Brother Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
is probably the most known
Civil Rights leader in
the world. Born in 1929
in Atlanta, Georgia, Brother
King was the son of a
Baptist minister. Something
of a child prodigy, Brother
King skipped both the
ninth and twelfth grades,
entering Morehouse College
at the age of fifteen.
Involved in Civil Rights
for some time, Brother
King became famous as
the leader of the historic
Montgomery Bus Boycott
from 1955 to 1956. Brother
King was a vital personality
of the modern era. His
lectures and remarks stirred
the concern and sparked
the conscience of a generation;
the movements and marches
he led brought significant
changes in the fabric
of American life; his
courageous and selfless
devotion gave direction
to thirteen years of civil
rights activities; his
charismatic leadership
inspired men and women,
young and old, in the
nation and abroad. Brother
King's concept of somebodiness
gave black and poor people
a new sense of worth and
dignity. His philosophy
of nonviolent direct action,
and his strategies for
rational and non-destructive
social change, galvanized
the conscience of the
nation and reordered its
priorities.
The Voting Rights Act
of 1965, for example,
went to Congress as a
result of the Selma to
Montgomery march. Brother
King's speech at the march
on Washington in 1963,
his acceptance speech
of the Nobel Peace Prize,
his last sermon at Ebenezer
Baptist Church, and his
final speech in Memphis
are among his most famous
utterances (I've Been
to the Mountaintop). The
Letter from Birmingham
Jail ranks among the most
important literary documents.
At a meeting of Clergy
and Laity Concerned at
Riverside Church in New
York City on April 4,
1967, Bro. King made his
historic speech against
what he saw as an American
injustice in the ongoing
war against Vietnam. Brother
King was shot while standing
on the balcony of the
Lorraine Motel in Memphis,
Tennessee on April 4,
1968. In 1986 January
20, the first nationwide
observance of a holiday
honoring Brother King
was held. Brother King's
wisdom, his words, his
actions, his commitment,
and his dreams for a new
cast of life, are intertwined
with the Alpha experience |
