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King was [[Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination|assassinated]] on [[April 4]], [[1968]], in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]]. He was posthumously awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1977. [[Martin Luther King, Jr. Day]] was established as a [[Federal holiday|national holiday]] in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a [[Congressional Gold Medal]].<ref name=WEB-AR1>{{cite web | title=Top 100 American Speeches by Rank Order | publisher=American Rhetoric |date=2006 | url =http://americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html | accessdate=2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
King was [[Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination|assassinated]] on [[April 4]], [[1968]], in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]]. He was posthumously awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1977. [[Martin Luther King, Jr. Day]] was established as a [[Federal holiday|national holiday]] in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a [[Congressional Gold Medal]].<ref name=WEB-AR1>{{cite web | title=Top 100 American Speeches by Rank Order | publisher=American Rhetoric |date=2006 | url =http://americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html | accessdate=2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
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== |
==Life== |
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{{AfricanAmerican|right}} |
{{AfricanAmerican|right}} |
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Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on [[January 15]], [[1929]], in [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. He was the son of the [[Reverend]] [[Martin Luther King, Sr.]] and [[Alberta Williams King]]. King's father was born "Michael King", and Martin Luther King, Jr. was initially named "Michael King, Jr.", until |
Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on [[January 15]], [[1929]], in [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. He was the son of the [[Reverend]] [[Martin Luther King, Sr.]] and [[Alberta Williams King]].<ref>{{cite book|title=All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half Century of Brown v. Board of Education|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|pages=138|last=Ogletree|first=Charles J.|isbn=0393058972|date=2004}}</ref> King's father was born "Michael King", and Martin Luther King, Jr. was initially named "Michael King, Jr.", until the family traveled to Europe in 1934 and visited Germany. His father soon changed both of their names to Martin to honor the German Protestant [[Martin Luther]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Ling|first=Peter J.|pages=11|publisher=Routledge|date=2002|isbn=0415216648}}</ref> He had an older sister, [[Christine King Farris|Willie Christine]] (born [[September 11]], [[1927]]) and a younger brother, [[Alfred Daniel Williams King|Alfred Daniel]] ([[July 30]], [[1930]] – [[July 1]], [[1969]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Clayborne Carson; Peter Holloran; Ralph Luker; Penny A. Russell|title=The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=University of California Press|date=1992|isbn=0520079507|pages=76}}</ref> King sang with his church choir at the 1939 Atlanta premiere of the movie ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]].''<ref>{{cite book|last=Katznelson|first=Ira|pages=5|title=When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America|isbn=0393052133|date=2005|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company}}</ref> He entered [[Morehouse College]] at age fifteen, skipping his ninth and twelfth high school grades without formally graduating.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Ching|first=Jacqueline|pages=18|isbn=0823935434|publisher=Rosen Publishing Group|date=2002}}</ref> In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] (B.A.) degree in [[sociology]],<ref>{{cite book|title=To See the Promised Land: The Faith Pilgrimage of Martin Luther King, Jr|pages=150|last=Downing|first=Frederick L.|publisher=Mercer University Press|date=1986|isbn=0865542074}}</ref> and enrolled in [[Crozer Theological Seminary]] in [[Chester, Pennsylvania|Chester]], [[Pennsylvania]], from which graduated with a [[Bachelor of Divinity]] (B.D.) degree in 1951.<ref>{{cite book|title=Gandhi and King: The Power of Nonviolent Resistance|last=Nojeim|first=Michael J.|pages=179|isbn=0275965740|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=2004}}</ref> In September 1951, King began doctoral studies in [[systematic theology]] at [[Boston University]] and received his [[Doctor of Philosophy]] (Ph.D.) on [[June 5]], [[1955]].<ref name=kingcenterbio/}} In 1954, at age 25, King became pastor of the [[Dexter Avenue Baptist Church]] in [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], [[Alabama]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Fuller|first=Linda K.|pages=314|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=2004|isbn=0275972704|title=National Days/National Ways: Historical, Political, And Religious Celebrations around the World}}</ref> |
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| title =The King Center: Biography |
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| publisher =[[The King Center]] |
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| date = 2006 |
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| url =http://www.thekingcenter.org/mlk/bio.html |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref>. In 1953, at age 24, King became pastor of the [[Dexter Avenue Baptist Church]] in [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], [[Alabama]]. |
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==Civil rights activism, 1953–1968== |
==Civil rights activism, 1953–1968== |
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===Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955=== |
===Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955=== |
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On [[December 1]], [[1955]], [[Rosa Parks]] was arrested for refusing to comply with the [[Jim Crow laws]] that required her to give up her seat to a white man.<ref>{{cite web|title=December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks arrested|date=2003-03-11|publisher=CNN|accessdate=2008-06-08|url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/10/sprj.80.1955.parks/index.html}}</ref> The [[Montgomery Bus Boycott]], urged and planned by [[E. D. Nixon]] (head of the Montgomery [[NAACP]] chapter and a member of the [[Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters]]) and led by King, soon followed.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Montgomery Bus Boycott|pages=24|last=Walsh|first=Frank|publisher=Gareth Stevens|date=2003|isbn=0836854039}}</ref> (In March 1955, a 15-year-old school girl, [[Claudette Colvin]], had to give up her seat, but King did not then become involved.)<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King Jr: Dreaming of Equality|last=Manheimer|first=Ann S.|pages=103|date=2004|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books|isbn=1575056275}}</ref> The boycott lasted for 385 days,<ref>{{cite book|title=Ethical Leadership Through Transforming Justice|last=McMahon|first=Thomas F.|pages=25|isbn=0761829083|publisher=University Press of America|date=2004}}</ref> and the situation became so tense that King's house was bombed.<ref>{{cite book|title=Patterns of Conflict, Paths to Peace|last=Fisk|first=Larry J.|pages=115|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=1551111543|coauthors=John Schellenberg|date=1999}}</ref> King was arrested during this campaign,<ref>{{cite book|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Clayborne Carson; Peter Holloran; Ralph Luker; Penny A. Russell|title=The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=University of California Press|date=1992|isbn=0520079507|pages=9}}</ref> which ended with a United States District Court ruling in ''[[Browder v. Gayle]]'' that ended [[racial segregation]] on all Montgomery public buses.<ref>{{cite book|title=From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice|last=Jackson|first=Thomas F.|isbn=0812239695|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=2007|pages=53}}</ref> |
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===Southern Christian Leadership Conference=== |
===Southern Christian Leadership Conference=== |
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King was instrumental in the founding of the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] (SCLC) in 1957, a group created to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests in the service of civil rights reform. King |
King was instrumental in the founding of the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] (SCLC) in 1957, a group created to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests in the service of civil rights reform. King led the organization until the time of his death.<ref>{{cite book|title=Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal: an African American Anthology|last=Marable|first=Manning|coauthors=Leith Mullings|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=084768346X|date=2000|pages=391-392}}</ref> In 1958, while signing copies of his book ''Strive Toward Freedom'' in a Harlem department store, he was stabbed in the chest by [[Izola Curry]], a deranged black woman with a letter opener, and narrowly escaped death.<ref>{{cite book|title=Coretta: The Story of Coretta Scott King|last=Vivian|first=Octavia|pages=45|isbn=0800638557|publisher=Fortress Press|date=2006}}</ref> |
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King was an adherent of the philosophies of nonviolent [[civil disobedience]] as described in [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s essay of the same name,<ref> |
King was an adherent of the philosophies of nonviolent [[civil disobedience]] as described in [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s essay of the same name,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/King//publications/autobiography/chp_2.htm|title=The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Morehouse College|publisher=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute|accessdate=2008-06-08}}</ref> and used successfully in [[India]] by "the Mahatma", [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas K. Gandhi]].<ref>{{cite book|title= Education for Peace: Testimonies from World Religions|pages=143|last=Gordon|first=Haim|coauthors=Leonard Grob|publisher=Orbis Books|date=1987|isbn=0883443597}}</ref> King applied this philosophy to the protests [[Community organizing|organized]] by the SCLC. |
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<!--The Chicago Daily Tribune states that Gandhi's nonviolent techniques were useful to King's campaign to correct the civil rights laws implemented in Alabama [ProQuest: "New Sitdowns Stir Violence in Tennessee"] Author Unknown, ''The Chicago Daily Tribune'', [[April 12]], [[1960]], retrieved [[March 11]] [[2006]].--> |
<!--The Chicago Daily Tribune states that Gandhi's nonviolent techniques were useful to King's campaign to correct the civil rights laws implemented in Alabama [ProQuest: "New Sitdowns Stir Violence in Tennessee"] Author Unknown, ''The Chicago Daily Tribune'', [[April 12]], [[1960]], retrieved [[March 11]] [[2006]].--> |
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In 1959, he wrote ''The Measure of A Man'', from which the piece ''[[What is Man? (King)|What is Man?]]'', an attempt to sketch the optimal political, social, and economic structure of society, is derived. |
In 1959, he wrote ''The Measure of A Man'', from which the piece ''[[What is Man? (King)|What is Man?]]'', an attempt to sketch the optimal political, social, and economic structure of society, is derived.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Measure of a Man|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|pages=9|isbn=0800608771|publisher=Fortress Press|date=1988}}</ref> |
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The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], under written directive from then Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]], began [[wiretapping]] King in |
The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], under written directive from then Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]], began [[wiretapping]] King in 1963.<ref>{{cite book|title=The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide|last=Theoharis|first=Athan G.|coauthors=Tony G. Poveda; Richard Gid Powers; Susan Rosenfeld|pages=148|isbn=089774991X|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=1999}}</ref> J. Edgar Hoover feared that [[Communism|Communists]] were trying to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement, but when no such evidence emerged, the bureau used the incidental details caught on tape over the next five years in attempts to force King out of the preeminent leadership position.<ref>{{cite book|title=The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide|last=Theoharis|first=Athan G.|coauthors=Tony G. Poveda; Richard Gid Powers; Susan Rosenfeld|pages=123|isbn=089774991X|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=1999}}</ref> |
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King correctly recognized that organized, nonviolent protest against the system of southern segregation known as [[Jim Crow laws]] would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality and voting rights. Journalistic accounts and televised footage of the daily deprivation and indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment of civil rights workers and marchers, produced a wave of sympathetic public opinion that |
King correctly recognized that organized, nonviolent protest against the system of southern segregation known as [[Jim Crow laws]] would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality and voting rights. Journalistic accounts and televised footage of the daily deprivation and indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment of civil rights workers and marchers, produced a wave of sympathetic public opinion that convinced the majority of Americans that the [[Civil rights|Civil Rights Movement]] was the most important issue in American politics in the early 1960s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Race and Labor Matters in the New U.S. Economy|last=Wilson|first=Joseph|coauthors=Manning Marable; Immanuel Ness|pages=47|isbn=0742546918|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Architects of Political Change: Constitutional Quandaries and Social Choice Theory|last=Schofield|first=Norman|isbn=0521832020|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2006|pages=189}}</ref> |
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King organized and led marches for blacks' right to [[Voting|vote]], [[desegregation]], [[labor rights]] and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted into [[Law of the United States|United States law]] with the passage of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]]. |
