Dr. Martin Luther King: is american living the dream of king in the 21st century

MARTIN LUTHER KING , JR : AN UNFULFILLED DREAM

BY

Martin Luther King , Jr . was an American clergyman and Nobel Prize winner . He was one of the principal leaders of the American civil rights movement and an advocate of nonviolent protest . His challenges to segregation and racial discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s convinced many white Americans to support the cause of civil rights in the United States . After his assassination in 1968 , Martin Luther King Jr . became a symbol of protest in the struggle for racial justice

Martin Luther King , Jr . was

born on January 15 , 1929 King in Atlanta Georgia to the Rev . Martin Luther King , Sr . and Alberta Williams King His first name was listed on his birth records as Michael instead of Martin . Apparently , their family doctor thought that his father 's name was Michael who was known as Mike throughout his childhood . Later on his first name was changed to Martin

King attended elementary and high school at local segregated public schools , where he excelled . He entered college at nearby Morehouse College at age 15 and in 1948 graduated with a bachelor 's degree in sociology . He was ordained as Baptist minister at the age of 18 . He graduated with honors from Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania in 1951 . King also went to Boston University where he earned a doctoral degree in systematic theology in 1955

King 's public-speaking abilities developed slowly during his collegiate years . While in Morehouse College he won a second-place prize in a speech contest although he received Cs in two public-speaking courses in his first year at Crozer . However , by the end of his third year at Crozer , professors were praising King for the powerful impression he made in public speeches and discussions . Later on , King 's public-speaking abilities became renowned during his involvement in the civil rights movement

Martin Luther King , Jr . was exposed to influences that related Christian theology to the struggles of oppressed peoples during his education . His studies of the teachings of Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi influenced his attitude on nonviolent protests . He was also influenced by the sermons of white Protestant ministers who preached against American racism . A very important person who shaped King 's theological development was Benjamin E . Mays who was the president of Morehouse College and who was also a leader in the national community of racially liberal clergymen

While studying in Boston University , King met Coretta Scott who was a music student and native of Alabama . The two were married in 1953 and eventually would have four children . King accepted his first pastorate at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery , Alabama in 1954 . This church has a well-educated congregation and had recently been led by a minister who had protested against segregation

In 1955 , while King was serving as a pastor in Montgomery , Alabama , the black community has a long-standing grievances about their maltreatment in city buses . The blacks are often bullied and only allowed to sit at the back portion of...