Martin Luther King Jr.

“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”. This is an excerpt from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech, one of the many that he wrote and is well known for. Martin Luther King, Jr. is an extraordinary life, and will be remembered for his many accomplishments.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was given the name Michael Luther King but later changed his name to Martin Luther King, Jr. He was the second child born to Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. He married Coretta Scott on June 18, 1953. They had four children, Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice Albertine.

Martin Luther King, Jr. began his education at the age of five, but when the school found out that he was not yet six, they dismissed him from school until the following year. His scores were so high on the college entrance examinations in his junior year of high school, that they advanced him to college without a formal graduation from high school. He skipped both the ninth and twelfth grades, so he was only fifteen when he entered Morehouse College. He graduated with a B.A. degree in sociology. He then went on to a Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. He continued his studies in theology at Boston University and Harvard. He was awarded the Ph. D degree on June 5, 1955.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was ordained in February of 1948 at the age of nineteen. Dr. King was awarded many honorary degrees from various colleges and universities in the United States and several foreign countries. Dr. King was a driving force in the Civil Rights Movement. He was arrested thirty times for his participation in Civil Rights activities. Dr. King received numerous awards for his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King also wrote six books and numerous articles. Dr. King’s speech at the March on Washington in 1963, along with his acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize and his final sermon in Memphis are among his most famous utterances. Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 at the age of thirty-five.