today we're looking at martin luther king jr
hello welcome to the daily bell ringer and please don't forget to subscribe and take a look at the
questions down in the description each year on the third monday in january our nation pauses
to remember a great american and leader martin luther king jr martin luther king day or mlk
day became an official holiday in february of 1983 and was first officially celebrated in 1986
martin luther king's birthday was on january 15th and although the holiday does not always
necessarily fall exactly on his birthday it is celebrated as a day to honor the civil rights
leader martin luther king jr was born january 15 1929 in atlanta georgia the middle child of
michael king senior and alberta williams king his birth name was michael king jr after his father in
1931 his father michael king senior became the pastor of ebeneezer baptist church in atlanta
soon after in 1934 michael king senior changed his name to martin luther in honor of the german
protestant leader and likewise his son martin luther king jr took on the name he went to
booker t washington high school in atlanta and was an extremely intelligent student so much so
that he skipped the 9th and 11th grades and began attending morehouse college at the age of only 15.
while in college king decided to follow in his father's footsteps and become a pastor
he graduated in 1948 from morehouse college and then went on to kosher theological seminary
in pennsylvania to train to become a minister after graduating from kosher he then went on to
pursue a doctoral degree at boston university and it was while attending boston university that he
met coretta scott and in 1953 they were married and would go on to have four children together
in 1954 king became the pastor of the dexter avenue baptist church of montgomery alabama and
then finished his doctoral degree the following year and he did all of this by the time he was
only 25 years old now throughout all of king's life he had experienced racial discrimination
with many southern states having what were called jim crow laws in place that sought to
segregate african americans from whites there were separate water fountains bathrooms seating
areas and restaurants and separate schools for whites to attend in separate schools for african
americans to attend state governments claim that these different facilities were separate but equal
but the clear fact was facilities for african americans were not funded well and by no means
were equal these discriminatory laws which stretched all the way back to the civil war
were basically accepted by southern society and of course king rightly so saw these laws as being
wrong and there needed to be change shortly after king moved montgomery alabama in december of 1955
rosa parks boarded a city bus and took a seat soon the bus was full and by city code african
americans had to give up their seats on city buses to white passengers rosa parks refused to give up
her seat and she was arrested that evening several african-american community leaders met to organize
a boycott of the montgomery bus system they chose martin luther king to be the leader of the boycott
and for over a year king led the charge in boycotting the system and arguing for fair
treatment of african-americans all the while king and african-americans had to endure
harassment and violence from those opposed to their efforts king's house was even attacked
but by december of 1956 courts had ruled that the city's segregated bus rules were unconstitutional
and violated the 14th amendment it was a major victory in the civil rights movement and brought
king into the national spotlight as a leader of the movement but there was still many more
changes that needed to be made and king was ready to be a leading voice for change
king stressed the importance of non-violence as he aided in organizing protests against unfair
laws and practices in fact king was arrested 29 times most times on charges of civil disobedience
but king never fought back at those arresting him in 1963 king was arrested while helping to
lead a protest in downtown birmingham alabama while in jail he wrote his famous letter from
birmingham jail which again stressed the power of non-violent protest as a means of creating change
in august of 1963 king traveled to washington dc to speak at the march on washington in which over
200 000 people gathered at the lincoln memorial to argue for racial justice their king arguably gave
his most famous speech the i have a dream speech in which he discussed his belief that someday all
races would be treated equally and in 1964 he became the youngest person ever to receive the
nobel peace prize at the age of only 35. also in 1964 king was instrumental in getting the civil
rights act passed which prohibited discrimination based on race color sex or religion and in 1965
he would aid in the famous civil rights march from selma to montgomery alabama for the next few years
king traveled the country giving speeches and helping to lead the movement for change
but on april 3rd 1968 while in memphis tennessee king was shot and killed by
an assassin while standing outside of his hotel room he was only 39 years old
in 2011 the martin luther king memorial was open in washington dc as a monument to the legacy
of martin luther king the 30-foot tall statue of king stands as a reminder of the injustices that
have been overcome and the hope for a future in which all people regardless of their race
will be treated equally so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching