Martin Luther King Sr. ( born Martin Luther King Sr. , born Michael King ; December 19, 1899 - November 11, 1984) - American Baptist pastor, missionary, human rights activist, public figure. Father of Martin Luther King . He advocated for equal justice.
| Martin Luther King | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Michael king |
| Date of Birth | |
| Place of Birth | Stockbridge, Georgia, USA |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | Atlanta (Georgia), USA |
| A country | |
| Occupation | Priest, honorary prefix "Rev." |
| Spouse | Alberta Williams King |
| Children | King, Martin Luther , Christine King Farris, Alfred Daniel Williams King |
King Sr. led the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and became the leader of the African American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) as head of the Atlanta branch of the Atlanta NAACP and head of the Civil Political League. He pushed his son to take an active part in the movement.
Biography
At birth, Michael King was named [3] on December 19, 1899 in Stockbridge, Georgia. His father was James (Jim) King (1864-1933) and his mother was Delia Linsi King (1875-1924). [4] Michael was the eldest of nine children, [5] and the family worked as sharecroppers.
King was a member of the Baptist Church and decided to become a priest, inspired by pastors preparing to stand up for racial equality. He moved from Stockbridge to Atlanta, where his sister Woody communicated with Rev. A.D. Williams, then head of the Eberezer Baptist Church. He attended Dillard University for two and a half years. After King began to look after the daughter of Williams Alberta Williams King, her family encouraged him to get an education and become a preacher. King received his high school education at Bryant Preparatory School and began to preach in some of Atlanta's black churches.
In 1926, King began his preaching work at Morehouse University. On Thanksgiving in 1926, after eight years of courtship, he married Alberta in the Ebenezer Church. For four years, the couple had three children: a daughter (Willie Kristin King, born in 1927), Martin Luther King (1929-1968) and the second son Alfred Daniel Williams King (1930-1969).
King Sr. became the head of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in March 1931 after the death of Williams. During the period when the country was in the Great Depression and the church was financially lame, King organized fundraising campaigns and increased membership and avoided regress in the church. By 1934, King became a well-known respected leader and changed his name from Michael to Martin Luther, in honor of the very Martin Luther , a German priest and professor of theology who initiated the Protestant revolution.
King remained the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church for four decades, having great influence from the black community and earning a certain authority from the white community. His sermons were also broadcast on Atlanta's local radio.
In his early essay Autobiography of Religious Development , King Jr. wrote that the main reason that he also decided to engage in preaching was the example of his father. King Jr. often recalled that his father sent him to work in childhood on the field, so, in his opinion, he could gain the respect of his ancestors. This factor was the cause of human rights activities in the United States. .
In his memoirs, King Jr. recalled one case when he and his father were asked to transfer to one public place. “This was the first time I saw my father so furious. This experience of my early childhood is still reproduced in my head with precision, when I, as a child, still realized that my father never adapted to the system, and he always shaped my childhood consciousness. I still remember how I dragged my feet along the street after him, and he muttered with displeasure under his breath: "I do not care how long I have to live in this system, I never accept it." [6]
And here is another case concerning King Jr. Once a police officer stopped their car and turned to King’s father with the appeal “boy” - “boy”. King Sr. pointed to his son and said: “Here he is a boy, and I am a man, and I will not listen to you until you call me accordingly.”
King Jr. became an assistant pastor at Ebenezer in 1948, and his father wrote a letter of recommendation for him at Crozier College. Despite the theological differences, father and son will later work together as pastors in the church.
King Sr. led an equal teacher strike in Atlanta. He also played an important role in ending the Jim Crow Laws in the state. He also participated in a boycott of the 1920s bus lines. King Sr. emphasized the need for an educated and politically active black clergy.
In October 1960, King Jr. was arrested on a sit-in in Atlanta, and Robert Kennedy called the judge and helped release King. Although King had not previously supported Kennedy since he was a Catholic, he expressed his appreciation for these calls and began to support Kennedy. From that moment, King Sr. became a Republican for life, and supported Republican Richard Nixon .
His son, Martin Luther King, Jr., later becomes a famous human rights activist. Inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi in India, he led non-violent strikes to empower African Americans.
King Jr. was shot dead in 1968. His youngest son, Alfred King, by an unfortunate coincidence, drowned, dying nine days before his 39th birthday. His wife Alberta was killed in June 1974. She was sitting in their church building when they shot her. King continued to work as a pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church until 1975.
In 1969, King Sr. was one of several members of the board of directors of Morhouse University, taken hostage by a group of students requiring reform of the curriculum and board. One of these students was Samuel Leroy Jackson , who was conditionally sentenced for what he had done. Subsequently, he became an Oscar winner . [7]
King Sr. played a significant role in the election of Jimmy Carter as a candidate for the presidency of the Democratic Party. After his success at the Congress of Factions in Iowa , the Primaries and the Primaries in Florida, the social liberals launched the anti-campaign Any, but not Carter ( ABC: “Anyone But Carter” ). It was King who, by his influence among the black community of the rest of the states, put an end to Carter's campaign headquarters in his favor, thereby putting an end to the era of racial segregation in Georgia, and helped to repeal laws restricting voting rights, especially among African Americans. With the support of King, Carter continued to build coalitions of black and white voters and won the election. King Senior read a prayer at the 1976 and 1980 Democratic National Meetings. King Sr. is also a member of the Brotherhood of Omega-psi-fi .
With his son’s widow, Coretta, Scott King attended the 1977 death ceremony of Presidential Luther King Jr., President Carter.
King Sr. published his memoirs in 1980.
King Sr. died at a Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia on November 11, 1984 from a heart attack . [eight]
See also
- King, Martin Luther , the famous son of Martin Luther King Sr.
- King, Martin Luther III , one of the grandchildren of Martin Luther King Art., Son of Martin Luther King.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 SNAC - 2010.
- ↑ 1 2 Find a Grave - 1995. - ed. size: 165000000
- ↑ National Archives Registration Card , Retrieved 12 May 2006.
- ↑ King Encyclopedia Archived January 31, 2009 on Wayback Machine . Retrieved May 23, 2006.
- ↑ Ancestry of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. , compiled by William Addams Reitwiesner. Retrieved May 23, 2006.
- ↑ Chapter 1: Early Years Archived July 16, 2007. . The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- ↑ Thespian Net . Samuel L. Jackson . Retrieved 24 April 2007.
- ↑ Rev Martin Luther King, Sr (1899-1984) - Find A Grave Memorial