By: Temiloluwa Alagbe
tdalagbe@gmail.com
We all know the revolutionary Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for being a great leader and one of the most famous activists in the civil rights movement in America. MLK is huge for his iconic “I Have A Dream speech delivered in 1963, and his philosophy on nonviolence to influence change in America’s broken system. However, there is so much more to learn about the reverend, and how they contributed to his legacy.
- MLK entered college at the age of 15
Martin Luther King Jr. was a very bright young student. Due to his intelligence and high marks, he skipped grades nine and twelve and enrolled in Morehouse College at the age of 15. Morehouse college is a historically black men’s liberal arts college in Atlanta Georgia. MLK graduated in 1948 to later study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.
- He was imprisoned almost 30 times
Martin Luther King went to jail 29 times. According to history.com, charges include acts of “civil disobedience.” For example, in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham Alabama for protesting the treatment of African Americans even though the protests were peaceful. A court ordered that he could not hold protests in Birmingham anymore.
The letter from the Birmingham Jail: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr/The-letter-from-the-Birmingham-jail
- “I Have A Dream” was not his first speech at the Lincoln Memorial
On May 17, 1957, King and other civil rights leaders spoke in the shadow of the great emancipator during the prayer pilgrimage for freedom. MLK gave a “Give Us the Ballot” oration, which gained immense attention from the public, & made him more well known. The program urged the federal government to fulfill Brown. vs. Board of Education. It features speeches, spirituals, and songs.
More information on a Prayer Pilgrimage for freedom: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/prayer-pilgrimage-freedom
- He is the only American other than George Washington, who’s birthday is on a national holiday
MLK was the first modern citizen to be honored with a federal holiday. John Conyers, a former Democratic Congressman from Michigan, took the floor of Congress to insist on a federal holiday to honor King. This led to many attempts year after year until it finally passed. The Congressional Black Caucus gained more than six million signatures in support. The bill passed with former president Ronal Reagan signing the legislation.
- Lastly, his name wasn’t originally Martin
The name on MLK’s original birth certificate was not Martin or Luther. In fact, for the first years of his life, he was Michael King Jr. His father Michael King Sr was a pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. He changed his name along with his son’s, after being deeply inspired by the Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther, whom he learned about after a trip to Germany, which had an overwhelming effect on him. Michael King Sr. arrived in Germany a year after Adolf Hitler became chancellor.
Citations:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/young-martin-luther-king-jr/552512/
https://www.history.com/news/martin-luther-king-jr-day-controversial-origins-of-the-holiday
The Daily Gator 