King organized and led marches for blacks' right to [[Voting|vote]], [[desegregation]], [[labor rights]] and other basic civil rights.<ref>{{cite book|title=From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice|last=Jackson|first=Thomas F.|isbn=0812239695|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=2007|pages=85}}</ref> Most of these rights were successfully enacted into [[Law of the United States|United States law]] with the passage of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].<ref>{{cite book|title= International Encyclopedia of Public Policy and Administration|last=Shafritz|first=Jay M.|pages=1242|date=1998|isbn=0813399742|publisher=Westview Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Passage of the Law that Ended Racial Segregation|last=Loevy|first=Robert D.|coauthors=Hubert H. Humphrey; John G. Stewart|isbn=0791433617|publisher=SUNY Press|date=1997|pages=337}}</ref> |
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King and the SCLC applied the principles of nonviolent protest with great success by strategically choosing the method of protest and the places in which protests were carried out. |
King and the SCLC applied the principles of nonviolent protest with great success by strategically choosing the method of protest and the places in which protests were carried out. There were often dramatic stand-offs with segregationist authorities. Sometimes these confrontations turned violent.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Human Tradition in the Civil Rights Movement|last=Glisson|first=Susan M.|pages=190|isbn=0742544095|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2006}}</ref> King and the SCLC were instrumental in the unsuccessful [[Albany Movement]] in [[Albany, Georgia|Albany]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], in 1961 and 1962, where divisions within the black community and the canny, low-key response by local government defeated efforts;<ref>{{cite book|title=The Human Tradition in the Civil Rights Movement|last=Glisson|first=Susan M.|pages=190-193|isbn=0742544095|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2006}}</ref> in the [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]] protests in the summer of 1963;<ref>{{cite book|title=Unto a Good Land: A History of the American People, Volume 2|pages=1055|coauthors=Edwin S. Gaustad; Randall M. Miller, John B. Boles; Randall Bennett Woods; Sally Foreman Griffith|last=Harrell|first=David Edwin|isbn=0802829457|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing}}</ref> and in the protest in [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]], [[Florida]], in 1964.<ref>{{cite book|title=African Americans in Florida: An Illustrated History|pages=113-115|last=Jones|first=Maxine D.|coauthors=Kevin M. McCarthy|isbn=156164031X|publisher=Pineapple Press Inc.|date=1993}}</ref> King and the SCLC joined forces with the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC) in [[Selma, Alabama|Selma]], [[Alabama]], in December 1964, where SNCC had been working on voter registration for several months.<ref> |
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{{cite news |
{{cite news |
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[[Image:Martin Luther King - March on Washington.jpg|thumb|right|King is perhaps most famous for his "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech, given in front of the [[Lincoln Memorial]] during the 1963 [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]].]] |
[[Image:Martin Luther King - March on Washington.jpg|thumb|right|King is perhaps most famous for his "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech, given in front of the [[Lincoln Memorial]] during the 1963 [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]].]] |
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King, representing SCLC, was among the leaders of the so-called "Big Six" civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]] in 1963. The other leaders and organizations comprising the Big Six were: [[Roy Wilkins]], [[NAACP]]; [[Whitney Young]], Jr., [[National Urban League|Urban League]]; [[A. Philip Randolph]], [[Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters]]; [[John Lewis (politician)|John Lewis]], [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee|SNCC]]; and [[James L. Farmer, Jr.|James Farmer]] of the [[Congress of Racial Equality]] (CORE). The primary logistical and strategic organizer was King's colleague [[Bayard Rustin]]. For King, this role was another which courted controversy, since he was one of the key figures who acceded to the wishes of President [[John F. Kennedy]] in changing the focus of the march. Kennedy initially opposed the march outright, because he was concerned it would negatively impact the drive for passage of civil rights legislation, but the organizers were firm that the march would proceed. |
King, representing SCLC, was among the leaders of the so-called "Big Six" civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]] in 1963. The other leaders and organizations comprising the Big Six were: [[Roy Wilkins]], [[NAACP]]; [[Whitney Young]], Jr., [[National Urban League|Urban League]]; [[A. Philip Randolph]], [[Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters]]; [[John Lewis (politician)|John Lewis]], [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee|SNCC]]; and [[James L. Farmer, Jr.|James Farmer]] of the [[Congress of Racial Equality]] (CORE).<ref>{{cite book|pages=1251|title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience|last=Gates|first=Henry Louis|coauthors=Anthony Appiah|publisher=Basic Civitas Books|isbn=0465000711|date=1999|pages=1251}}</ref> The primary logistical and strategic organizer was King's colleague [[Bayard Rustin]].<ref>{{cite book|title=African-Americans and the Quest for Civil Rights, 1900-1990|last=Cashman|first=Sean Dennis|pages=162|isbn=0814714412|publisher=NYU Press|date=1991}}</ref> For King, this role was another which courted controversy, since he was one of the key figures who acceded to the wishes of President [[John F. Kennedy]] in changing the focus of the march.<ref>{{cite book|title=Robert Kennedy and His Times|last=Schlesinger, Jr.|first=Arthur Meier|pages=351|isbn=0618219285|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books|date=2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|pages=74|last=Marable|first=Manning|isbn=0878054936|date=1991|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|title=Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945-1990}}</ref> Kennedy initially opposed the march outright, because he was concerned it would negatively impact the drive for passage of civil rights legislation, but the organizers were firm that the march would proceed.<ref>{{cite book|title=Kennedy, Johnson, and the Quest for Justice: The Civil Rights Tapes|last=Rosenberg|first=Jonathan|coauthors=Zachary Karabell|pages=130|isbn=0393051226|date=2003|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company}}</ref> |
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The march originally was conceived as an event to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in [[Southern United States|the South]] and a very public opportunity to place organizers' concerns and grievances squarely before the seat of power in the nation's capital. Organizers intended to excoriate and then challenge the federal government for its failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks, generally, in the South. However, the group acquiesced to presidential pressure and influence, and the event ultimately took on a far less strident tone. |
The march originally was conceived as an event to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in [[Southern United States|the South]] and a very public opportunity to place organizers' concerns and grievances squarely before the seat of power in the nation's capital. Organizers intended to excoriate and then challenge the federal government for its failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks, generally, in the South. However, the group acquiesced to presidential pressure and influence, and the event ultimately took on a far less strident tone.<ref name=farce>{{cite book|title=Living for Change: An Autobiography|last=Boggs|first=Grace Lee|pages=127|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|date=1998|isbn=0816629552}}</ref> As a result, some civil rights activists felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony; [[Malcolm X]] called it the "Farce on Washington," and members of the [[Nation of Islam]] were not permitted to attended the march.<ref name=farce/><ref>{{cite book|title=Mysteries in History: From Prehistory to the Present|last=Aron|first=Paul|pages=399|isbn=1851098992|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2005}}</ref> |
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As a result, some civil rights activists felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony; [[Malcolm X]] called it the "Farce on Washington," and members of the [[Nation of Islam]] who attended the march faced a temporary suspension.<ref name=infoplease>{{cite web |
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| last = Ross |
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| first = Samuel |
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| title = March on Washington |
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| work = Features |
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| publisher = [[Infoplease]] |
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|date= 2006 |
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| url = http://www.infoplease.com/spot/marchonwashington.html |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref> |
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The march did, however, make specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public school; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality; a $2 [[minimum wage]] for all workers; and self-government for the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]], then governed by congressional committee. |
The march did, however, make specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public school; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality; a $2 [[minimum wage]] for all workers; and self-government for the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]], then governed by congressional committee.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Sixties in America|last=Singleton|first=Carl|coauthors=Rowena Wildin|pages=454|isbn=0893569828|publisher=Salem Press|date=1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bennett|first=Scott H.|pages=225|date=2003|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=0815630034|title=Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915-1963}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Celebrating the Birthday and Public Holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Davis|first=Rep. Danny|publisher=Library of Congress|url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r110:46:./temp/~r110JkVd5O::|accessdate=2008-06-09|date=2007-01-16}}</ref> |
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Despite tensions, the march was a resounding success. More than a quarter million people of diverse ethnicities attended the event, sprawling from the steps of the [[Lincoln Memorial]] onto the [[National Mall]] and around the reflecting pool. At the time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington's history. King's "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech electrified the crowd. It is regarded, along with [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s [[Gettysburg Address]] and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[Infamy Speech]], as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory. |
Despite tensions, the march was a resounding success. More than a quarter million people of diverse ethnicities attended the event, sprawling from the steps of the [[Lincoln Memorial]] onto the [[National Mall]] and around the reflecting pool. At the time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington's history.<ref>{{cite book|pages=313|last=Powers|first=Roger S.|coauthors=William B. Vogele; Christopher Kruegler; Ronald M. McCarthy|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=1997|isbn=0815309139|title=Protest, power, and change: an encyclopedia of nonviolent action from ACT-UP to Women's Suffrage}}</ref> King's "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech electrified the crowd. It is regarded, along with [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s [[Gettysburg Address]] and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[Infamy Speech]], as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dream Assignment|publisher=Smithsonian Magazine|date=2003-08-01|accessdate=2008-06-09|last=Moore|first=Lucinda|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/dream-speech.html}}</ref> |
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Throughout his career of service, King wrote and spoke frequently, drawing on his experience as a preacher. His "[[Letter from Birmingham Jail]]", written in 1963, is a passionate statement of his crusade for [[justice]]. On [[October 14]], [[1964]], King became the youngest recipient of the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the [[United States]]. |
Throughout his career of service, King wrote and spoke frequently, drawing on his experience as a preacher. His "[[Letter from Birmingham Jail]]", written in 1963, is a "passionate" statement of his crusade for [[justice]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Galchutt|first=Kathryn M.|pages=194|isbn=086554946X|publisher=Mercer University Press|date=2005|title=The Career of Andrew Schulze, 1924-1968: Lutherans And Race in the Civil Rights Era}}</ref> On [[October 14]], [[1964]], King became the youngest recipient of the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Makers of Modern Culture: Makers of Culture|last=Wintle|first=Justin|pages=272|publisher=Routledge|date=2001|isbn=0415265835}}</ref> |
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==="Bloody Sunday", 1965=== |
==="Bloody Sunday", 1965=== |
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{{main|Selma to Montgomery marches}} |
{{main|Selma to Montgomery marches}} |
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King and [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference|SCLC]], in partial collaboration with [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee|SNCC]], attempted to organize a march from [[Selma, Alabama|Selma]] to the state capital of [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], for [[March 7]], [[1965]]. The first attempt to march on [[March 7]] was aborted because of mob and police violence against the demonstrators. This day has since become known as [[Selma to Montgomery marches|Bloody Sunday]]. Bloody Sunday was a major turning point in the effort to gain public support for the Civil Rights Movement, the clearest demonstration up to that time of the dramatic potential of King's nonviolence strategy. King, however, was not present. After meeting with [[President of the United States|President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], he |
King and [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference|SCLC]], in partial collaboration with [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee|SNCC]], attempted to organize a march from [[Selma, Alabama|Selma]] to the state capital of [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], for [[March 7]], [[1965]]. The first attempt to march on [[March 7]] was aborted because of mob and police violence against the demonstrators. This day has since become known as [[Selma to Montgomery marches|Bloody Sunday]]. Bloody Sunday was a major turning point in the effort to gain public support for the Civil Rights Movement, the clearest demonstration up to that time of the dramatic potential of King's nonviolence strategy. King, however, was not present. After meeting with [[President of the United States|President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], he decided not to endorse the march, but it was carried out against his wishes and without his presence on March 7 by local civil rights leaders. Footage of [[police brutality]] against the protesters was broadcast extensively and aroused national public outrage.<ref>{{cite book|title=From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice|last=Jackson|first=Thomas F.|isbn=0812239695|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=2007|pages=222-223}}</ref> |
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King next attempted to organize a march for March 9. |
King next attempted to organize a march for March 9. The SCLC petitioned for an injunction in federal court against the State of Alabama; this was denied and the judge issued an order blocking the march until after a hearing. Nonetheless, King led marchers on the 9th to the Edmund Pettus bridge, then held a short prayer session before turning the marchers around and asking them to disperse so as not to violate the court order. The unexpected ending of this second march aroused the surprise and anger of many within the local movement.<ref>{{cite book|title=From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice|last=Jackson|first=Thomas F.|isbn=0812239695|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=2007|pages=223}}</ref> The march finally went ahead fully on [[March 25]]; it was during this march that Willie Ricks coined the phrase "[[Black Power]]" (widely credited to [[Stokely Carmichael]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Isserman|first=Maurice|title=America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s|coauthors=Michael Kazin|pages=175|publisher=Oxford University Press US|date=2000|isbn=0195091906}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Riotmakers|last=Azbell|first=Joe|publisher=Oak Tree Books|date=1968|pages=176}}</ref> At the conclusion of the march and on the steps of the [[Alabama State Capitol|state capitol building]], King delivered a speech that has become known as "[[How Long, Not Long]]."<ref>{{cite book|last=Leeman|first=Richard W.|title=African-American Orators: A Bio-critical Sourcebook|pages=220|isbn=0313290148|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=1996}}</ref> |
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===Chicago, 1966=== |
===Chicago, 1966=== |
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[[Image:Martin Luther King, Jr. and Lyndon Johnson.jpg|thumb|right|King with President [[Lyndon Johnson]] in 1966]] |
[[Image:Martin Luther King, Jr. and Lyndon Johnson.jpg|thumb|right|King with President [[Lyndon Johnson]] in 1966]] |
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In 1966, after several successes in the South, King and other people in the civil rights organizations tried to spread the movement to the North, with [[Chicago]] as its first destination. King and [[Ralph Abernathy]], both middle class folk, moved into Chicago's slums as an educational experience and to demonstrate their support and empathy for the poor. |
In 1966, after several successes in the South, King and other people in the civil rights organizations tried to spread the movement to the North, with [[Chicago]] as its first destination. King and [[Ralph Abernathy]], both middle class folk, moved into Chicago's slums as an educational experience and to demonstrate their support and empathy for the poor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Adam Seth|pages=360-362|coauthors=Elizabeth Taylor|publisher=Back Bay|date=2000|isbn=0316834890|title=Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley : His Battle for Chicago and the Nation}}</ref> |
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The SCLC formed a coalition with CCCO, Coordinating Council of Community Organizations, an organization founded by [[Albert Raby|Albert Raby, Jr.]], and the combined organizations' efforts were fostered under the aegis of The Chicago Freedom Movement (CFM). During that spring several dual white couple/black couple tests on real estate offices uncovered the practice, now banned by the Real Estate Industry, of "steering"; these tests revealed the racially selective processing of housing requests by couples who were exact matches in income, background, number of children, and other attributes, with the only difference being their race. |
The SCLC formed a coalition with CCCO, Coordinating Council of Community Organizations, an organization founded by [[Albert Raby|Albert Raby, Jr.]], and the combined organizations' efforts were fostered under the aegis of The Chicago Freedom Movement (CFM).<ref>{{cite book|pages=1|last=Ralph|first=James|isbn=0674626877|publisher=Harvard Univerity Press|date=1993|title=Northern Protest: Martin Luther King, Jr., Chicago, and the Civil Rights Movement}}</ref> During that spring several dual white couple/black couple tests on real estate offices uncovered the practice, now banned by the Real Estate Industry, of "steering"; these tests revealed the racially selective processing of housing requests by couples who were exact matches in income, background, number of children, and other attributes, with the only difference being their race.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Adam Seth|pages=347|coauthors=Elizabeth Taylor|publisher=Back Bay|date=2000|isbn=0316834890|title=Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley : His Battle for Chicago and the Nation}}</ref> |
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The needs of the movement for radical change grew, and several larger marches were planned and executed, including those in the following neighborhoods: Bogan, Belmont-Cragin, Jefferson Park, Evergreen Park (a suburb southwest of Chicago), Gage Park and Marquette Park, among others. |
The needs of the movement for radical change grew, and several larger marches were planned and executed, including those in the following neighborhoods: Bogan, Belmont-Cragin, Jefferson Park, Evergreen Park (a suburb southwest of Chicago), Gage Park and Marquette Park, among others.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Adam Seth|pages=416|coauthors=Elizabeth Taylor|publisher=Back Bay|date=2000|isbn=0316834890|title=Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley : His Battle for Chicago and the Nation}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|pages=1|last=Ralph|first=James|isbn=0674626877|publisher=Harvard Univerity Press|date=1993|title=Northern Protest: Martin Luther King, Jr., Chicago, and the Civil Rights Movement}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Fairclough|first=Adam|pages=299|title=To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference & Martin Luther King, Jr.|date=1987|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=0820323462}}</ref> |
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In Chicago, Abernathy later wrote that they received a worse reception than they had in the South. Their marches were met by thrown bottles and screaming throngs, and they were truly afraid of starting a riot. King's beliefs mitigated against his staging a violent event |
In Chicago, Abernathy later wrote that they received a worse reception than they had in the South. Their marches were met by thrown bottles and screaming throngs, and they were truly afraid of starting a riot.<ref>{{cite book|title=Chicago: City Guide|last=Baty|first=Chris|pages=52|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=1741040329}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Jesse Jackson|last=Stone|first=Eddie|pages=59-60|isbn=087067840X|publisher=Holloway House Publishing|date=1988}}</ref> King's beliefs mitigated against his staging a violent event, and he negotiated an agreement with Mayor [[Richard J. Daley]] to cancel a march in order to avoid the violence that he feared would result from the demonstration.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lentz|first=Richard|title=Symbols, the News Magazines, and Martin Luther King|pages=230|publisher=LSU Press|date=1990|isbn=0807125245}}</ref> King, who received death threats throughout his involvement in the civil rights movemeny, was hit by a brick during one march but continued to lead marches in the face of personal danger.<ref>{{cite book|last=Isserman|first=Maurice|title=America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s|coauthors=Michael Kazin|pages=200|publisher=Oxford University Press US|date=2000|isbn=0195091906}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|pages=139|last=Miller|first=Keith D.|title=Voice of Deliverance: The Language of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Its Sources|isbn=0820320137|publisher=University of Georgia Press|date=1998}}</ref> |
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When King and his allies returned to the south, they left [[Jesse Jackson]], a seminary student who had previously joined the movement in the South, in charge of their organization. |
When King and his allies returned to the south, they left [[Jesse Jackson]], a seminary student who had previously joined the movement in the South, in charge of their organization.<ref>{{cite book|title=Meet Martin Luther King, Jr.|pages=20|last=Mis|first Melody S.|isbn=1404242090|publisher=Rosen Publishing Group|date=2008}}</ref> Jackson continued their struggle for civil rights by organizing the [[Operation Breadbasket]] movement that targeted chains stores that did not deal fairly with blacks.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Betrayal of the Urban Poor|last=Slessarev|first=Helene|pages=140|publisher=Temple University Press|date=1997|isbn=1566395437}}</ref> |
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===Opposition to the Vietnam War, 1967=== |
===Opposition to the Vietnam War, 1967=== |
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Starting in 1965, King began to express doubts about the United States' role in the [[Vietnam War]]. In an [[April 4]], [[1967]] appearance at the [[New York City]] [[Riverside Church]] |
Starting in 1965, King began to express doubts about the United States' role in the [[Vietnam War]]. In an [[April 4]], [[1967]] appearance at the [[New York City]] [[Riverside Church]]—exactly one year before his death—King delivered a speech titled "Beyond Vietnam".<ref name=vwar29>{{cite book|title=The African American Voice in U.S. Foreign Policy Since World War II|last=Krenn|first=Michael L.|pages=29|isbn=0815334184|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=1998}}</ref> In the speech, he spoke strongly against the U.S.'s role in the war, insisting that the U.S. was in Vietnam "to occupy it as an American colony"<ref>{{cite book|title=Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists|pages=107|last=Robbins|first=Mary Susannah|isbn=0742559149|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2007}}</ref> and calling the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today".<ref>{{cite book|title=Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists|pages=102|last=Robbins|first=Mary Susannah|isbn=0742559149|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2007}}</ref> He also argued that the country needed larger and broader moral changes: |
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{{Cquote|''A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in [[Asia]], [[Africa]] and [[South America]], only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just."<ref name=vwar109>{{cite book|title=Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists|pages=109|last=Robbins|first=Mary Susannah|isbn=0742559149|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2007}}</ref>}} |
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| last = King |
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| first = Martin Luther |
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| title = Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence |
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| work = Speech |
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| publisher = Hartford Web Publishing |
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| date= [[April 4]], [[1967]] |
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| url = http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-17}}</ref> |
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</blockquote> |
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King also was opposed to the [[Vietnam War]] on the grounds that the war took money and resources that could have been spent on the [[War on Poverty]]. The [[United States Congress]] was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs at the same time. He summed up this aspect |
King also was opposed to the [[Vietnam War]] on the grounds that the war took money and resources that could have been spent on the [[War on Poverty]]. The [[United States Congress]] was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs at the same time. He summed up this aspect by sayng, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death".<ref name=vwar109/> |
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King was long hated by many white [[Southern United States|southern]] segregationists, but this speech turned the more mainstream media against him. ''[[ |
King was long hated by many white [[Southern United States|southern]] segregationists, but this speech turned the more mainstream media against him. ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for [[Radio Hanoi]]",<ref name=vwar29/> and ''[[The Washington Post]]'' declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."<ref>{{cite book|title=Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968|last=Lawson|first=Steven F.|coauthors=Charles M. Payne; James T. Patterson|pages=148|isbn=0742551091|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2006}}</ref> |
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With regard to [[Vietnam]], King |
