What is Martin Luther King known for? Martin Luther King

Biography

Martin Luther King is the most famous African-American Baptist preacher, bright speaker, leader of the Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States. King has become a national icon in the history of American progressivism. Martin Luther King became the first black activist in the United States and the first prominent black civil rights activist in the United States, fighting against discrimination, racism and segregation. He also actively opposed the participation of the US Army in the Vietnam War. For his important contribution to the democratization of American society in 1964, Martin was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Murdered in Memphis, Tennessee, believed to be James Earl Ray.

In 2004 (posthumously) he was awarded the highest US award - the Congressional Gold Medal.

Childhood and youth

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of a Baptist pastor. The Kings' home was located on Auburn Avenue, a middle-class black neighborhood in Atlanta. At the age of 13, he entered the Lyceum at the University of Atlanta. At the age of 15, he won a public speaking contest held by an African-American organization in Georgia.

In the fall of 1944, King entered Morehouse College. During this period, he became a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Here he learned that not only blacks, but also many whites oppose racism.

In 1947, King was ordained as a minister, becoming his father's assistant in the church. After earning a bachelor's degree in sociology from college in 1948, he entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, where he received a bachelor's degree in divinity in 1951. In 1955, he was awarded a doctorate in theology from Boston University.

King very often attended the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where his father served.

Personal life

In January 1952, after living in Boston for about five months, King met fellow conservatory student Coretta Scott. Six months later, King invited the girl to go with him to Atlanta. Having met Coretta, the parents gave their consent to their marriage.

Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta Scott King married at her mother's house on June 18, 1953. The newlyweds were crowned by the father of the bride. Coretta received a diploma in vocal and violin from the New England Conservatory of Music. After graduating from the conservatory, she and her husband moved to Montgomery, Alabama in September 1954.

The King couple had four children:
Yolanda King (English) - daughter (November 17, 1955, Montgomery, Alabama - May 15, 2007, Santa Monica, California)
Martin Luther King III - son (born October 23, 1957 in Montgomery, Alabama)
Dexter Scott King (English) - son (born January 30, 1961, Atlanta, Georgia)
Bernice Albertine King (English) - daughter (b. March 28, 1963, Atlanta, Georgia)
Martin Luther King wore a gold Rolex Datejust watch on a signature Jubilee bracelet.

Activity

In 1954, King became the pastor of a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. In Montgomery, he led a major black protest against racial segregation in public transportation following the December 1955 incident with Rosa Parks. The Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted 381 days, despite the resistance of the authorities and racists, led to the success of the action - the US Supreme Court recognized segregation in Alabama as unconstitutional.

In January 1957, King was elected head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization created to fight for the civil rights of the African American population. In September 1958, he was stabbed in Harlem. In 1960, King, at the invitation of Jawaharlal Nehru, visited India, where he studied the activities of Mahatma Gandhi.

In his speeches (some of which are now considered classics of oratory), he called for achieving equality by peaceful means. His speeches gave energy to the civil rights movement in society - marches began, economic boycotts, mass exoduses in prisons and so on.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, which during the March on Washington in 1963 at the foot of the Lincoln Monument, was listened to by about 300,000 Americans was widely known. In this speech, he glorified racial reconciliation. King redefined the essence of the American democratic dream and kindled a new spiritual fire in it. King's role in the non-violent struggle to pass a law prohibiting racial discrimination was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

As a politician, King was a truly unique figure. Outlining the essence of his leadership, he operated mainly in religious terms. He defined the leadership of the civil rights movement as an extension of past pastoral work and drew on African-American religious experience in most of his messages. By the traditional standard of American political thinking, he was a leader who believed in Christian love.

Like so many other prominent personalities in American history, King used religious phraseology, thereby evoking an enthusiastic spiritual response from his audience.

