THE STORY
King was born Michael King Jr. on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, the second of three children to Michael King and Alberta King (née Williams).King's mother named him Michael, which was entered onto the birth certificate by the attending physician.King's older sister is Christine King Farris and his younger brother was Alfred Daniel "A.D." King.King's maternal grandfather Adam Daniel Williams,who was a minister in rural Georgia, moved to Atlanta in 1893,and became pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in the following year. Williams was of African-Irish descent.Williams married Jennie Celeste Parks, who gave birth to King's mother, Alberta.King's father was born to sharecroppers, James Albert and Delia King of Stockbridge, Georgia.In his adolescent years, King Sr. left his parents' farm and walked to Atlanta where he attained a high school education.King Sr. then enrolled in Morehouse College and studied to enter the ministry. King Sr. and Alberta began dating in 1920, and married on November 25, 1926.Until Jennie's death in 1941, they lived together on the second floor of her parent's two-story Victorian house, where King was born.
Shortly after marrying Alberta, King Sr. became assistant pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Adam Daniel Williams died of a stroke in the spring of 1931.That fall, King's father took over the role of pastor at the church, where he would in time raise the attendance from six hundred to several thousand.In 1934, the church sent King Sr. on a multinational trip to Rome, Tunisia, Egypt, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, then Berlin for the meeting of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA).The trip ended with visits to sites in Berlin associated with the Reformation leader, Martin Luther. While there, Michael King Sr. witnessed the rise of Nazism. In reaction, the BWA conference issued a resolution which stated, "This Congress deplores and condemns as a violation of the law of God the Heavenly Father, all racial animosity, and every form of oppression or unfair discrimination toward the Jews, toward coloured people, or toward subject races in any part of the world."He returned home in August 1934, and in that same year began referring to himself as Martin Luther King, and his son as Martin Luther King Jr.King's birth certificate was altered to read "Martin Luther King Jr." on July 23, 1957, when he was 28 years old.
"THE TIME IS ALWAYS RIGHT TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT"
At his childhood home, King and his two siblings would read aloud the Bible as instructed by their father. After dinners there, King's grandmother Jennie, who he affectionately referred to as "Mama", would tell lively stories from the Bible to her grandchildren.King's father would regularly use whippings to discipline his children.At times, King Sr. would also have his children whip each other. King's father later remarked, "[King] was the most peculiar child whenever you whipped him. He'd stand there, and the tears would run down, and he'd never cry."Once when King witnessed his brother A.D. emotionally upset his sister Christine, he took a telephone and knocked out A.D. with it.When he and his brother were playing at their home, A.D. slid from a banister and hit into their grandmother, Jennie, causing her to fall down unresponsive.King, believing her dead, blamed himself and attempted suicide by jumping from a second-story window.Upon hearing that his grandmother was alive, King rose and left the ground where he had fallen.
King became friends with a white boy whose father owned a business across the street from his family's home.In September 1935, when the boys were about six years old, they started school.King had to attend a school for black children, Younge Street Elementary School while his close playmate went to a separate school for white children only. Soon afterwards, the parents of the white boy stopped allowing King to play with their son, stating to him "we are white, and you are colored". When King relayed the happenings to his parents, they had a long discussion with him about the history of slavery and racism in America.Upon learning of the hatred, violence and oppression that black people had faced in the U.S., King would later state that he was "determined to hate every white person". His parents instructed him that it was his Christian duty to love everyone.
King witnessed his father stand up against segregation and various forms of discrimination.Once, when stopped by a police officer who referred to King Sr. as "boy", King's father responded sharply that King was a boy but he was a man.When King's father took him into a shoe store in downtown Atlanta, the clerk told them they needed to sit in the back. King's father refused, stating "we'll either buy shoes sitting here or we won't buy any shoes at all", before taking King and leaving the store.He told King afterward, "I don't care how long I have to live with this system, I will never accept it."In 1936, King's father led hundreds of African Americans in a civil rights march to the city hall in Atlanta, to protest voting rights discrimination.King later remarked that King Sr. was "a real father" to him.
King memorized and sang hymns, and stated verses from the Bible, by the time he was five years old.Over the next year, he began to go to church events with his mother and sing hymns while she played piano.His favorite hymn to sing was "I Want to Be More and More Like Jesus"; he moved attendees with his singing.King later became a member of the junior choir in his church.King enjoyed opera, and played the piano.As he grew up, King garnered a large vocabulary from reading dictionaries and consistently used his expanding lexicon.He got into physical altercations with boys in his neighborhood, but oftentimes used his knowledge of words to stymie fights.King showed a lack of interest in grammar and spelling, a trait which he carried throughout his life.In 1939, King sang as a member of his church choir in slave costume, for the all-white audience at the Atlanta premiere of the film Gone with the Wind. In September 1940, at the age of 12, King was enrolled at the Atlanta University Laboratory School for the seventh grade.
While there, King took violin and piano lessons, and showed keen interest in his history and English classes.
On May 18, 1941, when King had snuck away from studying at home to watch a parade, King was informed that something had happened to his maternal grandmother.[Upon returning home, he found out that she had suffered a heart attack and died while being transported to a hospital.He took the death very hard and believed that his deception of going to see the parade may have been responsible for God taking her.King jumped out of a second-story window at his home, but again survived an attempt to kill himself.His father instructed him in his bedroom that King shouldn't blame himself for her death, and that she had been called home to God as part of God's plan which could not be changed.King struggled with this, and could not fully believe that his parents knew where his grandmother had gone.Shortly thereafter, King's father decided to move the family to a two-story brick home on a hill that overlooked downtown Atlanta.
'WE MUST LEARN TO LIVE TOGETHER AS BROTHERS OR PERISH TOGETHER AS FOOLS"
In his adolescent years, he initially felt resentment against whites due to the "racial humiliation" that he, his family, and his neighbors often had to endure in the segregated South.In 1942, when King was 13 years old, he became the youngest assistant manager of a newspaper delivery station for the Atlanta Journal. That year, King skipped the ninth grade and was enrolled in Booker T. Washington High School, where he maintained a B-plus average.The high school was the only one in the city for African-American students.It had been formed after local black leaders, including King's grandfather (Williams), urged the city government of Atlanta to create it.
While King was brought up in a Baptist home, King grew skeptical of some of Christianity's claims as he entered adolescence.He began to question the literalist teachings preached at his father's church. At the age of 13, he denied the bodily resurrection of Jesus during Sunday school.King has stated, he found himself unable to identify with the emotional displays and gestures from congregants frequent at his church, and doubted if he would ever attain personal satisfaction from religion.He later stated of this point in his life, "doubts began to spring forth unrelentingly."
In high school, King became known for his public-speaking ability, with a voice which had grown into an orotund baritone. He proceeded to join the school's debate team.King continued to be most drawn to history and English,and choose English and sociology to be his main subjects while at the school.King maintained an abundant vocabulary. But, he relied on his sister, Christine, to help him with his spelling, while King assisted her with math. They studied in this manner routinely until Christine's graduation from high school.King also developed an interest in fashion, commonly adorning himself in well polished patent leather shoes and tweed suits, which gained him the nickname "Tweed" or "Tweedie" among his friends.He further grew a liking for flirting with girls and dancing. His brother A. D. later remarked, "He kept flitting from chick to chick, and I decided I couldn't keep up with him. Especially since he was crazy about dances, and just about the best jitterbug in town."
On April 13, 1944, in his junior year, King gave his first public speech during an oratorical contest, sponsored by the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World in Dublin, Georgia.In his speech he stated, "black America still wears chains. The finest negro is at the mercy of the meanest white man. Even winners of our highest honors face the class color bar."King was selected as the winner of the contest. On the ride home to Atlanta by bus, he and his teacher were ordered by the driver to stand so that white passengers could sit down. The driver of the bus called King a "black son-of-a-bitch".King initially refused but complied after his teacher told him that he would be breaking the law if he did not follow the directions of the driver.As all the seats were occupied, he and his teacher were forced to stand on the rest of the drive back to Atlanta. Later King wrote of the incident, saying "That night will never leave my memory. It was the angriest I have ever been in my life."
"NEGROS AND WHITES GO TO THE SAME CHURCH"
During King's junior year in high school, Morehouse College—an all-male historically black college which King's father and maternal grandfather had attended—began accepting high school juniors who passed the school's entrance examination.As World War II was underway many black college students had been enlisted in the war, decreasing the numbers of students at Morehouse College.So, the university aimed to increase their student numbers by allowing junior high school students to apply. In 1944, at the age of 15, King passed the entrance examination and was enrolled at the university for the school season that autumn.