With regard to [[Vietnam]], King claimed that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands".<ref>{{cite book|title=Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists|pages=106|last=Robbins|first=Mary Susannah|isbn=0742559149|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2007}}</ref> King also criticized the United States' resistance to North Vietnam's land reforms.<ref>{{cite book|title=Against Us, But for Us: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the State|pages=199|last=Long|first=Michael G.|isbn=0865547688|publisher=Mercer University Press|date=2002}}</ref> He accused the United States of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children."<ref>{{cite book|last=Baldwin|first=Lewis V.|pages=273|title=To Make the Wounded Whole: The Cultural Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.|isbn=0800625439|publisher=Fortress Press|date=1992}}</ref> |
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The speech was a reflection of King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, |
The speech was a reflection of King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive [[Highlander Research and Education Center]], with whom King was affiliated.<ref>{{cite book|title=Restaging the Sixties: Radical Theaters and Their Legacies|pages=297|last=Harding|James Martin|coauthors=Cindy Rosenthal|isbn=0472069543|publisher=University of Michigan Press|date=2006}}</ref><Ref>{{cite book|title=Symbols, the News Magazines, and Martin Luther King|last=Lentz|first=Richard|pages=64|publisher=LSU Press|date=1990|isbn=0807125245}}</ref> King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation. Toward the end of his life, King more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Ling|first=Peter J.|pages=277|publisher=Routledge|date=2002|isbn=0415216648}}</ref> Though his public language was guarded, so as to avoid being linked to communism by his political enemies, in private he sometimes spoke of his support for [[democratic socialism]]. In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism", and claimed: |
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<blockquote>There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a [[democratic socialism]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African-American Thought|last=Franklin|first=Robert Michael|pages=125|publisher=Fortress Press|date=1990|isbn=0800623924}}</ref></blockquote> |
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{{Cquote|''You can't talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can't talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You're really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry… Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong… with [[capitalism]]… There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a [[democratic socialism]].<ref>Frogmore, South Carolina, [[November 14]], [[1966]]. Speech in front of his staff {{Fact|date=April 2008}}</ref>''}} |
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King had read [[Marx]] while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism," he also rejected Communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism," and its "political totalitarianism."<ref> |
King had read [[Marx]] while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism," he also rejected Communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism," and its "political totalitarianism."<ref>{{cite book|pages=39|last=King, Jr.|title=The Martin Luther King, Jr. Companion: Quotations from the Speeches, Essays, and Books of Martin Luther King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Coretta Scott King; Dexter Scott King|isbn=0312199902|publisher=St. Martin's Press|date=1998}}</ref> |
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King also stated in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech |
King also stated in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar....it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring".<ref name=v122>{{cite book|title=The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace|pages=122|last=Zinn|first=Howard|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=0807014079|date=2002}}</ref> King quoted a United States official, who said that, from Vietnam to [[South America]] to [[Latin America]], the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution"<ref name=v122/> King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America," and said that the United States should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the [[Third World]] rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace|pages=122-123|last=Zinn|first=Howard|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=0807014079|date=2002}}</ref> |
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===Poor People's Campaign, 1968=== |
===Poor People's Campaign, 1968=== |
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In 1968, King and the SCLC organized the "[[Poor People's Campaign]]" to address issues of economic justice. However |
In 1968, King and the SCLC organized the "[[Poor People's Campaign]]" to address issues of economic justice. However, King and SCLC's Poor People's Campaign was not unanimously supported by the other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, including Bayard Rustin. Their opposition incorporated arguments that the goals of Poor People Campaign were too broad, the demands unrealizable, and thought these campaigns would accelerate the backlash and repression on the poor and the black.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington|last=Isserman|first=Maurice|pages=281|isbn=1586480367|publisher=PublicAffairs|date=2001}}</ref> |
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| last =Patterson |
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| first =James T. |
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| title =An epic comes to a close |
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| pages =B12 |
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| publisher =[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |
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|date=[[January 29]] [[2006]] |
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| url =http://www.suntimes.com/search/index.html |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
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The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C. demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the United States. King |
The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C. demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the United States<ref>{{cite book|first=Ernesto B.|last=Vigil|title=The Crusade for Justice: Chicano Militancy and the Government's War on Dissent|pages=54|publisher=Univeristy of Wisconsin Press|isbn=0299162249|date=1999}}</ref> King traveled the country to assemble "a multiracial army of the poor" that would march on Washington to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol until Congress created a bill of rights for poor Americans.<ref name=lied>{{cite book|last=Kick|first=Russell|pages=1991|isbn=0966410076|publisher=The Disinformation Campaign|date=2001|title=You are Being Lied to: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths}}</ref> |
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King |
King and the SCLC called on the government to invest in rebuilding America's cities. He felt that Congress had shown "hostility to the poor" by spending "military funds with alacrity and generosity". He contrasted this with the situation faced by poor Americans, claiming that Congress had merely provided "poverty funds with miserliness".<ref name=lied/> His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: he cited systematic flaws of "racism, poverty, militarism and materialism", and argued that "reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced".<ref>{{cite book|title=Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968|last=Lawson|first=Steven F.|coauthors=Charles M. Payne; James T. Patterson|pages=148-149|isbn=0742551091|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2006}}</ref> |
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==Assassination, 1968== |
==Assassination, 1968== |
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'''{{main article|Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination}}''' |
'''{{main article|Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination}}''' |
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[[Image:Martin Luther King was shot here Small Web view.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Lorraine Motel]], where King was assassinated, is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum]] |
[[Image:Martin Luther King was shot here Small Web view.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Lorraine Motel]], where King was assassinated, is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum]] |
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On March |
On [[March 29]], [[1968]], King went to [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]] in support of the black sanitary public works employees, represented by [[AFSCME]] Local 1733, who had been on strike since [[March 12]] for higher wages and better treatment. In one incident, black street repairmen received pay for two hours when they were sent home because of bad weather, but white employees were paid for the full day.<ref name=AFSCME-WEB1>{{cite web |
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| title =1,300 Members Participate in Memphis Garbage Strike |
| title =1,300 Members Participate in Memphis Garbage Strike |
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| publisher =[[AFSCME]] |
| publisher =[[AFSCME]] |
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| |
|month=February |
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|year=1968 |
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| url =http://www.afscme.org/about/1529.cfm |
| url =http://www.afscme.org/about/1529.cfm |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref><ref name=AFSCME-WEB2>{{cite web |
| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref><ref name=AFSCME-WEB2>{{cite web |
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| title =Memphis Strikers Stand Firm |
| title =Memphis Strikers Stand Firm |
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| publisher =[[AFSCME]] |
| publisher =[[AFSCME]] |
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| |
|month=March |
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|year=1968 |
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| url =http://www.afscme.org/about/1532.cfm |
| url =http://www.afscme.org/about/1532.cfm |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Weary Feet, Rested Souls: A Guided History of the Civil Rights Movement|last=Davis|first=Townsend|pages=364|isbn=0393318192|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|date=1998}}</ref> |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref><ref name=NYTimes>{{cite news |
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| last = Rugaber |
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| first = Walter |
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| title = A Negro is Killed in Memphis |
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| publisher = [[The New York Times]] |
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|date=[[March 29]] [[1968]] |
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| url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40B1FFC3E541B7B93CBAB1788D85F4C8685F9 |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
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On [[April 3]], King |
On [[April 3]], King addressed a rally and delivered his "[[I've been to the Mountaintop]]" address at [[Mason Temple]], the World Headquarters of the Church of God in Christ. King's flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat against his plane.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/69542/page/2|title=The Worst Week of 1968, Page 2|publisher=Newsweek|accessdate=2008-06-10|date=2007-11-19|last=Thomas|first=Evan}}</ref> In the close of the last speech of his career, in reference to the bomb threat, King said the following: |
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<blockquote>And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? |
<blockquote>And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? |
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Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.<ref> |
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.<ref>{{cite book|last=Montefiore|first=Simon Sebag|pages=155|publisher=Quercus|date=2006|isbn=1905204167|title=Speeches that Changed the World: The Stories and Transcripts of the Moments that Made History}}</ref></blockquote> |
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King was booked in room 306 at the [[Lorraine Motel]], owned by Walter Bailey, in Memphis. The [[Ralph Abernathy|Reverend Ralph Abernathy]], King's close friend and colleague who was present at the assassination, swore under oath to the [[HSCA]] that King and his entourage stayed at room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often it was known as the 'King-Abernathy suite.'<ref name="usdoj">{{cite web |
King was booked in room 306 at the [[Lorraine Motel]], owned by Walter Bailey, in Memphis. The [[Ralph Abernathy|Reverend Ralph Abernathy]], King's close friend and colleague who was present at the assassination, swore under oath to the [[HSCA]] that King and his entourage stayed at room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often it was known as the 'King-Abernathy suite.'<ref name="usdoj">{{cite web |
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| url =http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/mlk/part6.htm |
| url =http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/mlk/part6.htm |
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| accessdate = 2007-07-21 |
| accessdate = 2007-07-21}} |
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</ref> King was shot at 6:01 p.m. [[April 4]], [[1968]] while he was standing on the motel's 2nd floor balcony. The bullet entered through his right cheek smashing his jaw and then traveling down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder.<ref name="CHI">{{cite book|last=Garner|first=Joe|pages=62|coauthors=Walter Cronkite; Bill Kurtis|publisher=Sourcebooks, Inc.|date=2002|isbn=1570719748|title=We Interrupt this Broadcast: The Events that Stopped Our Lives...from the Hindenburg Explosion to the Attacks of September 11}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King |last=Pepper|first=William|pages=159|date=2003|publisher=Verso|isbn=1859846955}}</ref> According to [[Jesse Jackson]], who was present, King's last words on the balcony were to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: "Ben, make sure you play [[Take My Hand, Precious Lord]] in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."<ref>{{cite web|title=40 years after King's death, Jackson hails first steps into promised land|last=Pilkington|first=Ed|date=2008-04-03|accessdaste=2008-06-11|publisher=The Guardian|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/03/usa.race}}</ref> Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King Jr|publisher=Longman|date=2005|isbn=0582414318|pages=181|last=Kirk|first=John A.}}</ref> The events following the shooting have been disputed, as some people have accused Jackson of exaggerating his response.<ref>{{cite web|title=Koch Says Jackson Lied About Actions After Dr. King Was Slain|date=1988-04-18|last=Purnick|first=Joyce|accessdate=2008-06-11|publisher=The New York Times|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEED7133EF93BA25757C0A96E948260}}</ref> |
