Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t just wake up one morning and say, “I want to change the world.” He knew that it didn’t work like that. Martin Luther King Jr. worked all his life trying to earn the rights he should have had in the first place. Even though most people say that King Jr.’s desire to take a stand for civil rights started after he heard about Rosa Parks, It started long before that. King Jr. knew from the moment he was a young boy that he should be treated better and with respect. His father was one of King Jr.’s role models and leaders. He learned from his father to take a stand in something if you believe it to be the right thing to do. Over the years, Martin Luther King Jr. has shared some of his most important memories that he will never forget.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15th 1929 as Michael King Junior in Atlanta Georgia to Reverend Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. By the age of five, he and his father were registered as Martin Luther King and Martin Luther King Jr. By age 15, Martin Luther was accepted to Morehouse College in Atlanta. His father was a representative there. Martin Luther King Jr. became a clergyman at Ebenezer Baptist Church; his father’s church. He later began to study at Crozet Theological College located in Pennsylvania. He graduated there in 1951 ( deGegory 302).
King Jr., like most young boys, looked up to his father. One memory that he had shared about his father was one where he saw his father as fearless. He said that he remembered one day at a shoe store with his father (Mwita 197). As young King Jr. and his father were in a shoe store, a shoe clerk had come up to serve them, but the clerk would only serve them if they moved toward the back of the store. This ...

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...esulted in a new Civil Rights Act passed only a week after Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. Today, we celebrate his memory and the legacy he left behind with Martin Luther King Jr. Day (deGregory 108).

Works Cited

deGregory, Crystal A. “Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-68) Freedom Facts and First: 400 Years of the African
American Civil Rights Experience” History Reference Center. 2009. P302. 2p. Web.
Miller, Ronald Mellado. “Becoming King: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Making of a National Leader”
Western Journal of Black Studies. Fall2009. Vol. 33 Issue 3. P228-229 2p. Web.
Mwita, Mahiri. “Martin Luther King Jr.’s Lifestyle and Social Interest in His Autobiographical Early
Memories.” Journal of Individual Psychology. Summer 2004. Vol. 60 Issue 2, p. 191-203. 13p.
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Samuels, Allison. “A Man, Not A Monument” Newsweek, 4/14/2008. Vol. 151 Issue 15. P.37. 2/3p.