Murder

On March 28, 1968, King led a 6,000-strong protest march in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, in support of striking workers. On April 3, speaking in Memphis, King said: “We have difficult days ahead of us. But it does not matter. Because I've been to the top of the mountain... I've looked ahead and seen the Promised Land. Maybe I won't be there with you, but I want you to know now that all of us, all the people will see this Earth." On April 4, at 6:01 p.m., King was mortally wounded by a sniper while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

“This murder caused nationwide outrage, accompanied by riots of the black population in more than a hundred cities. In the federal capital, houses were burning six blocks from the White House, and machine gunners were stationed on the balconies of the Capitol and the lawns around the White House. Across the country, 48 people were killed, 2,500 were injured, and 70,000 soldiers were sent to quell the riots. In the eyes of activists, King's assassination symbolized the incorrigibility of the system and convinced thousands of people that nonviolent resistance leads to a dead end. More Blacks Turned Their Eyes to Organizations Like the Black Panthers

The killer, James Earl Ray, received 99 years in prison. It was officially accepted that Ray was a lone killer, but many believe that King fell victim to a conspiracy. The Episcopal Church of the United States recognized King as a martyr who gave his life for the Christian faith, his statue is placed in Westminster Abbey (England) among the martyrs of the 20th century. King was promoted to the anointed of God, and was considered to be at the forefront of the democratic achievements of the civil rights movement.

King was the first black American to have a bust erected in the Great Rotunda of the Capitol in Washington. The third Monday in January is celebrated in America as Martin Luther King Day and is considered a national holiday.

Speeches and performances

views

Religion

Being a Christian priest, King was primarily influenced by religious ideas and almost always quoted certain texts of the corresponding kind or referred to them not only in church sermons, but also in secular speeches. He, in particular, was convinced of the need to follow the covenant of the need to love your neighbor as yourself, and not only in relation to God, but also to your enemies or opponents - to bless them and pray for them. His ideas about peaceful resistance also go back to the ideas set forth in the Sermon on the Mount, according to which, having received a blow on one cheek, it is necessary to turn the other, and in the Gospel of Matthew, which contains the words of Christ about returning the sword to the scabbard. In his letter from Birmingham Jail, King sought inspiration from Christ's all-encompassing love for people and, as was his wont, quoted many Christian pacifist ideologues. In his speech “I have been to the top of a mountain…” he said that he only wanted to fulfill the divine will.

Renunciation of violence

King was also encouraged by the results that Mahatma Gandhi achieved in following the ideas of non-violence. By his own account, he had longed for a long period of time to travel to India, and in April 1959, with the help of the Quaker American Committee of Friends in the Service of the Society, he was able to make the trip. This experience had a significant impact on him and deepened his understanding of the ideas of peaceful resistance, as well as his desire to devote himself to the struggle for civil rights in America. In his radio speech on his last day in India, King said that now, after a visit to this country, he is even more convinced than before of the power of non-violent protest as a way for oppressed people to fight for justice and human dignity. In a sense, we can say that it was the moral principles of Mahatma Gandhi that influenced him, although the latter, in turn, learned them himself from the work of L. N. Tolstoy “The Kingdom of God is within you”, where the principle of non-resistance to evil by violence was stated . However, King, like Gandhi, was also familiar with the work of Tolstoy and resorted to quotations from War and Peace.

To some extent, King was influenced by another black human rights activist, Bayard Rustin, who was also familiar with Gandhi's ideas and, according to some sources, was the one who initially recommended that King commit himself to the principles of non-violence, subsequently acting as the main adviser and mentor in the early years of his social and political activity. Rustin was also the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Then, in view of Rustin's open homosexuality, as well as his former ties to the US Communist Party, King was actively advised to distance himself from him, which King eventually agreed to.

In addition, King's method of peaceful resistance was influenced by the ideas of Henry Thoreau, presented in his essay "On Civil Disobedience", which the human rights activist got acquainted with in his student years. His attention, in particular, was drawn to the provisions on non-cooperation with a malevolent social system. King's exposure to the works of the Protestant theologians Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich, as well as to Walter Rauschenbusch's Christianity and Social Crisis, also had a certain effect. King himself wrote in a letter to Niebuhr that the ideas of those with Tillich influenced his ideology of peaceful resistance even more than the principles of Mahatma Gandhi. In addition, in the final stages of his public and political career, King used the concept of "agape" (Christian brotherly love), which may have been due to the assimilation of the views of Paul Ramsey.

Politics

King held the notion that he should not publicly support any U.S. political party or a particular candidate, and should remain non-aligned so that he could judge both major parties of the state with an open mind and serve as their conscience, and not as a slave or master of one of the them. In 1958, in an interview, he stated that none of the parties is ideal, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have divine omnipotence and have their own shortcomings and weaknesses, and he is not inextricably linked with any of them.

King also criticized both parties for racial equality, saying that American blacks were betrayed by both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, both of whom succumbed to reactionaries of one kind or another and allowed them to successfully block any liberal initiatives in the field of civil rights. population.

King, whose biography deserves a place on the pages of the world history of the last century, embodied a vivid image of a principled struggle and resistance to injustice. Fortunately, this man is not at all unique in his kind. The biography of Martin Luther King, to some extent, is comparable to the biographies of other famous freedom fighters: Mahatma Gandhi and At the same time, the work of our hero's life was in many ways special.

Biography of Martin Luther King: childhood and youth

The future preacher was born in January 1929 in Atlanta. His father was a Baptist minister. The family lived in the Atlanta area, populated predominantly by black residents, but the boy went to the lyceum at the city university. So from an early age he had to experience discrimination against blacks in the United States in the middle of the 20th century.

Already at a young age, Martin showed remarkable talent in oratory, winning at the age of fifteen in the corresponding competition held by the African-American organization of the state of Georgia. In 1944, the young man entered Morehouse College. Already in his freshman year, he joins the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It was during this period that worldview beliefs were formed and the further biography of Martin Luther King was laid.

In 1947, the guy becomes a clergyman, starting

his spiritual career as a paternal assistant. A year later, he entered the seminary in Pennsylvania, from where in 1951 he graduated with a doctorate in theology. In 1954, he became a priest of a Baptist church in the town of Montgomery, in A, a year later, the entire African-American community literally exploded with unprecedented protests. The biography of Martin Luther King is also changing dramatically. And the event that gave impetus to the demonstrations is connected precisely with the town of Montgomery.

Martin Luther: biography of a fighter for equal rights of the black population

Such an event was the refusal of a black woman, Rosa Parks, to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger, for which she was arrested and fined. This action of the authorities deeply revolted the Negro population of the state. An unprecedented boycott of all bus lines began. Very soon an African-American protest against was led by clergyman Martin Luther King Jr. The bus boycott lasted over a year and led to the success of the action. Under pressure from demonstrators, the US Supreme Court was forced to declare segregation in Alabama unconstitutional.

In 1957, the Southern Christian Conference was formed to fight for equal civil rights for African Americans across the country. The organization was led by Martin Luther King. In 1960, he visits India, where he adopts the best practices from Jawaharlal Nehru. The Baptist minister's speeches, in which he called for relentless and non-violent resistance, struck a chord in the hearts of people across the country. His speeches filled civil rights activists with energy and enthusiasm. The country was engulfed in marches, mass jailbreaks, economic demonstrations, and so on. Luther's most famous speech in Washington in 1963 began with the words "I have a dream...". It was listened to live by more than 300 thousand Americans.

In 1968, Martin Luther King led another protest march through downtown Memphis. The purpose of the demonstration was to support the workers' strike. However, he was never brought to the end, becoming the last in the life of the idol of millions. A day later, on April 4, exactly at 18:00, the priest was wounded by a sniper positioned on the balcony of one of the hotels in the city center. Martin Luther King died the same day without regaining consciousness.

The first black politician and public figure in the United States is Martin Luther King. He dared to challenge the social inequalities of society and the powerful state apparatus that supports racism and discrimination. He challenged and won at the cost of his own life.

Protest movement in America

After the end of World War II, the era of prosperity began in the United States. But not all segments of the population could benefit from the fruits of the economic power of the state. America was shaken every now and then by large-scale protests of citizens who did not agree with their position in society. Thus, after the adoption in the late 1940s of a law restricting the activities of trade unions, more than 4 million people took part in strikes throughout the country.

By the beginning of the 1950s, a social explosion was brewing among African Americans. Racial discrimination in the United States had an extreme form of expression. And this could not but lead to significant upheavals in society, the longest in the history of the state.

Childhood and youth of the future preacher

The Kings lived in a black neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia. The father of the family was the pastor of the community of the church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King was born. The biography indicates that he was an extraordinary child. Martin masters the school curriculum on his own and at the age of 15 takes college exams at the University of Atlanta. Here it becomes a revelation for him that the racist policy of the authorities is not approved by a significant number of the white population. As a second-year student, he wins a prize in a public speaking competition. Having met like-minded people, the young King joins the social movement for the progress of the colored population.

In 1947 he takes the holy orders. The following year, having received a bachelor of liberal arts degree, he graduated from college and entered the seminary in Philadelphia. After seminary, Martin King defends his dissertation at the University of Boston, and he is awarded a Ph.D.

Formation of social views

Brought up in an environment of conservative Christian ethics, Martin from childhood experienced the acute injustice of American society, manifested in the outright hatred of whites for African Americans. At the age of five, white peers were forbidden to play with him on the street. While traveling with their parents in the train's dining car, they ate behind a screen separating them from the rest of the passengers. Such experiences could not but leave an imprint in the mind of the child.

Years later, after becoming a priest, Martin realized that religion should not only be a means of comfort, giving hope for a better future life, but also actively participate in the fight against injustice in real life. A Christian pastor must be modern, educated and intellectually developed. It was this image of the spiritual father that Martin Luther King aspired to embody. The quotes of the preacher best illustrate his position. According to King, any religious doctrine that deals only with the moral aspect of its adherents and does not want to take part in solving their social problems is spiritually untenable and "only waits for the day of its burial."

The ideas of communism had a significant influence on his worldview. After reading the works of K. Marx, King finds confirmation of his thoughts about the need for an open peaceful action of the masses against social and economic inequality in society.

Family and Children

While studying in Boston, Martin Luther King met Coretta Scott. She studied at the Conservatory in vocal and violin classes. After six months of dating, he invited her to visit the house in Atlanta. The bride's parents liked the bride, and they gave their consent to the betrothal. In June 1953, at the home of Coretta's mother, King's father performed the marriage ceremony. The happy couple had two daughters and two sons.

First victory

In 1954, Martin Luther King was appointed pastor of the Montgomery Baptist congregation. A year later, unrest broke out in the city. The reason was the arrest of a certain Rosa Parks, accused of not giving up her seat on the bus to a white passenger. King led a black protest movement that boycotted the bus lines. The mass actions lasted 13 months and were accompanied by significant opposition from the racists and the authorities.

In late 1956, the US Supreme Court recognized the unconstitutional nature of the principles of racism in Alabama. Within a month, whites and blacks shared public transport.

priest-politician

In 1957, King became chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The public organization coordinated the struggle of African Americans for their rights. King's homiletic talents contributed to the fact that his political speeches before the people had a great resonance. Some of his speeches are recognized as a model of oratory. In just three years, a little-known black shepherd turns into a world-famous political figure.

In the second half of the 1960s, marches, demonstrations, strikes, and economic boycotts began to be carried out en masse in America. The ideological inspirer of most of the protests was Martin Luther King. Quotations from his speeches are published in the central press of many states.

Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1960 invites Martin King to visit the country. The trip gave the preacher an opportunity to get more deeply acquainted with the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi.

Four years later, King's first book was published, a few months later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. "Why can't we wait?" is a letter of appeal to the clergy, written in Birmingham City Jail.

"I have a dream"

In Washington in 1963, a demonstration was held, which brought together more than 300 thousand participants. At the President's House on March 28, black leaders conferred with John F. Kennedy on the issue of civil rights. On this day, at the foot of the Lincoln Monument, King delivered a speech that began with the words: "I have a dream." This pathetic performance became legendary. In his speech, the preacher called for an end to racial conflicts and the definition of new goals for American democracy. Martin Luther King's speech, which expressed faith in the brotherhood of man, became widely known throughout the world.

Death of a wrestler

In the spring of 1968, Martin Luther King took part in organizing an event in downtown Memphis. The 6,000 who gathered for the protest march expressed their solidarity with the striking workers. A few days later, in his speech, the preacher spoke of the inevitable victory of the peaceful protest movement. But he made a reservation, obviously anticipating his death, that he would not be able to share the common triumph. This year, the preacher planned to hold a mass action of the socially disadvantaged population in Washington.

These plans were not destined to come true: on April 4, King was wounded by a sniper shot on the balcony of the hotel and died the same day in the hospital. The treacherous murder provoked massive protests in dozens of major US cities.

The circumstances of the death of a great public figure still raise many questions. American writer William Pepper conducted a personal investigation of the events in Memphis. The publicist revealed a conspiracy of secret services, the purpose of which was Martin Luther King. The film, which is based on Pepper's materials, is named, like his book, Orders to Kill.

In Atlanta, there is a public organization that bears the name of the deceased preacher. Since 1986, Martin Luther King Day has been celebrated in America in January. The date of memory of the great fighter for racial equality is considered a national holiday.

Martin Luther King is America's greatest figure, a fighter for human rights and freedom. A natural speaker became a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and his ideas of equality became the basis for a modern decent society. This man has become a national icon in the fight against segregation in the United States, and most people around the world agree with his opinion.