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</ref> King was shot at 6:01 p.m. [[April 4]], [[1968]] while he was standing on the motel's 2nd floor balcony. The bullet entered through his right cheek smashing his jaw and then traveling down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder.<ref name="CHI">{{cite web |
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| title =Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. |
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| publisher =Christian History Institute |
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| date= March, 2007. |
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| url =http://chi.gospelcom.net/lives_events/more/mlk.shtml |
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| accessdate = 2007-07-21 |
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</ref> According to biographer [[Taylor Branch]], and also [[Jesse Jackson]], who was present<ref> |
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{{cite web |
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| title =40 years after King's death, Jackson hails first steps into promised land |
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| publisher =Guardian |
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| date= April 3, 2008 |
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| url =http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/03/usa.race |
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| accessdate = 2008-04-03 |
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</ref>, King's last words on the balcony were to musician Ben Branch (no relation to Taylor Branch) who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: "Ben, make sure you play [[Take My Hand, Precious Lord]] in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."<ref>{{cite book | last = Branch| first = Taylor | authorlink = Taylor Branch| title = At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 (America in the King Years) | series = | year = 2006| publisher = Simon & Schuster| isbn= 0684857138|pages=page 766}}</ref> Abernathy was inside the motel room, heard the shot and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor. There is some disagreement as to whether it was Abernathy who was on the balcony with King, and Jesse Jackson who ran onto the balcony after the shot was fired.[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEED7133EF93BA25757C0A96E948260 Koch disputes Jackson's statements about MLK assassination] |
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King was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7:05 p.m. The assassination led to a nationwide wave of [[Mass racial violence in the United States|riots]] in more than 100 cities.<ref name=BBC>{{cite news |
After emergency surgery, King was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7:05 p.m.<ref>{{cite book|title= House Divided: The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King|pages=48|last=Lokos|first=Lionel|publisher=Arlington House|date=1968}}</ref> The assassination led to a nationwide wave of [[Mass racial violence in the United States|riots]] in more than 100 cities.<ref name=BBC>{{cite news |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref> |
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President Lyndon B. Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning for the lost civil rights leader.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King Jr: Dreaming of Equality|last=Manheimer|first=Ann S.|pages=97|isbn=1575056275|date=2004|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books}}</ref> Vice-President [[Hubert Humphrey]] attended King's funeral on behalf of Lyndon B. Johnson, as there were fears that Johnson's presence might incite protests and perhaps violence.<ref>{{cite book|pages=169|last=Dickerson|first=James|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|date=1998|isbn=0765603403|title=Dixie's Dirty Secret: The True Story of how the Government, the Media, and the Mob Conspired to Combat Immigration and the Vietnam Antiwar Movement}}</ref> At his widow's request, King's last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church was played at the funeral.<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Book of Days|last=Hatch|first=Jane M.|coauthors=George William Douglas|publisher=Wilson|date=1978|pages=321}}</ref> It was a recording of his "Drum Major" sermon, given on [[February 4]], [[1968]]. In that sermon, King made a request that at his funeral no mention of his awards and honors be made, but that it be said that he tried to "feed the hungry", "clothe the naked", "be right on the [Vietnam] war question", and "love and serve humanity".<ref>{{cite book|title=Dream: The Words and Inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|pages=26|publisher=Blue Mountain Arts, Inc.|date=2007|isbn=1598422405}}</ref> His good friend [[Mahalia Jackson]] sang his favorite hymn, "Take My hand, Precious Lord", at the funeral.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Change is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America|last=Werner|first=Craig|pages=9|isbn=0472031473|publisher=University of Michigan Press|date=2006}}</ref> |
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According to biographer [[Taylor Branch]], King's autopsy revealed that though he was only 39 years old, he had the heart of a 60-year-old man, evidencing the stress of 13 years in the civil rights movement.<ref> |
According to biographer [[Taylor Branch]], King's autopsy revealed that though he was only 39 years old, he had the heart of a 60-year-old man, evidencing the stress of 13 years in the civil rights movement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mlk/filmmore/pt.html|title=Citizen King Transcript |publisher=PBS|accessdate=2008-06-12}}</ref> |
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After the assassination, the city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on terms favorable to the sanitation workers.<ref name=AFSCME-WEB3>{{cite web |
After the assassination, the city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on terms favorable to the sanitation workers.<ref name=AFSCME-WEB3>{{cite web |
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| title =AFSCME Wins in Memphis |
| title =AFSCME Wins in Memphis |
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| publisher =[[AFSCME]] |
| publisher =[[AFSCME]] |
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|date=April , 1968 |
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| url =http://www.afscme.org/about/1533.cfm |
| url =http://www.afscme.org/about/1533.cfm |
||
| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref><ref name=AFSCME-WEB4>{{cite web |
| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref><ref name=AFSCME-WEB4>{{cite web |
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| title =1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike Chronology |
| title =1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike Chronology |
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| publisher =[[AFSCME]] |
| publisher =[[AFSCME]] |
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|date=1968 |
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| url =http://www.afscme.org/about/1548.cfm |
| url =http://www.afscme.org/about/1548.cfm |
||
| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
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Two months after King's death, escaped convict [[James Earl Ray]] was captured at [[London Heathrow Airport]] while trying to leave the [[United Kingdom]] on a false [[Canada|Canadian]] passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd. Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's [[murder]]. He confessed to the assassination on [[March 10]], [[1969]], though he recanted this confession three days later. |
Two months after King's death, escaped convict [[James Earl Ray]] was captured at [[London Heathrow Airport]] while trying to leave the [[United Kingdom]] on a false [[Canada|Canadian]] passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Ling|first=Peter J.|pages=296|publisher=Routledge|date=2002|isbn=0415216648}}</ref> Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's [[murder]]. He confessed to the assassination on [[March 10]], [[1969]], though he recanted this confession three days later.<ref name=extradite>{{cite book|last=Flowers|first=R. Barri|coauthors=H. Loraine Flowers|pages=38|title=Murders in the United States: Crimes, Killers And Victims Of The Twentieth Century|publisher=McFarland|date=2004|isbn=0786420758}}</ref> |
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<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:MLK&Coretta.JPG|thumb|left|250px|[[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site|Martin Luther King's tomb]] now with his wife Coretta Scott King.]] --> |
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On the advice of his attorney [[Percy Foreman]], Ray took a guilty plea to avoid a trial conviction and thus the possibility of receiving the death penalty. Ray was sentenced to a 99-year prison term. |
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On the advice of his attorney [[Percy Foreman]], Ray took a guilty plea to avoid a trial conviction and thus the possibility of receiving the death penalty. Ray was sentenced to a 99-year prison term.<ref name=extradite/><ref name=cbs>{{cite web|title=James Earl Ray Dead At 70|date=1998-04-23|publisher=CBS|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/04/23/national/main7900.shtml|accessdate=2008-06-12}}</ref> |
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Ray fired Foreman as his attorney (from then on derisively calling him "Percy Fourflusher"). He claimed that a man he met in [[Montreal]], Canada with the alias "Raoul" was involved, as was his brother Johnny, but not he himself. Further, Ray asserted that although he did not "personally shoot King," he may have been "partially responsible without knowing it," hinting at a conspiracy. He spent the remainder of his life attempting (unsuccessfully) to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had. |
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Ray fired Foreman as his attorney (from then on derisively calling him "Percy Fourflusher").<ref>{{cite book|last=Clarke|first=James W.|pages=297|title=Defining Danger: American Assassins And the New Domestic Terrorists|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=0765802899}}</ref> He claimed that a man he met in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]] with the alias "Raoul" was involved and that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy.<ref>{{cite book|pages=17|author=House Select Committee on Assassinations|title=Compilation of the Statements of James Earl Ray: Staff Report|publisher=The Minerva Group, Inc.|isbn=0898752973|date=2001}}</ref><ref name=davis>{{cite book|title=Assassination: 20 Assassinations that Changed the World|pages=105|last=Davis|first=Lee|date=1995|publisher=JG Press|isbn=1-57215-235-4}}</ref> He spent the remainder of his life attempting (unsuccessfully) to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had.<ref name=cbs/> |
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On [[June 10]], [[1977]], shortly after Ray had testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he did not shoot King, he and six other convicts escaped from [[Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary]] in [[Petros, Tennessee|Petros]], [[Tennessee]]. They were recaptured on [[June 13]] and returned to prison.<ref name=FBI>{{cite web |
On [[June 10]], [[1977]], shortly after Ray had testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he did not shoot King, he and six other convicts escaped from [[Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary]] in [[Petros, Tennessee|Petros]], [[Tennessee]]. They were recaptured on [[June 13]] and returned to prison.<ref name=FBI>{{cite web |
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| title = |
| title = History of the Knoxville Office |
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| work = History of Knoxville Office |
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| publisher = [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] |
| publisher = [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] |
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|date= 2006 |
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| url = http://knoxville.fbi.gov/hist.htm |
| url = http://knoxville.fbi.gov/hist.htm |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref> |
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===Allegations of conspiracy=== |
===Allegations of conspiracy=== |
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Some have speculated that Ray had been used as a "[[Scapegoat|patsy]]" similar to the way that alleged [[John F. Kennedy]] assassin [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] was supposed to have been. Some of the claims used to support this assertion are: |
Some have speculated that Ray had been used as a "[[Scapegoat|patsy]]" similar to the way that alleged [[John F. Kennedy]] assassin [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] was supposed to have been. Some of the claims used to support this assertion are: |
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*Ray's confession was given under pressure, and he had been threatened with death penalty.<ref name= |
*Ray's confession was given under pressure, and he had been threatened with death penalty.<ref name=cbs/><ref>{{cite book|title=Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia|last=Knight|first=Peter|pages=402|isbn=1576078124|publisher=ABC-CLIO}}</ref> |
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| title =James Earl Ray Profile |
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| publisher =africanaonline.com |
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|date=2006 |
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| url =http://www.africanaonline.com/mlk_james_earl_ray.htm |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref><ref name=RHA-WEB1>{{cite web |
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| title =The Martin Luther King Assassination |
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| publisher =the Real History Archives |
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|date=2006 |
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| url =http://www.webcom.com/~lpease/collections/assassinations/mlk.htm |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
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*Ray was a thief and burglar and had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon.<ref name=CNN1>{{cite news |
*Ray was a thief and burglar and had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon.<ref name=CNN1>{{cite news |
||
| title = From small-time criminal to notorious assassin |
| title = From small-time criminal to notorious assassin |
||
| work = US news |
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| publisher = [[CNN]] |
| publisher = [[CNN]] |
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|date= 1998 |
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| url = http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/03/james.ray.profile/index.html |
| url = http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/03/james.ray.profile/index.html |
||
| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref><ref name=davis/> |
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Many suspecting a conspiracy in the assassination point out the two separate ballistic tests conducted on the Remington Gamemaster had neither conclusively proved Ray had been the killer nor that it had even been the murder weapon.<ref name= |
Many suspecting a conspiracy in the assassination point out the two separate ballistic tests conducted on the Remington Gamemaster recovered by police had neither conclusively proved Ray had been the killer nor that it had even been the murder weapon.<ref name=cbs/><ref name=BBC-WEB1>{{cite news |
||
| title =James Earl Ray Dead At 70 |
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| publisher =[[CBS]] |
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|date=[[April 23]] [[1998]] |
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| url =http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/04/23/national/main7900.shtml |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref><ref name=BBC-WEB1>{{cite news |
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| title =Questions left hanging by James Earl Ray's death |
| title =Questions left hanging by James Earl Ray's death |
||
| publisher =[[BBC]] |
| publisher =[[BBC]] |
||
|date=1998-04-23 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/82893.stm |
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|date=[[April 23]] [[1998]] |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> Moreover, witnesses surrounding King at the moment of his death say the shot came from another location, from behind thick shrubbery near the rooming house (which had been inexplicably cut away in the days following the assassination), and not from the rooming house window.<ref>{{cite book|pages=283|last=Frank|first=Gerold|date=1972|publisher=Doubleday|title=An American Death: The True Story of the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Greatest Manhunt of our Time}}</ref> |
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| url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/82893.stm |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> Moreover, witnesses surrounding King at the moment of his death say the shot came from another location, from behind thick shrubbery near the rooming house (which had been inexplicably cut away in the days following the assassination), and not from the rooming house window.<ref name=AO-WEB2>{{cite web |
|||
| title =Martin Luther King – Sniper in the Shrubbery? |
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| publisher =africanaonline.com |
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|date=2006 |
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| url =http://www.africanaonline.com/mlk_shrubbery.htm |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
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[[Image:MLK tomb.JPG|thumb|250px|Martin Luther King's original tomb, located on the grounds of the [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site|King Center]]]] |
[[Image:MLK tomb.JPG|thumb|250px|Martin Luther King's original tomb, located on the grounds of the [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site|King Center]]]] |
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[[Image:Martin Luther King Jr Coretta Scott King Tomb.jpg.jpg|thumb|250px|Martin Luther King's & Coretta Scott King's tomb, located on the grounds of the [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site|King Center]]]] |
[[Image:Martin Luther King Jr Coretta Scott King Tomb.jpg.jpg|thumb|250px|Martin Luther King's & Coretta Scott King's tomb, located on the grounds of the [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site|King Center]]]] |
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Line 285: | Line 206: | ||
In 1997, Martin Luther King's son [[Dexter Scott King|Dexter King]] met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a [[retrial]].<ref name=CNN2>{{cite news |
In 1997, Martin Luther King's son [[Dexter Scott King|Dexter King]] met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a [[retrial]].<ref name=CNN2>{{cite news |
||
| title = James Earl Ray, convicted King assassin, dies |
| title = James Earl Ray, convicted King assassin, dies |
||
| work = US news |
|||
| publisher = [[CNN]] |
| publisher = [[CNN]] |
||
|date= |
|date= 1998-04-23 |
||
| url = http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/23/ray.obit/#2 |
| url = http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/23/ray.obit/#2 |
||
| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref> |
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Line 293: | Line 213: | ||
In 1999, [[Coretta Scott King]], King's widow, along with the rest of King's family, won a [[Wrongful death claim|wrongful death]] [[civil trial]] against [[Loyd Jowers]] and "other unknown co-conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty and that "governmental agencies were parties" to the assassination plot.<ref>{{cite web |
In 1999, [[Coretta Scott King]], King's widow, along with the rest of King's family, won a [[Wrongful death claim|wrongful death]] [[civil trial]] against [[Loyd Jowers]] and "other unknown co-conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty and that "governmental agencies were parties" to the assassination plot.<ref>{{cite web |
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| title = Trial Transcript Volume XIV |
| title = Trial Transcript Volume XIV |
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| work = verdict |
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| publisher = The King Center |
| publisher = The King Center |
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|date= 2006 |
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| url = http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/trial/Volume14.html |
| url = http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/trial/Volume14.html |
||
| accessdate = 2007-03-24 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2007-03-24 }}</ref> |
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[[William F. Pepper]] represented the King family in the trial.<ref |
[[William F. Pepper]] represented the King family in the trial.<ref>{{cite book|title=Contemporary Controversies and the American Racial Divide|pages=97|last=Smith|first=Robert Charles|coauthors=Richard Seltzer|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2000|isbn=074250025X}}</ref> |
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| title = Text of the King family's suit against Loyd Jowers and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "unknown" conspirators |
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| publisher = [[Court TV]] |
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|date= 1999 |
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| url = http://www.courttv.com/archive/trials/mlk-civil/complaint_ctv.html |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref><ref name=rathause>{{cite web |
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| last = Pepper |
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| first = Bill |
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| title = William F. Pepper on the MLK Conspiracy Trial |
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| publisher = Rat Haus Reality Press |
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|date= [[April 7]], [[2002]] |
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| url = http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/WFPonMLK.pdf |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref><ref name=KingC>{{cite web |
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| title = Trial Information |
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| work = Complete Transcript of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination Conspiracy Trial |
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| publisher = The King Center |
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|date= 2006 |
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| url = http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/trial.html |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-17 }}</ref> |
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King biographer [[David Garrow]] disagrees with [[William F. Pepper]]'s claims that the government killed King. He is supported by author [[Gerald Posner]] who has researched and written about the assassination.<ref |
King biographer [[David Garrow]] disagrees with [[William F. Pepper]]'s claims that the government killed King.<ref>{{cite book|title=An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King|last=Pepper|first=William|pages=182|publisher=Verso|date=2003|isbn=1859846955}}</ref> He is supported by author [[Gerald Posner]] who has researched and written about the assassination.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Civil Rights Revolution: Events and Leaders, 1955-1968|last=Sargent|first=Frederic O.|pages=129|publisher=McFarland|date=2004|isbn=0786419148}}</ref> |
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| last = Ayton |
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| first = Mel |
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| title = Book review A Racial Crime: The Assassination of MLK |
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| publisher = [[History News Network]] |
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|date= [[February 28]], [[2005]] |
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| url = http://www.historynewsnetwork.org/articles/10325.html |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-18 }}</ref> |
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In 2000, the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] completed the investigation about Jowers' claims but did not find evidence to support allegations about conspiracy. The investigation report recommended no further investigation unless some new reliable facts are presented.<ref name=USDOJ>{{cite web |
In 2000, the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] completed the investigation about Jowers' claims but did not find evidence to support allegations about conspiracy. The investigation report recommended no further investigation unless some new reliable facts are presented.<ref name=USDOJ>{{cite web |
||
| title = |
| title = United States Department of Justice Investigation of Recent Allegations Regarding the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
||
| work = Overview |
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| publisher = [[United States Department of Justice|USDOJ]] |
| publisher = [[United States Department of Justice|USDOJ]] |
||
|date= June 2000 |
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| url = http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/mlk/part2.htm#over |
| url = http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/mlk/part2.htm#over |
||
| accessdate = 2006-09-18 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2006-09-18 }}</ref> |
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| title = My father killed King, says pastor, 34 years on |
| title = My father killed King, says pastor, 34 years on |
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| publisher = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |
| publisher = [[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |
||
|date= |
|date= 2002-04-06 |
||
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/06/1017206269495.html |
| url = http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/06/1017206269495.html |
||
| accessdate = 2006-09-18 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2006-09-18 }}</ref> |
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King's friend and colleague, James Bevel, disputed the argument that Ray acted alone, stating, "There is no way a ten-cent white boy could develop a plan to kill a million-dollar black man."<ref>{{cite book|last=Branch|first=Taylor|title=At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=2006|isbn=978-0-684-85712-1|pages=770}}</ref> In 2004, [[Jesse Jackson]], who was with King at the time of his death, noted: |
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In 2004, [[Jesse Jackson]], who was with King at the time of his death, noted: |
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<blockquote>The fact is there were saboteurs to disrupt the march. [And] within our own organization, we found a very key person who was on the government payroll. So infiltration within, saboteurs from without and the press attacks. …I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray.<ref name=Demo>{{cite news |
<blockquote>The fact is there were saboteurs to disrupt the march. [And] within our own organization, we found a very key person who was on the government payroll. So infiltration within, saboteurs from without and the press attacks. …I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray.<ref name=Demo>{{cite news |
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| first = Amy |
| first = Amy |
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| coauthors = Juan Gonzalez |
| coauthors = Juan Gonzalez |
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| title = Jesse Jackson On "Mad Dean Disease," the 2000 Elections and Martin Luther King |
| title = Jesse Jackson On "Mad Dean Disease," the 2000 Elections and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King |
||
| publisher = [[Democracy Now!]] |
| publisher = [[Democracy Now!]] |
||
|date= |
|date= 2004-01-15 |
||
| url = http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/15/1710221&mode=thread&tid=25 |
| url = http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/15/1710221&mode=thread&tid=25 |
||
| accessdate = 2006-09-18}}</ref></blockquote> |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-18}}</ref><ref>According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's friend and colleague, James Bevel, put it more bluntly: "[T]here is no way a ten-cent white boy could develop a plan to kill a million-dollar black man." ''At Canaan's Edge'', Simon & Schuster (2006), Hardcover, ISBN 978-0-684-85712-1, p. 770.</ref></blockquote> |
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==Influences== |
==Influences== |
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===Howard Thurman=== |
===Howard Thurman=== |
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Civil rights leader, theologian, and educator [[Howard Thurman]] was an early influence on King. A classmate of King's father at [[Morehouse College]], Thurman mentored the young King and his friends. Thurman's missionary work had taken him abroad where he had met and conferred with |
