Martin luther king jr.

Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King, Jr. entered public school at age five. In May, 1936, he was baptized, but the event made little impression on him. In May, 1941, Martin was 12 years old when is grandmother, Jennie, died of a heart attack. The event was traumatic for Martin, more so because he was out watching a parade against his parents’ wishes when she died. Distraught at thenews, young Martin attempted suicide by leaping from a second story window at the family home.
Martin Luther King, Jr. attended Booker T. Washington High School, where he was said to be a precocious student, having skipped both the ninth and eleventh grades andentered Morehouse College in Atlanta at age 15, in 1944. He was a popular student, especially with the girls, but an unmotivated studentwho floated though his first two years. Although his family was deeply involved in the church and worship, young Martin questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional displays of religious worship. This discomfort continued through much of his adolescence, initially leading him to decide against entering the ministry, much to his father's dismay. But in his junioryear, Martin 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, which pleased his father.
During his last year in seminary, Martin Luther King, Jr. came under the influence of theologian Reinhold Niebbuhr, a classmate of his father's at Morehouse College. Niebbuhr became a mentor to Martin,challenging his liberal views of theology. Niebuhr was probably the single most important influence in Martin's intellectual and spiritual development. After being accepted at several colleges for his doctoral study including Yale and Edinburgh in Scotland, King enrolled in Boston University.
During the work on this doctorate, Martin Luther King, Jr. met Coretta Scott and aspiring singer and musician atthe New England Conservatory school in Boston. They were married in June, 1953 and had four children, Yolanda, Martin Luther King, III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice. In 1954, while still working on his dissertation, King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama. He completed his Ph.D. and was award his degree in 1955. King was only 25 years old.
On December 1, 1955,they got another chance to make their case. On that evening, 42 year-old Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus to go home from an exhausting day at work. She sat in the first row of the "colored" section in the middle of the bus. As the bus traveled its route, all the seats it the white section filled up, then several more white passengers boarded the bus. The bus driver noted there wereseveral white men standing and demanded that Parks and several other African Americans give up their seats. Three other African American passengers reluctantly gave up their places, but Parks remained seated. The driver asked her again to give up her seat and again she refused. She was arrested and booked for violating the Montgomery City Code. At her trial a week later, in a thirty minute hearing,Parks was found guiltyOn the night Rosa Parks was arrested, E.D. Nixon, head of the local NAACP chapter met with Martin Luther King, Jr. and other local civil rights leaders to plan a city-wide bus boycott. King was elected to lead the boycott because he was young, well-trained with solid family connections and had professional standing. But he was also new to the community and had few enemies, soit was felt he would have strong credibility with the black community. In his first speech as the group's president, King declared:
"We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us...