Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
By Marvin Jefferson
Essay
Reverend, Theologian, civil and human rights leader and arguably the “greatest American of the 20th century” Dr. King embodied all of these things but, ironically, he would be the first to disown most of the titles afforded him. He was an intensely guilt ridden yet brilliant man who rose to greatness during the most eventful years of the Civil Rights Movement.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929 and raised in a middle-class African-American community by his parents, Rev. and Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr., Dr. King’s relationship with the black church, his optimism in human nature and his inner knowledge of the worth and dignity of African-American people was nurtured in his early years.
In 1953 he married Coretta Scott and in 1954, he was appointed pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. This would essentially mark the end of his “quiet middle-class existence.” For the next 13 years he would be in the forefront of a movement that would become known as “the second American Revolution.”
From the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56) to the Poor People’s campaign (1967-68),
His was a life with extreme measures of joy, pain, triumph, tragedy, hatred and most of all, love.
Recommended Reading
Garrow, David J. Bearing The Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Eaton Press, 1986.
Oates, Stephen B. Let The Trumpet Sound, The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. HarperCollins, 1982.
Cone, James H. Martin & Malcolm & America, A Dream or a Nightmare. Orbis Books, 1992.
Branch, Taylor. At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years 1965-1968. Simon and Schuster, 2007.
Carson, Clayborne. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Warner Books, 1998.
Dyson, Michael Eric. I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr. Free Press, 2001.
Resources for Youth
Farris, Christine King. My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up With The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Aladdin, 2003.
Marvin Jefferson
Marvin Jefferson has an extensive background as a professional actor and between 1997 and 2009 he has performed the Paul Robeson Chautauqua for the entire Newark, New Jersey school district for 12 years. He prepared for his portrayal of Paul Robeson by attending, in the summer of 1997, the Annual Great Plains Chautauqua in West Fargo, North Dakota. Also during this time period, Marvin began his Chautauqua portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Between 2005 and 2010 he appeared as Robeson in the Colorado, Maryland, South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio and Nevada Chautauqua festivals.He has also portrayed Dr. King throughout New York and New Jersey and in 2011 at the Nevada Chautauqua festival. Marvin was introduced to Chautauqua by two renowned scholars, the late Giles R. Wright and Dr. Clement A. Price. He currently teaches acting at Bloomfield College in New Jersey. Between 1981 and 1996 he was the producer/artistic director of the Ensemble Theatre Company (ETC), a professional Newark, New Jersey-based acting company that he co-founded. Marvin studied acting at the Mason Gross School of Arts, Rutgers University. In 2012 and 2013, Marvin portrayed York of the Lewis and Clark expedition for Ohio Chautauqua.
Bullet Points
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Dr. King stated that his home life in Atlanta, Georgia (1929-1948) was very “congenial,” that he had a wonderful mother and father. It was this aspect that inspired him to feel that God is a God of love, that his optimism came from his experiences growing up.
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It was during his years at Morehouse College (1944-1948) that he first read Henry David Thoreau’s essay “On Civil Disobedience.” This would prove to be a major inspiration for Dr. King for it was Thoreau's insistence that evil must be resisted that was the template of Dr. King's belief in non-violent resistance.
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A sermon by Dr. Mordecai Johnson while at Crozer Theological Seminary (1948-1951) on the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi inspired Dr. King to read extensively about Gandhi and his successful use of non-violent resistance.
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With an idea from Marian Wright (now Marian Wright Edleman) and inspired by the Bonus Marches of the early 1930’s, in 1967, Dr. King was forming the Poor People's Campaign to focus on economic inequality.
Quotes
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."
"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Timeline
1929
Martin Luther King, Jr. (originally Michael King, Jr.) is born to Rev. and Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr. (formerly Alberta Christine Williams) in Atlanta, Georgia.
1944
Dr. King passes the entrance examination to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia without graduating from high school.
1947
Dr. King is licensed to preach.
1948
Dr. King is ordained to the Baptist ministry, is appointed associate pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
He graduates from Morehouse College with a BA degree in Sociology.
He enters Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.
1951
Dr. King graduates from Crozer with a Bachelor of Divinity degree.
He enters Boston University to earn a Ph.D.
1953
Dr. King marries Coretta Scott in Marion, Alabama.
1954
The Supreme Court of the United States rules unanimously in Brown vs. Board of Education
against school segregation.
Dr. King is appointed the twentieth pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
1955
Dr. King receives a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Boston University.
Rosa Parks, who refuses to relinquish her seat to a white man is arrested on December 1.
Dr. King is voted president of the Montgomery Improvement Association on December 5, the first day of the Montgomery bus boycott.
1956
Dr. King is arrested for the first time in Montgomery for an alleged traffic violation; he is released on his own recognizance.
A bomb is thrown onto the porch of Dr. King’s Montgomery home. No one was injured.
Federal injunctions prohibiting segregation on buses are served on city and bus company officials in Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery buses are integrated.
1957
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is founded with Dr. King as its president.
He delivers the speech, “Give Us the Ballot” for the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, D.C. at the Lincoln Memorial.
1958
While autographing his recent book in Harlem, New York, Dr. King was stabbed in the chest by Mrs. Izola Curry. His condition was serious but not critical.
1959
Dr. and Mrs. King spend a month in India studying Gandhi’s techniques of nonviolence as guests of Prime Minister Jawaharal Nehru.
1960
Dr. King and his family move to Atlanta, Georgia. He becomes co-pastor, with his father, of the Ebenezer Baptist Church.
The first student sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters take place in Greensboro, NC.
1961
The first group of Freedom Riders, with the intent of integrating interstate buses, leaves Washington, D.C.
Dr. King arrives in Albany, Georgia to help with the Albany Movement.
1962
The Albany Movement becomes Dr. King’s first major defeat as a Civil Rights leader.
Dr. King meets with President John F. Kennedy at the White House for a one-hour conference.
1963
Dr. King and SCLC launched “Project C” meaning confrontation, in Birmingham, Alabama to protest segregation in eating facilities.
Dr. King writes the “Letter From A Birmingham Jail” while imprisoned for demonstrating.
At the March on Washington, Dr. King delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Four young girls are killed in a Birmingham, Alabama church bombing.
President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
1964
Dr. King attends the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the White House.
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, civil rights workers, are found murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi.
Dr. King receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.
1965
Malcolm X, leader of the Organization of Afro-American Unity and former Nation of Islam leader, is murdered in New York City.
A group of marching demonstrators is beaten when crossing the Edmund Pettis Bridge on their planned march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama. They were beaten by state highway patrolmen.
Over three-thousand protest marchers leave Selma for a march to Montgomery, Alabama protected by federal troops. Upon reaching the capital, twenty-five thousand hear an address by Dr. King.
The Voting Rights Act is signed by President Johnson.
In Watts, a ghetto in Los Angeles, explodes in a weeklong riot.
1966
Dr. King begins his first northern nonviolent direct action campaign in the city of Chicago, Il.
Dr. King encounters for the first time the phrase “Black Power” while in Mississippi during the “March Against Fear.”
1967
Dr. King gives a major speech voicing his opposition to the Vietnam War titled “Beyond Vietnam” at Riverside Church in New York City.
Dr. King announces the formation by SCLC of a Poor People’s Campaign with the aim of representing the problems of the nation’s poor.
1968
Dr. King is asked to assist striking black sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn.
He leads a march of six thousand through downtown Memphis; disorder breaks out.
Dr. King gives his last speech titled “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” at the Memphis Masonic Temple.
Dr. King is assassinated while standing on second floor balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn.