Martin Luther King Jr in 5 Minutes

He was a Minister… a poet..a lover of word and freedom. He was a family man,a talented speaker, a seeker of truth and justice. He met every challenge he faced and by the time he went home to see the lord he was already an American icon. He was Martin Luther King JR and this is his story....

He was born Michael Luther King Jr but had his name changed to Martin later in life. His grandfather and Father were Pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. The family legacy served there since 1914 and from 1916 until he death Martin Luther King Jr acted as co-pastor alongside his father. Martin attended a segregated public school in Atlanta GA graduating high school at the age of 15 after skipping two grades. He was a talented young man receiving his bachelors of the arts degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished university in which his father and grandfather graduated from.

After three years of theological study of Crozer Seminary in which he was also elected president of, he was awarded bachelors of divinity in 1951. He then enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University and received his Ph.D. in 1955. In Boston, he also met and married Coretta Scott intellectual and artistic young women. They married and bore 2 sons and 2 daughters. 

in 1954 Martin Luther King Jr became Pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery Alabama. He as a strong advocate of civil rights in the black community. He held a position in the executive community of the NAACP- the civil rights activists group of that time. As a member, one of his first tasks was the organize the first great protest for civil rights in united states contemporary history. This was a 382-day long bus boycott in Montgomery Alabama for at the same time people of different races were not allowed to ride in the same sections of the bus and sometimes not even on the same buses at all. The boycott would prove to be quite effective for on December 31st, 1956 the supreme court of the united states declared unconstitutional all the laws requiring segregation on buses. During this boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subject to personal abuse but at the same time, he emerged a hero in the civil rights community.

Martin Luther King was not just famous however for his “i have a dream” speech. What is the most outstanding is that he based his entire model  for the non violent movement on his experience as a Christian minister. He led massive protest that taught the attention of the entire world all stemming from his belief that all men are created equal under god. before a crowd of nearly 250k people he made a proclamation. and that proclamation was that we should not be judged by the color of our skin but rather by the content of our character and his character was one of greatness - One that will be remembered in the history books as a man beyond reproach, a man that received the Nobel peace prize at the age of 35, a man that was given distinct honor from leaders all around the world... a champion for the rights of those who have no freedom... would that he were with us today, but alas it is not so. A sniper ended his life on April 4th 1968 as he was standing on the balcony of his motel room in Tennessee but though he died that day, his legacy lives on it lives on in the hearts of those who are like-minded Christ followers seeking true equality. Not the fraudulent equality that puts one above another but a truly colorblind equality and one that values each person as a child of god and as children of god ourselves we must do all we can to make sure that his dream is upheld and his legacy is not forgotten and that we too can join in that triumphant day and scream together "free at last, free at last - thank God almighty we are free at last.