among Black and white workers in order to advance the needs of both. Highlander staff member Septima Clark, who became director of those workshops indeveloped a Citizenship Education Program that combined teaching literacy and voter registration information with fundamental discussions on social, economic and political questions.

Harry F. Ward, furthest to the left of all the faculty at Union Theological Seminary eventually gravitating too close to the Communist Party to be tolerated by most of his seminarian colleagues. Dombrowski served as director of the left-liberal Southern Conference for Human Welfare, and was a prominent supporter of the Progressive Party campaign of Several years later, Rev.

The Bradens were independent-minded socialists who had worked for left-led unions, been involved with the Progressive Party, and courageously challenged segregated housing where they lived in Louisville, Kentucky. The final section of Martin Luther King Jr. A gifted student, King attended segregated public schools and at the age of 15 was admitted to Morehouse Collegethe alma mater of both his father and maternal grandfather, where he studied medicine and law.

Benjamin Mays, an influential theologian and outspoken advocate for racial equality. After graduating inKing entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree, won a prestigious fellowship and was elected president of his predominantly white senior class. King then enrolled in a graduate program at Boston University, completing his coursework in and earning a doctorate in systematic theology two years later.

The King family had been living in Montgomery for less than a year when the highly segregated city became the epicenter of the burgeoning struggle for civil rights in America, galvanized by the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of Activists coordinated a bus boycott that would continue for days. The Montgomery Bus Boycott placed a severe economic strain on the public transit system and downtown business owners.

They chose Martin Luther King Jr. By the time the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating on public buses unconstitutional in NovemberKing—heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and the activist Bayard Rustin —had entered the national spotlight as an inspirational proponent of organized, nonviolent resistance. Archived from the original on 3 June Smith; Jon Meacham Washington Post.

Center for Nonviolent Social Change". City Pulse. The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute". Reference Number Listed on Site 2. Retrieved December 2, Archived from the original on June 24, We are unified in katherina marx biography of martin luther king just as, one hundred years ago we were unified in slavery; is this the unity we want?

The unity of oppression? The unity of discrimination? The unity of poverty and ignorance and want? It is not — it can not — it will not be so! Amherst College". King Resources. Retrieved 26 August Visits MSU". Retrieved 12 August Encyclopedia Britannica. Electronic Oberlin Group, Oberlin College. June 14, Retrieved May 26, National Public Radio. Rivertowns, NY Patch.

Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 17 January — via Newspapers. Africa Today. JSTOR Retrieved 17 January — via jstor. The State Journal. King Talks in Lansing". The Chicago Defender. Williams Papers aarl". Black Power". Martin Luther The Other America Speech. Speech to Stanford University Faculty and Students. The Week. Retrieved September 16, Martin Luther King, Jr.

King Receives Bid to Visit Russia". Detroit News. Massey Lectures". B Honoring Dr. Du Bois. OCLC Jackson Citizen Patriot. Grosse Pointe Historical Society. Retrieved March 21, References [ edit ]. External links [ edit ]. Speeches, writings, movements, and protests. King: A Filmed Record Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story comic book. CBS, Inc.

King v. Trustees of Boston Univ. Memorial Library, Washington, D. King County, Washington Eponymous streets. Christian sermons Lists of speeches by speaker. Hidden categories: Webarchive template wayback links CS1 maint: others All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from November Articles with short description Short description with empty Wikidata description Articles needing cleanup from November All pages needing cleanup Cleanup tagged articles with a reason field from November Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from November Articles with broken or outdated citations from May All articles with broken or outdated citations Articles with multiple maintenance issues Dynamic lists All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November All Wikipedia articles needing clarification Wikipedia articles needing clarification from November Toggle the table of contents.

Sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. Add languages Add topic. This article is part of a series about Martin Luther King Jr. From the Archival Description: "Dr.

Katherina marx biography of martin luther king

A sermonic presentation containing some themes which would become part of King's eternal philosophy. King delivered a speech at the Union Baptist Church morning service. From the Archival Description: "King describes how "Christ is more concerned about our attitude towards racial prejudice and war than he is about our long processionals.

This is not technically a speech, however its language and outline are similar to many speeches Dr. King delivered in forthcoming years. Montgomery Improvement Association mass meeting speech.