In the summer before King started his freshman year at Morehouse, he boarded a train with his friend—Emmett "Weasel" Proctor—and a group of other Morehouse College students to work in Simsbury, Connecticut at the tobacco farm of Cullman Brothers Tobacco (a cigar business).This was King's first trip outside of the segregated south into the integrated north.In a June 1944 letter to his father King wrote about the differences that struck him between the two parts of the country, "On our way here we saw some things I had never anticipated to see. After we passed Washington there was no discrimination at all. The white people here are very nice. We go to any place we want to and sit any where we want to."The students worked at the farm to be able to provide for their educational costs at Morehouse College, as the farm had partnered with the college to allot their salaries towards the university's tuition, housing, and other fees.On weekdays King and the other students worked in the fields, picking tobacco from 7:00am till at least 5:00pm, enduring temperatures above 100°F, to earn roughly USD$4 per day.On Friday evenings, King and the other students visited downtown Simsbury to get milkshakes and watch movies, and on Saturdays they would travel to Hartford, Connecticut to see theatre performances, shop and eat in restaurants.While each Sunday they would go to Hartford to attend church services, at a church filled with white congregants. King wrote to his parents about the lack of segregation in Connecticut, relaying how he was amazed they could go to the "one of the finest restaurants in Hartford" and that "Negroes and whites go to the same church".
He played freshman football there. The summer before his last year at Morehouse, in 1947, the 18-year-old King chose to enter the ministry. Throughout his time in college, King studied under the mentorship of its president, Baptist minister Benjamin Mays, who he would later credit with being his "spiritual mentor." King had concluded that the church offered the most assuring way to answer "an inner urge to serve humanity." His "inner urge" had begun developing, and he made peace with the Baptist Church, as he believed he would be a "rational" minister with sermons that were "a respectful force for ideas, even social protest."King graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in sociology in 1948, aged nineteen
While studying at Boston University, he asked a friend from Atlanta named Mary Powell, who was a student at the New England Conservatory of Music, if she knew any nice Southern girls. Powell asked fellow student Coretta Scott if she was interested in meeting a Southern friend studying divinity. Scott was not interested in dating preachers but eventually agreed to allow Martin to telephone her based on Powell's description and vouching. On their first phone call, King told Scott "I am like Napoleon at Waterloo before your charms," to which she replied, "You haven't even met me." They went out for dates in his green Chevy. After the second date, King was certain Scott possessed the qualities he sought in a wife. She had been an activist at Antioch in undergrad, where Carol and Rod Serling were schoolmates.
King married Coretta Scott on June 18, 1953, on the lawn of her parents' house in her hometown of Heiberger, Alabama.They became the parents of four children: Yolanda King (1955–2007), Martin Luther King III (b. 1957), Dexter Scott King (b. 1961), and Bernice King (b. 1963).During their marriage, King limited Coretta's role in the civil rights movement, expecting her to be a housewife and mother.
In December 1959, after being based in Montgomery for five years, King announced his return to Atlanta at the request of the SCLC. In Atlanta, King served until his death as co-pastor with his father at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and helped expand the Civil Rights Movement across the South.
On March 29, 1968, King went to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of the black sanitary public works employees, who were represented by AFSCME Local 1733. The workers had been on strike since March 12 for higher wages and better treatment. In one incident, black street repairmen received pay for two hours when they were sent home because of bad weather, but white employees were paid for the full day.
'TAKE MY HAND,PRECIOUS LORD"
On April 3, King addressed a rally and delivered his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" address at Mason Temple, the world headquarters of the Church of God in Christ. King's flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat against his plane.
King had someway expected an imminent demise,for that night,he had written the following:
"And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? 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 to the mountain. And I've looked 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. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord".
King was booked in Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel (owned by Walter Bailey) in Memphis. Ralph Abernathy, who was present at the assassination, testified to the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations that King and his entourage stayed at Room 306 so often that it was known as the "King-Abernathy suite."According to Jesse Jackson, who was present, King's last words on the balcony before his assassination were spoken to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: "Ben, make sure you play 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."
King was fatally shot by James Earl Ray at 6:01 p.m., Thursday, April 4, 1968, as he stood on the motel's second-floor balcony. The bullet entered through his right cheek, smashing his jaw, then traveled down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder.Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor.Jackson stated after the shooting that he cradled King's head as King lay on the balcony, but this account was disputed by other colleagues of King; Jackson later changed his statement to say that he had "reached out" for King.
After emergency chest surgery, King died at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7:05 p.m.According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's autopsy revealed that though only 39 years old, he "had the heart of a 60 year old", which Branch attributed to the stress of 13 years in the civil rights movement.King is buried within Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park
"WE , AS A PEOPLE WILL GET TO THE PROMISED LAND"
The assassination led to a nationwide wave of race riots in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Baltimore, Louisville, Kansas City, and dozens of other cities.Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was on his way to Indianapolis for a campaign rally when he was informed of King's death. He gave a short, improvised speech to the gathering of supporters informing them of the tragedy and urging them to continue King's ideal of nonviolence. The following day, he delivered a prepared response in Cleveland. James Farmer Jr. and other civil rights leaders also called for non-violent action, while the more militant Stokely Carmichael called for a more forceful response. The city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on terms favorable to the sanitation workers.
