The Life and Times of Dr. Martin Luther King
The young King attended elementary school at the Yonge Street Elementary School in his hometown. He also attended the David T. Howard Elementary School, the Atlanta University Laboratory School and Booker T. Washington High School. His high school education was shortened because of his superior scores on college entrance exams he took. Therefore, he
entered the Morehouse College without completing high school. He was just fifteen years of age.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was a well educated man. In 1948, King graduated from Morehouse College with a B.A. degree in Sociology. He then earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1951. From there, he studied Systematic Theology at Boston University.
King became an ordained minister in 1948 at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia. He was just nineteen years old. He then went on to become the Assistant Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church. He also served at the at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama from 1954 to 1959. Afterwards, he led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta.
Dr. King spent the majority of his life working for the Civil Rights Movement. He served as the president of the of the Montgomery Improvement Association. He traveled, lectured, and
worked towards his goal of peace and Civil Rights while he stayed heavily involved in his church activities.
During his careers, he received many awards and honors. He received The Spingarn Medal from the NAACP in1957; he was named “Man of the Year, ” by Time Magazine in 1963; he won The John F. Kennedy Award from the Catholic Interracial Council of Chicago in 1964; he won The Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, among others, during and after his lifetime.
In his personal life, Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior, married a woman named Coretta Scott in 1953. The union produced four children: Yolanda, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, and
Bernice Albertine.
Unfortunately, his young family were left without a husband and a father when Dr. King was fatally shot on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil rights leader was in Memphis that day to help sanitation workers object to their poor working conditions.
A man by the name of James Earl Ray was arrested two months later for the cold-blooded murder of Dr. King. Before Ray’s trial took place, he pled “guilty” to the crime. He was sentenced to serve ninety-nine years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary.
Dr. King’s funeral services were held on April 9, 1968 at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and at the Morehouse College. His tomb is situated in the Freedom Hall Complex of the Martin Luther King, Junior Historic Site.
In 1983, President Reagan made a law that the third Monday of January is now a holiday. The holiday celebrates the life and achievements of of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