Civil rights leader, theologian, and educator [[Howard Thurman]] was an early influence on King. A classmate of King's father at [[Morehouse College]],<ref>{{cite book|title=With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman|last=Thurman|first=Howard|pages=254|publisher=Harcourt|date=1981|isbn=015697648X}}</ref> Thurman mentored the young King and his friends.<ref>{{cite book|pages=6|last=Thurman|first=Howard|coauthors=Walter E. Fluker; Catherine Tumber|publisher=Beacon Press|date=1998|isbn=080701057X|title=A Strange Freedom: The Best of Howard Thurman on Religious Experience and Public Life}}</ref> Thurman's missionary work had taken him abroad where he had met and conferred with [[Mohandas Gandhi]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Black Heritage Sites: An African American Odyssey and Finder's Guide|last=Curtis|first=Nancy C.|isbn=0838906435|publisher=ALA Editions|date=1996|pages=62}}</ref> When he was a student at Boston University, King often visited Thurman, who was dean of Marsh Chapel there.<ref>{{cite book|last=Marsh|first=Charles|pages=122|title=God's Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights|date=1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0691029407}}</ref> Walter Fluker, who has studied Thurman's writings, has stated, "I don't believe you'd get a Martin Luther King, Jr. without a Howard Thurman".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Legacy of Howard Thurman - Mystic and Theologian|date=2002-01-18|accessdate=2008-06-12|work=Religion & Ethics Newsweekly|publisher=PBS|url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week520/feature.html}}</ref> |
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===Bayard Rustin=== |
===Bayard Rustin=== |
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African American civil rights activist [[Bayard Rustin]], who had studied |
African American civil rights activist [[Bayard Rustin]], who had studied Gandhi's teachings,<ref>{{cite web|title=Book Review: Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen|last=Kahlenberg|first=Richard D.|publisher=Washington Monthly|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n4_v29/ai_19279952|accessdate=2008-06-12}}</ref> counseled King to dedicate himself to the principles of non-violence,<ref>{{cite book|pages=217|last=Bennett|first=Scott H.|title=Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915-1963|publisher=Syracuse University Press|date=2003|isbn=0815630034}}</ref> served as King's main advisor and mentor throughout his early activism,<ref>{{cite book|title=The Spirit of the Sixties: Making Postwar Radicalism|last=Farrell|first=James J.|pages=90|isbn=0415913853|publisher=Routledge|date=1997}}</ref> and was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.<ref>{{cite book|pages=138|first=David|last=De Leon|title=Leaders from the 1960s: a biographical sourcebook of American activism|date=1994|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=0313274142}}</ref> However, Rustin's open [[homosexuality]], support of [[democratic socialism]], and ties to the [[Communist Party USA]] caused many white and African-American leaders to demand that King distance himself from Rustin.<ref>{{cite book|pages=62|last=Arsenault|first=Raymond|title=Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice|isbn=0195136748|publisher=Oxford University Press US|date=2006}}</ref> |
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=== |
===Mohandas Gandhi=== |
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Inspired by [[ |
Inspired by [[Mohandas Gandhi]]'s success with non-violent activism, King visited the Gandhi family in India in 1959, with assistance from the [[Quaker]] group the [[American Friends Service Committee]] (AFSC).<ref>{{cite book|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Clayborne Carson; Peter Holloran; Ralph Luker; Penny A. Russell|title=The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=University of California Press|date=1992|isbn=0520079507|pages=3}}</ref> The trip to India affected King in a profound way, deepening his understanding of non-violent resistance and his commitment to America’s struggle for civil rights. In a radio address made during his final evening in India, King reflected, “Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation.”<ref>{{cite book|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Clayborne Carson; Peter Holloran; Ralph Luker; Penny A. Russell|title=The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=University of California Press|date=1992|isbn=0520079507|pages=135-136}}</ref> |
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==Stance on compensation== |
==Stance on compensation== |
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[[Image:Martin-Luther-King-1964-leaning-on-a-lectern.jpg|thumb|right|King giving a lecture on [[26 March]] [[1964]]]] |
[[Image:Martin-Luther-King-1964-leaning-on-a-lectern.jpg|thumb|right|King giving a lecture on [[26 March]] [[1964]]]] |
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Martin Luther King Jr. expressed a view that black Americans, as well as other disadvantaged Americans, should be compensated for historical wrongs. In an interview conducted for [[Playboy]] in 1965, he said that granting black Americans only equality could not realistically close the economic gap between them and whites. King said that he did not seek a full restitution of wages lost to slavery, which he believed impossible, but proposed a government compensatory program of US$50 billion over ten years to all disadvantaged groups. He posited that "the money spent would be more than amply justified by the benefits that would accrue to the nation through a spectacular decline in school dropouts, family breakups, crime rates, illegitimacy, swollen relief rolls, rioting and other social evils".<ref>{{cite book|title=A Testament of Hope: The Esential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Washington|first=James M.|date=1991|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-064691-8|pages=365-367}}</ref> He presented this idea as an application of the [[common law]] regarding settlement of unpaid labor but clarified that he felt that the money should not be spent exclusively on blacks. He stated, "It should benefit the disadvantaged of ''all'' races".<ref>{{cite book|title=A Testament of Hope: The Esential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Washington|first=James M.|date=1991|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-064691-8|pages=367-368}}</ref> |
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|last=Haley |
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|first=Alex |
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|title=Martin Luther King |
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|work=The Playboy Interview |
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|publisher=[[Playboy]] |
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|date=January 1965 |
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|url=http://www.playboy.com/arts-entertainment/features/mlk/04.html |
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|accessdate=2006-09-17}}</ref> His 1964 book ''Why We Can't Wait'' elaborated this idea further, presenting it as an application of the [[common law]] regarding settlement of unpaid labor.<ref>{{cite book |
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|last=King |
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|title=Why We Can't Wait |
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|publisher=Signet Classics |
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|year=2000 |
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|id=ISBN 0-451-52753-4}}</ref> |
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==King and the FBI== |
==King and the FBI== |
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King had a mutually antagonistic relationship with the FBI, especially its director, [[J. Edgar Hoover]].<ref>{{cite book|title=To See the Promised Land: The Faith Pilgrimage of Martin Luther King, Jr|pages=246-247|last=Downing|first=Frederick L.|publisher=Mercer University Press|date=1986|isbn=0865542074}}</ref> The FBI began tracking King and the SCLC in 1957;<ref>{{cite book|title=The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide|last=Theoharis|first=Athan G.|coauthors=Tony G. Poveda; Richard Gid Powers; Susan Rosenfeld|pages=123|isbn=089774991X|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=1999}}</ref> its investigations were largely superficial until 1962, when it learned that one of King's most trusted advisers was New York City lawyer [[Stanley Levison]]. The FBI found that Levison had been involved with the [[Communist Party USA]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Kotz|first=Nick|pages=233|isbn=0618088253|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books|date=2005|title=Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws that Changed America}}</ref> Another key King lieutenant, [[Hunter Pitts O'Dell]], was also linked to the Communist Party by sworn testimony before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC).<ref>{{cite book|last=Woods|first=Jeff|pages=126|date=2004|publisher=LSU Press|isbn=0807129267|Black Struggle, Red Scare: Segregation and Anti-communism in the South, 1948-1968}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|pages=87|title=The Real J. Edgar Hoover: For the Record|last=Wannall|first=Ray|isbn=1563115530|date=2000|publisher=Turner Publishing Company}}</ref> The Bureau placed wiretaps on Levison's and King's home and office phones, and bugged King's rooms in hotels as he traveled across the country.<ref name=right>{{cite web|title=JFK and RFK Were Right to Wiretap MLK|last=Ryskind|first=Allan H.|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200602/ai_n17173432/pg_2|accessdate=2008-06-14|publisher=Human Events|date=2006-02-27}}</ref><ref name=track>{{cite web|publisher=CNN|title=FBI tracked King's every move|date=2008-04-07|first=Jen|last=Christensen|acceessdate=2008-06-14|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/31/mlk.fbi.conspiracy/index.html}}</ref> The Bureau also informed Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, both of whom unsuccessfully tried to persuade King to dissociate himself from Levison.<ref name=right/> For his part, King adamantly denied having any connections to Communism, stating in a 1965 ''Playboy'' interview that "there are as many Communists in this freedom movement as there are [[Eskimo]]s in [[Florida]]";<ref>{{cite book|title=A Testament of Hope: The Esential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Washington|first=James M.|date=1991|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-064691-8|pages=362}}</ref> Hoover did not believe the statement and replied by saying that King was "the most notorious liar in the country."<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Biography|last=Bruns|first=Roger|pages=67|isbn=0313336865|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=2006}}</ref> |
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<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:JFKMLK.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[John F. Kennedy]] in the [[Oval Office]] with various civil rights activists including Martin Luther King (second from left).]] --> |
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The attempt to prove that King was a Communist was in keeping with the feeling of many segregationists that blacks in the South were happy with their lot but had been stirred up by "communists" and "outside agitators".<ref>{{cite book|title=Democratic Individuality: A Theory of Moral Progress|pages=435|last=Gilbert|first=Alan|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1990|isbn=0521387094}}</ref> Lawyer-advisor Stanley D. Levison did have ties with the Communist Party in various business dealings, but the FBI refused to believe its own intelligence bureau reports that Levison was no longer associated in that capacity.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King Jr: Dreaming of Equality|last=Manheimer|first=Ann S.|pages=50|date=2004|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books|isbn=1575056275}}</ref> In response to the FBI's comments regarding communists directing the civil rights movement, King said that "the Negro revolution is a genuine revoltion, born from the same womb that produces all massive social upheavals—the womb of intolerable conditions and unendurable situations".<ref>{{cite book|title=A Testament of Hope: The Esential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Washington|first=James M.|date=1991|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-064691-8|pages=363}}</ref> |
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King had a mutually antagonistic relationship with the FBI, especially its director, [[J. Edgar Hoover]]. Under written directives from Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]] (at Hoover's initiation), the FBI began tracking King and the SCLC in 1961. Its investigations were largely superficial until 1962, when it learned that one of King's most trusted advisers was New York City lawyer [[Stanley Levison]]. The FBI found that Levison had been involved with the [[Communist Party USA]]. Another key King lieutenant, [[Hunter Pitts O'Dell]], was also linked to the Communist Party by sworn testimony before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC). The Bureau placed wiretaps on Levison's and King's home and office phones, and bugged King's rooms in hotels as he traveled across the country. The Bureau also informed Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, both of whom unsuccessfully tried to persuade King to dissociate himself from Levison. For his part, King adamantly denied having any connections to Communism, stating in a 1965 ''Playboy'' interview<ref name=playboy/> that "there are as many Communists in this freedom movement as there are [[Eskimo]]s in [[Florida]]"; to which Hoover responded by calling King "the most notorious liar in the country." |
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Later, the focus of the Bureau's investigations shifted to attempting to discredit King through revelations regarding his private life. FBI surveillance of King, some of it since made public, attempted to demonstrate that he also engaged in numerous extramarital affairs.<ref name=track/> Further remarks on King's lifestyle were made by several prominent officials, such as President Johnson who once said that King was a “hypocritical preacher”.<ref>{{cite web|title=L.B.J., Hoover and Domestic Spying|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912799-2,00.html|publisher=Time|last=Sidey|first=Hugh|accessdate=2008-06-14|date=1975-02-10}}</ref> |
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The attempt to prove that King was a Communist was in keeping with the feeling of many segregationists that blacks in the South were happy with their lot but had been stirred up by "communists" and "outside agitators." Lawyer-advisor Stanley D. Levison did have ties with the Communist Party in various business dealings, but the FBI refused to believe its own intelligence bureau reports that Levison was no longer associated in that capacity. Movement leaders countered that voter disenfranchisement, lack of education and employment opportunities, discrimination and vigilante violence were the reasons for the strength of the Civil Rights Movement, and that blacks had the intelligence and motivation to organize on their own. |