Childhood and youth

20th century in Europe. Although slavery was abolished in December 1865 due to the civil war, the attitude towards the colored segments of the population in the prejudicial society did not change, because the state did nothing at the legislative level to protect black people.

Colored people were infringed on their rights and considered second-class people. They could not get a normal job and were deprived of the right to choose. In America, after the Civil War, unofficial John Crow laws were in effect, according to which the colored minority could not stand on an equal footing with the white man. People with at least a small proportion of Negro blood were attributed to the colored population.

At this time of social strife, Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929 in the city of Atlanta, located in the state of Georgia, in the southern part of America. In the south concentrated most of the Negro population of the middle class.

The boy's father, Martin Luther King Sr., was a pastor in a Baptist church, and his mother, Alberta Williams King, worked as a teacher before marriage. The head of the family was originally called Michael, but he changed his name and that of his son when he was 6 years old.

Martin Jr. was the second child in the family, and not to say that the Kings lived in poverty: the family of the future fighter for equality belonged to the class above the average and lived in abundance.

King was brought up in a strict and religious atmosphere, parents sometimes used physical punishment for misconduct. But Martin Sr. and Alberta Williams tried to protect their son from the rampant racist hatred.

When the boy was 6 years old, his friend, who played with him in the yard, suddenly announced that his mother did not allow him to be friends with Martin anymore, because he was black. After what happened, Alberta Williams tried to console the boy and said that Martin was no worse than others.

When King was 10 years old, he sang in the Baptist church choir. There was a premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta at the time, and the choir participated in the event.

The future politician was developed beyond his years, Martin Luther King studied with honors at a Negro school. The boy did not have to finish grades 9 and 12, as he independently studied the school curriculum and entered Morehouse University as an external student at the age of 15. In 1944, Martin became the winner of a public speaking competition held in Georgia among the colored population.

At a new place of study, King joins the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and learns that both blacks and some whites oppose racism.

In 1948, Martin graduated from the university and received a bachelor's degree in sociology. As a student, Martin Luther King helps his father at the Ebenezer Church. At the workplace of King Sr., the future public figure was a frequent visitor: in 1947, the guy took the rank of assistant in the church.

The politician continues his studies at the Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. There, the future revolutionary receives a doctorate in divinity in 1951, but continues his studies at the Boston graduate school and in 1955 receives a Ph.D.

Activity

Martin Luther King followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, and in 1954 the politician became a pastor in a Baptist church. Throughout his life, a man was driven by the ideas of freedom and equality of people. King possessed extraordinary oratory skills, which he directed in the right direction.

Martin was an active member of the NAPSP, but in 1955 he became the leader of the Montgomery Improvement Association.

Martin Luther King led the Montgomery bus boycott. By informal agreement, colored passengers of transport were not allowed to occupy the first four rows of the bus, which were intended for white citizens. Also, some bus drivers behaved uncivilized and allowed insults against African Americans. Public black activist Rosa Parks refused to give way to a "privileged" man, for which she was arrested by local police. And this is not the first case of public arbitrariness, in the United States there was a frequent practice of arresting innocent black people. The bus driver was not in danger even if he shot an African-American passenger.

Martin Luther King, who disagreed with this social problem, organized a non-violent boycott of transport, in which blacks participated. The protest lasted more than a year, 382 days. Colored people refused to travel by public transport and went on foot calling for freedom and equality. Sometimes African-American car drivers gave rides to the boycotters, but they categorically did not use public transport. About 6 thousand people took part in the action.

The long action was successful, in 1957 the US supreme government decided that the infringement of the rights of other segments of the population in the state of Alabama is contrary to the US constitution, and Time publishes a photo and interview with Martin on the cover.

Not all people supported King, during the protest he was repeatedly attacked, and also tried to blow up the house. Martin Luther King became the idol of the colored population, as well as a symbol of the struggle for equality of freedom and rights. For the method of nonviolent opposition invented by King, Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

King also collected demonstrations for any manifestation of segregation. So, in 1962, Martin joins the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights community. King encouraged university students to take part in the demonstrations. Although Martin Luther King's "movements" were not violent, the police interfered with the demonstrators, for example, sniffer dogs were lowered on protesting students. Martin King himself has been repeatedly arrested.

In 1962, the University of Mississippi admits a black student, James Meredith, who became the first colored student to enroll in an educational institution. In the USA there were special schools for colored people who did not have the right to study on an equal basis with whites.