The plan to set up a shantytown in Washington, D.C., was carried out soon after the April 4 assassination. Criticism of King's plan was subdued in the wake of his death, and the SCLC received an unprecedented wave of donations for the purpose of carrying it out. The campaign officially began in Memphis, on May 2, at the hotel where King was murdered. Thousands of demonstrators arrived on the National Mall and stayed for six weeks, establishing a camp they called "Resurrection City."
President Lyndon B. Johnson tried to quell the riots by making several telephone calls to civil rights leaders, mayors and governors across the United States and told politicians that they should warn the police against the unwarranted use of force.But his efforts didn't work out: "I'm not getting through," Johnson told his aides. "They're all holing up like generals in a dugout getting ready to watch a war."Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning for the civil rights leader.Vice President Hubert Humphrey attended King's funeral on behalf of the President, as there were fears that Johnson's presence might incite protests and perhaps violence.At his widow's request, King's last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church was played at the funeral,a recording of his "Drum Major" sermon, given on February 4, 1968. In that sermon, King made a request that at his funeral no mention of his awards and honors be made, but that it be said that he tried to "feed the hungry", "clothe the naked", "be right on the [Vietnam] war question", and "love and serve humanity."His good friend Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", at the funeral. The assassination helped to spur the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Two months after King's death, James Earl Ray—who was on the loose from a previous prison escape—was captured at London Heathrow Airport while trying to leave England on a false Canadian passport. He was using the alias Ramon George Sneyd on his way to white-ruled Rhodesia. Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's murder. He confessed to the assassination on March 10, 1969, though he recanted this confession three days later. On the advice of his attorney Percy Foreman, Ray pleaded guilty to avoid a trial conviction and thus the possibility of receiving the death penalty. He was sentenced to a 99-year prison term.Ray later claimed a man he met in Montreal, Quebec, with the alias "Raoul" was involved and that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy. He spent the remainder of his life attempting, unsuccessfully, to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had. Ray died in 1998 at age 70.
After thought:
What was Martin Luther's background like?We were introduced to a boy who was asked to stand on a bus all the way home simply because he was coloured.such phrase like black son-of -a-bitch must have left a lasting impact on Kings,which later served as an inspiration for him.
When we either recruite or create motivational speakers,we try to learn a little of their background.Their background is always a course,or they go around their motivational career like a ship without a compass.
2.What was King's child life like?
We were told that the never-give-up attitude of Kings was inherent.He wouldn't cry when he was whipped and never belched when the authority coerced against his dreams.
Motivational speakers also remember the first anthem of motivation:"NEVER GIVE UP".A motivational speaker who doesn't live by this principle will definitely give up in his career.
3.What motivated King's toward his career?
At his dying bed,His wish was that his achievement be not mentioned.Rather that he helped the sick,feed the hunger and cloth the poor.A simple focus on helping people.
Motivational speakers are expected to impact positively on people.They should help,not only in words ,but deeds.A motivational speaker who simply speaks to hungry followers will soon be regarded as a babbler.
4.What was king career related challenge?
King had issues with women.In fact,even after he married, he was reported to be having extramarital affairs.although,this was not confirmed, Kings past life can attest to his affinity with feminine.
As a motivational speaker,you must learn you weakness.you can't fix a problem unless you discover the problem.
5.What was kings break through?
Kings never had a full break through from his obsession with women. But his marriage was of powerful help to him.intact on several occasions,he was not awarded alone.rather his wife was also a benefactor of his awards.
As a motivational speaker, Do you look for practical ways to have a breakthrough from your problems?
If you have a problem and you aren't doing anything to fix it,you are not fit for being a motivational speaker.
6.What was the public opinion about Kings happiness?
Although,Kings died at 39,He had the heart of a 90 years old.Scientist explained that from a likely point of view,Kings has always had some sort of worries all his life.
King may have become the happiest man in life if he had "gotten to the promised land". Until that promised land is attained,Martin Luther king jnr was described as "never being completely happy".
As a motivational speaker, we don't expect you to have achieved all your goals in life.yet,we want to see you hungry,upset,slightly unhappy until you attain that goal.
Can you relate?
Do you want to become a motivational speaker?
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