Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
On Monday, January 16th we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to honor the life and achievements of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the iconic leader of the nonviolent civil rights movement which successfully protested racial discrimination in Federal and State law. The protest movements led by Dr. King led directly to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the Voting Rights Act in 1965 and much subsequent legislation.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. Growing up in Atlanta he attended Booker T. Washington High School. He skipped the 11th and 12th grade and, at the age of 15 he entered Morehouse College. King graduated from Morehouse in 1948 and enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, PA, from which he graduated in 1951 with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. He then began doctoral studies in Systematic Theology at Boston University and received his Doctor of Philosophy on June 5, 1955. King became pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in 1954 when he was 25 years old.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man in accordance with the law of the time. The Montgomery Bus Boycott which followed was organized and planned by Edgar Nixon and led by King. The boycott lasted for 365 days; King's house was bombed and King was arrested. The boycott ended with a US Court ruling that ended racial segragation on Montgomery's public buses.
In 1957, King, Ralph Abernathy and others founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests for civil rights reform. King led the organization until his death.
Inspired by Gandhi's success with non-violent activism, King visited the Gandhi family in India in 1959 with assistance from the American Friends Service Committee. The trip profoundly affected King, deepening his understanding of non-violent resistance and his committment to civil rights. Upon his return he and the SCLC led protests in Albany, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama.
The campaign in Birmingham began with a boycott to pressure businesses to open jobs to people of all races as well as to end segregated facilities in stores and other places. When business leaders resisted, King and the SCLC began a series of sit-ins and marches to provoke arrests and fill up the city's jails. The protesters included children as well as adults. The Birmingham police department, led by Eugene "Bull" Connor, used high pressure water jets and police dogs to control protesters. By the end of the campaign, Connor lost his job, the 'Jim Crow' signs in Birmingham came down, public places became more open to all races and King's reputation was immensely improved.
In August of 1963, KIng and the SCLC were among the leaders of the famous 'March on Washington'. The other leaders and organizations involved included A. Phillip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, John Lewis of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, James L. Farmer, Jr. of the Congress of Racial Equality, Whitney Young of the National Urban League and Roy Wilkins from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
The march was toned down some from the original plan as a result of governmental pressure; President Kennedy was concerned that it might negatively affect the drive for civil rights legislation. The march was a resounding success, however. More than a quarter-million people of all ethnicities attended the event; at the time it was the largest gathering of protestors in Washington's history. King's 'I Have a Dream' speech (video below) electrified the crowd. It is regarded as one of the finest speeches in American oratory.
After the March on Washington, King continued his work leading protests in Selma, Alabama and then moving north to campaign for fair housing in Chicago with a young seminary student, Jesse Jackson. King campaigned for more economic development in the central cities and against the war in Vietnam; he believed the money spent there could be better spent on anti-poverty programs.
In 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination.
On March 29th, 1968, King went to Memphis, Tennessee in support of the black sanitation workers who were striking for higher pay and better treatment. In one incident, black workers received pay for two hours when they were sent home due to bad weather, but white workers received a full day's pay.
King's flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat. On April 3, he addressed the incident in a speech:
"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead, but it doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life; longevity has its place but I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will and he's allowed me to go up the mountain. And I've loked over and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land."
The next day, April 4th, 1968, King was shot while standing outside his room on the second floor of the Lorraine Motel. After emergency surgery, he was pronounced dead at 7:05 pm.
King had many opponents. Besides the segregationists of the south, J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, tapped and recorded his phone calls and had his hotem rooms bugged. Hoover called King "The most notorious liar in the country." After King gave his 'I Have a Dream' speech, the FBI described King as "the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country."
The movement to establish a Federal Holiday in honor of Dr. King was spearheaded by Representative John Conyers. Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina led the opposition, criticizing King for his opposition to the Vietnam War and accusing him of being a marxist. Ronald Reagan threatened to veto the bill and only signed it when it was passed with an overwhelming veto-proof majority in both houses. Senator John McCain voted against the bill to create the holiday and later supported Arizona Governor Meacham who rescinded the state holiday in honor of King.
The path to desegration and full integration of African-Americans into the American dream has been slow and bumpy. Here in Worcester County, public schools were only desegragated in 1970 - 16 years after the Brown v Board of Education decision of the Supreme Court made integrated schools the law of the land. As late as 1995, the Federal courts ruled against Worcester County in Cane v. Worcester County to force the county to recognize minority voting rights. More recently the Worcester County branch of the NAACP led a succesful fight to have an elected school board to fairly represent all the citizens of Worcester County.
The election of President Barack Obama, our first African-American president, was certainly a part of Dr. King's dream and his vision of the promised land. Because of Dr. King's efforts our country has become richer, more vibrant and more consistent with the words of the Declaration of Indepence that 'All men are created equal.'
Below is a video of King's 'I Have a Dream' speech. I urge you to watch it. If you are so short of time that you can't watch the entire thing, then at least watch the portion beginning around the 12th minute. It is a marvelous moving speech and the articulation of a dream we all should share.