This was progress in American society, but not everyone agreed with the enrollment of African Americans in universities, for example, the governor of Alabama, George Wallace, agreed with racial prejudice and blocked the path to the university for two black students.

Martin defended the honor and dignity of the infringed on human rights and continued the long-term struggle against segregation.

But the greatest fame for the black figure was brought by another action, which took place in 1963 and expanded Martin's political biography. About 300,000 Americans gathered for the March on Washington. King gave the most memorable speech ever, which begins with the words: "I have a dream." Martin glorified racial reconciliation and said that no matter what nationality a person belongs to, the main thing is what is inside him. The leaders of the march met with the President of the United States and discussed socially important issues. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was signed, which prohibited the racial infringement of the rights of colored citizens.

Ideas and views

King's focus was not limited to segregation. This politician advocated the equality and freedom of all citizens of the United States of America, he was dissatisfied with the level of unemployment and hunger.

Martin often traveled and spoke, calling on people to fight for the rights that should be guaranteed to any person from birth. Moreover, according to Martin Luther King, any social struggle should be non-violent, because you can agree with the help of language, and not with the help of riots and wars. Luther wrote many books that became the basis of the doctrine of law and order in society.

Personal life

During his life, Martin Luther was a cheerful man with a surprisingly kind look, he set an example of a family man, a decent husband and father who loves four children. Scott Martin met conservatory student Coretta in 1952 while in Boston.

King's chosen one was liked by his parents, and they agreed to the marriage. In the summer of 1953, King and Coretta got married at the girl's mother's house. Married beloved Martin King Sr.

In the fall of 1954, the King family moved to the state of Alabama in the city of Montgomery, where Martin Luther began his active work.

Death

In February 1968, an African-American scavenger strike was organized in Memphis, Tennessee. The workers were unhappy with the non-payment of wages, as well as the conditions and attitude of the authorities, which was similar to segregation: whites had a number of privileges and could not work due to bad weather, unlike blacks, who had to collect garbage even in a thunderstorm.

People turned to the rights activist Martin Luther King, the only defender of the colored strata of the population.

On April 3, King traveled back to Tennessee, but the policy had to change flights, as a bomb threat was discovered on the plane. In the city, a public figure booked room 306 at the Lorain Motel.

A day later, Martin Luther King stood on the balcony of the room, while the white-skinned criminal James Earl Ray aimed a rifle at the politician. James fired once, hitting Martin Luther King Jr. in the jaw. The politician died at St. Joseph's Hospital at 19:05. On the eve of his death, Martin gave the speech "I was at the top of the mountain." The audience remembered a quote from the speech:

“Like anyone, I would like to live a long life. Longevity matters. But I don't think about it now. I just want to do the will of the Lord.”

James was caught by the police: the young man wrote a sincere confession. The guy believed that for a guilty plea, the punishment would be mitigated. In court, the criminal was given 99 years in prison. Then Ray said that he did not commit the murder, but the court insisted on the guilt of the defendant.

However, there are many obscure and cloudy circumstances in the case of King's murder. For example, it remains unknown what weapon the sniper used for the murder, and there is no clear evidence of James's involvement in the assassination attempt on King. Martin's wife was dissatisfied with the court's decision, because, in her opinion, the death of her husband was not to blame for the criminal who escaped from prison for theft, but for a political conspiracy. Therefore, Coretta was saddened by the news of the death of Ray, the only witness.

Who killed Martin King, and with what rifle, is a mystery that has not yet been solved.

In memory of a political figure in America, every third Monday of January, the federal "Martin Luther King Day" is celebrated. Finally, the holiday took root only in 2000.

Also, in memory of Martin, documentaries were shot that tell about his activities. The grave is at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.

Quotes

Martin Luther King is famous for his statements not only about human rights, but also about morality. Courage, courage, perseverance and nobility are perhaps a small part of the characteristics that the American politician possessed.

• Love is the only force that can turn any enemy into a friend.
• If a person has not discovered something for himself for which he is ready to die, he is not able to fully live.
• If someone told me that the world would end tomorrow, I would plant a tree today.
• Scientific research has overtaken spiritual development. We have guided missiles and unguided people.
• The ultimate measure of a person's worth is not how he behaves in times of comfort and convenience, but how he holds himself in times of struggle and contradictions.
• Cowardice asks - is it safe? Expediency asks - is it prudent? Vanity asks - is it popular? But conscience asks - is it right? And there comes a time when one has to take a position that is neither safe nor prudent nor popular, but one has to take it because it is right.

We have difficult days ahead of us. But it does not matter. Because I've been to the top of the mountain... I looked ahead and saw the promised land. Maybe I won't be there with you, but I want you to know now that all of us, all the people will see this Earth.
/M. L. King/

KING (King), Martin Luther (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968) - American priest and civil rights activist Martin (originally Michael) Luther King was born in Atlanta (Georgia), in the family of a Baptist church pastor, he was eldest son. When the boy was six years old, his father changed his and his name to Martin. King's mother, Alberta Cristina Williams, taught at the school until her marriage. King's childhood fell on the years of the Great Depression, but he grew up in a prosperous middle-class family. While studying at David T. Howard Elementary School and Booker T. Washington High School, King was well ahead of his peers, that is, he completed the program on his own. In 1944, without graduating from high school, he passed his exams and entered Morehouse College for Coloreds in Atlanta. At the same time, he became a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAPCN). In 1947, King took the priesthood and became his father's assistant in the church. After graduating from college with a bachelor's degree in sociology in 1948, King entered the Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, and in 1951 received a bachelor's degree in divinity. The scholarship assigned to him allowed him to enroll in graduate school at Boston University, where in 1955 King defended his thesis on "Comparative analysis of the concepts of God in the systems of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman", becoming a Ph.D. King was profoundly influenced during these years by the clergy and reformist Walter Rauschenbusch, Georg Hegel, Henry Thoreau, Edgar Brightman, Paul Tillich, and Reinhold Niebuhr. "Efforts to create a social gospel," King said, "are evidence of the Christian life." In 1953, King married a student, Coretta Scott, and they had two sons and two daughters. King became minister at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1954, serving there until January 1960, when he reunited with his father at Ebenezer Church. In Montgomery, King organized social action committees, raised funds for the NAPSP, and was a member of the local executive committee of this association. After the incident with Rosa Parks (a seamstress was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger), the Improvement Association was formed in December 1955 in Montgomery, and King became its president. Remaining doubtful about the justification for the non-white boycott of Montgomery bus transportation, King hesitated whether he should accept the post and agreed, recalling a quote from Thoreau: "It is no longer possible to cooperate with the vicious system." On the evening of December 5, King delivered what he later recalled as the decisive speech of his life. "There is no alternative to resistance," King told the audience and expressed confidence that the protest would help get rid of "the patience that makes you settle for less than freedom and justice." Under King's leadership, the Negro community boycotted Montgomery's transportation for 382 days. In November 1956, the US Supreme Court found the Alabama segregation law unconstitutional. In December, blacks and whites shared buses for the first time. King gained national fame, in February 1957 his portrait appeared on the cover of Time magazine. The civil rights movement of the mid-twentieth century, to which King joined, had its roots in the pre-war years. NAPSN and the Congress of Racial Equality, such labor leaders as A. Philip Randolph, took a number of steps in favor of the equality of Negroes. Their achievements culminated in the 1954 Brown v. Topeka Board of Education trial. The Supreme Court ended segregation in education by ruling that separate education for whites and blacks breeds inequality and is therefore contrary to the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. King's unique contribution to the cause of human rights made possible his commitment to the principles of Christian philosophy. King considered the activities of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the passive resistance movement, thanks to which India was freed from British rule, as an example for himself. "Gandhi's philosophy of non-violent resistance," King once declared, "is the only method justified in the struggle

