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Martin Luther King Research Paper

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Martin, born 1929 in Atlanta, lived his early years on the streets of Sweet Auburn, a neighborhood home to some of the most affluent and prosperous African-Americans in America then. He was raised in a loving Christian middle-class family, who were dedicated members of the community. His mother, Alberta Williams King, was the daughter of Rev. A. D. Williams, who was among the most prominent black ministers of his time, and his father, Martin Luther King Sr., was a devout Baptist minister of the local church, Ebenezer Baptist, who won great respects among both blacks and whites. This secure and comfortable upbringing that his parents provided, however, could not draw King’s attention away from the racism in the world. He was aware of this problem …show more content…

He skipped his sophomore and senior years of high school, and was admitted into Morehouse College at the age of fifteen. In spite of his family’s involvement in worship, King, throughout his adolescence, felt uncomfortable towards the religious emotionalism in church. Nevertheless, the Christian doctrine was dubious to King, who once told his Sunday school teacher that he didn’t believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. While studying at Morehouse, he renewed his faith under the tutelage of theologian, Benjamin E. Mays. Mays encouraged King to view Christianity as “a potential force for progressive social change,” and withal, was destined to accept his “call” to the ministry, not only to satisfy his father’s wishes, but to fulfill his service to humanity. King graduated from Morehouse with a major in sociology, and was ordained into his Father’s ministry. He continued his studies in systemic theology at the Crozer Theology Seminary institution in Pennsylvania, and years later, enrolled in a doctoral study at the University of Boston in Massachusetts, where he met the love of his life, Ms. Coretta Scott. The newlyweds married the summer of 1953, and settled in the town of Montgomery, Alabama, where King was offered the position of pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist …show more content…

King’s campaign was successful in integrating several of the downtown area’s facilities, however, his peaceful demonstrations were often met with the savagery and brutality of Birmingham’s police department. This had sparked national outrage. King, on the other hand, was condemned by clergymen of his tactics and the dangers posed on families, and was sentenced to jail, along with many other demonstrators. There in his prison cell, he drafted his famous manifesto, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” as a response to the

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