Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most well known Civil Right activists of the 20th century though King’s first calling was not peaceful protest. He started out following in his fathers footsteps of becoming a Pastor. At the age of 25, King became a Pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. While in Montgomery, King was a member of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) when the Montgomery Bus Boycott broke out. Because of King’s involvement in the boycott, he received many threats on his life and even had his house firebombed. However, even in the face of ridicule, King became a public figure and a mouthpiece for the civil rights movement, allowing for the first steps towards ending racial segregation.
King was a prominent leader, and was the spark that the African American community needed to begin to take back their freedom. Through King’s efforts, he unified five main groups of people that began peacefully protesting African Americans rights to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and other important and basic Civil Rights. On August 28, 1963, The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom became King’s legacy, in front of 250,000 people he gave the famous, “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1964 King was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his position and influence in the Civil Rights movement.
On April 4, 1968 on the balcony of Lorraine Motel in Memphis, King was assassinated by James Earl Ray. Many feared that King’s visions would die with him but now looking back we can see how far we’ve come. But we are not done honoring the life of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill declaring a federal holiday in remembrance of King’s efforts towards the Civil Rights movement and justice and equality for all people. Since that time, we celebrate a holiday on the third Monday of January to recall his birthday on January 15th.