freedom." The Montgomery boycott, during which King's home was blown up and he was arrested, made him a hero in the U.S. Negro community. In January 1957, Southern Negro leaders formed an alliance of church civil rights organizations called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference "(CRYY), where King was elected president. At the same time, King, a recognized advocate for the rights of the colored population, wrote the book "Step to Freedom. The Montgomery Story" ("Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story"). In September 1958, while signing autographs in Harlem, he was stabbed in the chest by a mentally ill woman. rights aimed at eliminating segregation in transport, theaters, restaurants, etc. He traveled throughout the country, lecturing, and was arrested 15 times.In 1960, at the invitation of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, he spent a month in India, where he deepened his acquaintance with the activities of Gandhi. In March - April 1963, K. led mass demonstrations in Birmingham (Alabama) against segregation in production and at home, one of the slogans was the creation of committees of citizens of various races. The police dispersed the demonstrators (among which were many children) with dogs, water cannons and clubs. King was arrested for 5 days for violating the ban on demonstrations. During this time, he wrote "Letter from Birmingham Jail" to white religious to the rulers of the city, who reproached him for "imprudent and untimely actions." “In fact, time has no meaning,” King wrote. “The progress of mankind does not roll on the wheels of inevitability. It comes as a result of the tireless efforts of people who do God's will, without which time becomes an ally of the forces of stagnation in society.” Despite occasional outbreaks, tensions in Birmingham eased as white and black leaders reached an agreement on desegregation. In 1963, King, together with his deputy Ralph Abernathy, the founder of the Congress of Racial Equality Bayard Rustin and other leaders, organized the largest civil rights demonstration in US history. On August 28, about 250,000 whites and blacks gathered in Washington as civil rights legislation was debated in the US Congress. On the same day, Negro leaders conferred with President John F. Kennedy. Later, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King gave a speech expressing his belief in the brotherhood of man; the speech became widely known under the name "I have a dream" - these words sound like a refrain in the text of the speech. King's book "Why We Can't Wait" was published in 1964. In May and June of that year, King participated in demonstrations for housing integration held in St. (Fla.) A month later, President Lindon B. Johnson invited him to the White House, where King was present at the signing of the housing bill, which became part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law prohibited segregation in public places and at work, in conditions At the end of the year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In his opening speech, the representative of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Gunnar Jahn noted: "Although Martin Luther King Jr. is not involved in international affairs, his struggle serves the cause of peace ... In the Western world, he was who showed that fighting does not necessarily involve violence." In his Nobel Lecture, King said: "Non-violence means that my people have been patiently enduring suffering all these years without inflicting it on others... This means that we no longer experience fear. But it does not follow that we want to intimidate this or that, or even the society of which we are a part. The movement does not seek to emancipate blacks at the expense of the humiliation and enslavement of whites. It doesn't want to win over anyone. It wants the liberation of American society and participation in the self-liberation of the entire people. "In March 1965, King organized a march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery under the slogan of granting voting rights, but he did not participate in the march. After the demonstration

the welts were attacked by the traffic police, King called for a new march. More than 3,000 white and black demonstrators took part, and more than 25,000 joined them along the way. At the walls of the Capitol in Montgomery, King addressed the audience with a speech. On August 6, President Johnson signed the suffrage bill, and King was invited to Washington and attended the signing ceremony. Remaining a controversial figure, King had many enemies - not only in the south, but also in other parts of the country. King's most influential critic was apparently Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Edgar Hoover, who called him a communist, traitor, and deeply immoral. When King accused the FBI agents of failing to act on complaints in Albany, Georgia, citing their southern origins, Hoover did not hesitate to call the Negro figure "the most notorious liar in the country." The FBI tapped the phones of King and the CRHU, and compiled an extensive dossier on King's personal and public life. It, in particular, reflected King's extramarital affairs while traveling around the country. In 1967, King published Where Do We Go From Here? ("Where do We go from here?"). In April, he openly spoke out against the Vietnam War. King addressed a large anti-war rally in Washington with a message; became co-chairman of the organization "Priests and laity alarmed by the events in Vietnam." In the last years of his life, King's attention was drawn not only to racism, but also to the problem of unemployment, hunger and poverty throughout America. Expanding horizons made it necessary to support the radical circles of Negro youth during the riots in the ghettos of Watts, Newark, Harlem and Detroit, which were contrary to the principles of non-violence. King became aware that racial discrimination was closely linked to the problem of poverty. But he did not have time to create a program on this issue, which explains the failure of efforts to improve living conditions in the slums of Chicago in 1966. However, in November 1967, King announced the start of the Poor People's Campaign, which was supposed to end in April 1968 with the collection of whites and poor blacks in Washington. On March 28, 1968, King led a 6,000-strong protest march in downtown Memphis, Tennessee to support striking workers. A few days later, speaking in Memphis, King said: "We have tough days ahead of us. But it doesn't matter. you, but I want you to know now - all of us, all the people will see this Earth." The next day, King was hit by a sniper while standing on the balcony of the Memphis Lorraine Motel. He died of his wound at St. Joseph's Hospital and was buried in Atlanta. King's activities are studied and continued by the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. In 1983, the US Congress rejected a proposal to celebrate K.'s birthday on the third Monday in January. However, on January 16, 1986, a bust of King was erected in the Great Rotunda of the Capitol in Washington - the first time a black American was honored with such an honor. On January 20, 1986, the nation celebrated the first Martin Luther King Day.