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In 1989, [[Ralph Abernathy]], a close associate of King's in the civil right movement, stated in his book about the movement that King was a womanizer. The book was titled ''And The Walls Came Tumbling Down'', and was published by Harper & Row. In an interview, Abernathy said that he only wrote the term "womanizing", and did not specifically say King had extramarital sex.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.booknotes.org/Transcript/index_print.asp?ProgramID=1442|title=''And the Walls Came Tumbling Down]]'' by Rev. Ralph David Abernathy|publisher=Booknotes|date=1989-10-29|accessdate=2008-06-14}}</ref> Evidence indicating that King possibly engaged in sexual affairs is also detailed by history professor [[David Garrow]] in his book ''Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference'', published in 1986 by William Morrow & Company.<ref>{{cite web|title=The humanity of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Vigilance in pursuing his dream|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4044/is_200304/ai_n9232227|last=Burrow, Jr.|first=Rufus|publisher=Encounter|date=Spring 2003|accessdate=2008-06-14}}</ref> |
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Later, the focus of the Bureau's investigations shifted to attempting to discredit King through revelations regarding his private life. FBI surveillance of King, some of it since made public, attempted to demonstrate that he also engaged in numerous extramarital affairs. However, much of what was recorded was, as quoted by his attorney, speech-writer and close friend Clarence B. Jones, "midnight" talk or just two close friends joking around about women. Further remarks on King's lifestyle were made by several prominent officials, such as President Johnson who notoriously said that King was a “hypocrite preacher”. |
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The FBI distributed reports regarding such affairs to the executive branch, friendly reporters, potential coalition partners and funding sources of the SCLC, and King's family.<ref>{{cite book|title=Conspiracy Encyclopedia|last=Burnett|first=Thom|isbn=1843402874|publisher=Collins & Brown|date=2005|pages=58}}</ref> The Bureau also sent anonymous letters to King threatening to reveal information if he did not cease his civil rights work.<ref>{{cite book|pages=532|last=Thragens|first=William C.|title=Popular Images of American Presidents|isbn=031322899X|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=1988}}</ref> One anonymous letter sent to King just before he received the Nobel Peace Prize read, in part, "The American public, the church organizations that have been helping—Protestants, Catholics and Jews will know you for what you are—an evil beast. So will others who have backed you. You are done. King, there, is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite practical significant [sic]). You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy fraudulent self is bared to the nation."<ref>{{cite book|last=Kotz|first=Nick|pages=247|isbn=0618088253|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books|date=2005|title=Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws that Changed America}}</ref> King interpreted this as encouragement for him to commit suicide,<ref>{{cite book|pages=466|last=Wilson|first=Sondra K.|publisher=Oxford University Press US|date=1999|isbn=019511633X|title=In Search of Democracy: The NAACP Writings of James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and Roy Wilkins (1920-1977)}}</ref> although William Sullivan, head of the Domestic Intelligence Division at the time, argued that it may have only been intended to "convince Dr. King to resign from the SCLC."<ref name=Church>{{cite web |
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In 1989, [[Ralph Abernathy]], a close associate of King's in the civil right movement, stated in his book about the movement that King was a womanizer. The book was titled ''And The Walls Came Tumbling Down'', and was published by Harper & Row. The book was reviewed in ''The New York Times'' on [[October 29]] [[1989]]. Allegations of King's sexual conduct were discussed in that review, where Abernathy said that he only wrote the term womanizing, and did not specifically say King had extramarital sex.<ref>[http://www.booknotes.org/Transcript/index_print.asp?ProgramID=1442 ''[[And the Walls Came Tumbling Down]]'', by Rev. Ralph David Abernathy] Booknotes.org</ref> Also, evidence indicating that King possibly engaged in sexual affairs is detailed by history professor [[David Garrow]] in his book ''Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference'', published in 1986 by William Morrow & Company. It was not proven whether he agreed to have sex with a woman the night before his assassination. |
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The FBI distributed reports regarding such affairs to the executive branch, friendly reporters, potential coalition partners and funding sources of the SCLC, and King's family. The Bureau also sent anonymous letters to King threatening to reveal information if he did not cease his civil rights work. One anonymous letter sent to King just before he received the Nobel Peace Prize read, in part, "…The American public, the church organizations that have been helping — Protestants, Catholics and Jews will know you for what you are — an evil beast. So will others who have backed you. You are done. King, there, is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite practical significance). You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy fraudulent self is bared to the nation."<ref name=oil>{{cite web |
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| title = MLK Suicide letter |
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| publisher = Oilempire.us |
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|date= 2006 |
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| url = http://www.oilempire.us/graphics/mlksuicideletter.gif |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-18 }}</ref> This statement is often interpreted as inviting King's suicide,<ref name=LAt>{{cite news |
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| last = Jalon |
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| first = Allan M. |
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| title = A Break-In to End All Break-Ins |
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| publisher = [[Los Angeles Times]] |
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|date= [[March 8]], [[2006]] |
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| url = http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0308-27.htm |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-18 }}</ref> though William Sullivan argued that it may have only been intended to "convince King to resign from the SCLC."<ref name=Church>{{cite web |
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| last = Church |
| last = Church |
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| first = Frank |
| first = Frank |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-18 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2006-09-18 }}</ref> |
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In [[January 31]], [[1977]], [[United States district court|United States District Judge]] [[John Lewis Smith, Jr.]], ordered all known copies of the recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI's electronic surveillance of King between 1963 and 1968 to be held in the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]] and sealed from public access until 2027.<ref>{{cite web|title=Documenting the Struggle for Racial Equality in the Decade of the Sixties|publisher=The National Archives and Records Administration|url=http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/equality-in-the-sixties.html#f3|date=Summer 1997|last=Phillips|first=Geraldine N.|work=Prologue Magazine|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> |
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Finally, the Bureau's investigation shifted away from King's personal life to intelligence and [[COINTELPRO|counterintelligence]] work on the direction of the SCLC and the [[Black Power]] movement. |
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In [[January 31]], [[1977]], in the cases of ''[[Bernard S. Lee v. Clarence M. Kelley, et al.]]'' and ''[[Southern Christian Leadership Conference v. Clarence M. Kelley, et al.]]'' [[United States district court|United States District Judge]] [[John Lewis Smith, Jr.]], ordered all known copies of the recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI's electronic surveillance of King between 1963 and 1968 to be held in the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]] and sealed from public access until 2027. |
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Across from the Lorraine Motel, next to the rooming house in which James Earl Ray was staying, was a vacant fire station. The FBI was assigned to observe King during the appearance he was planning to make on the Lorraine Motel second-floor balcony later that day, and utilized the fire station as a makeshift base. Using papered-over windows with peepholes cut into them, the agents watched over the scene until Martin Luther King was shot. Immediately following the shooting, all six agents rushed out of the station and were the first people to administer first-aid to King. Their presence nearby has led to speculation that the FBI was involved in the assassination. |
Across from the Lorraine Motel, next to the rooming house in which James Earl Ray was staying, was a vacant fire station. The FBI was assigned to observe King during the appearance he was planning to make on the Lorraine Motel second-floor balcony later that day, and utilized the fire station as a makeshift base. Using papered-over windows with peepholes cut into them, the agents watched over the scene until Martin Luther King was shot. Immediately following the shooting, all six agents rushed out of the station and were the first people to administer first-aid to King. Their presence nearby has led to speculation that the FBI was involved in the assassination. |
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|issues=[[Racial Equality]], [[Civil Rights]] |
|issues=[[Racial Equality]], [[Civil Rights]] |
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}} |
}} |
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Besides winning the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, in 1965 King was awarded the American Liberties Medallion by the [[American Jewish Committee]] for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty |
Besides winning the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize,<ref name=merv/> in 1965 King was awarded the American Liberties Medallion by the [[American Jewish Committee]] for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=843719&ct=1052921|publisher=American Jewish Committee|title=Commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr.: Presentation of American Liberties Medallion|last=Engel|first=Irving M.|accessdate=2008-06-13}}</ref> Reverend King said in his acceptance remarks, "Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free".<ref>{{cite web|title=Commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr.: Response to Award of American Liberties Medallion|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|publisher=American Jewish Committee|url=http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=843719&ct=1052923|accessdate=2008-06-13}}</ref> |
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In 1965 King was awarded the [[Pacem in Terris Award]]. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by [[Pope John XXIII]] |
In 1965 King was awarded the [[Pacem in Terris Award]]. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by [[Pope John XXIII]] calling for all people to strive for peace.<ref>{{cite web|title=Habitat co-founder to receive Pacem in Terris award tonight|date=2005-10-23|accessdate=2008-06-13|url=http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2005/10/23/news/local/doc435b0e9c484dc514864978.txt|publisher=Quad-City Times}}</ref> [[Pacem in Terris]] is [[Latin]] for 'Peace on Earth.'<ref>{{cite book|pages=3|author=Pope John XXII|publisher=Paulist Press|date=1963|title=Pacem in Terris: Peace on Earth; Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope John XXII}}</ref> |
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In 1966, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America awarded King the [[Margaret Sanger]] Award for "his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity."<ref name=PP>{{cite web |
In 1966, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America awarded King the [[Margaret Sanger]] Award for "his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity."<ref name=PP>{{cite web |
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| title = The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. upon accepting The Planned Parenthood Federation Of America Margaret Sanger Award |
| title = The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. upon accepting The Planned Parenthood Federation Of America Margaret Sanger Award |
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| publisher = [[Planned Parenthood|PPFA]] |
| publisher = [[Planned Parenthood|PPFA]] |
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|date= 2006 |
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| url = http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/the-reverend-martin-luther-king-jr.htm |
| url = http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/the-reverend-martin-luther-king-jr.htm |
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| accessdate = 2006-09-18 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2006-09-18 }}</ref> |
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King was posthumously awarded [[Marcus Garvey|The Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights]] by the [[Jamaica|Jamaican Government]] in 1968. |
King was posthumously awarded [[Marcus Garvey|The Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights]] by the [[Jamaica|Jamaican Government]] in 1968.<ref name=kingcenterbio/> |
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In 1971, King was posthumously awarded the [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album|Best Spoken Word Recording]] for his ''Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam''. |
In 1971, King was posthumously awarded the [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album|Best Spoken Word Recording]] for his ''Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam''.<ref>{{cite book|pages=1251|title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience|last=Gates|first=Henry Louis|coauthors=Anthony Appiah|publisher=Basic Civitas Books|isbn=0465000711|date=1999|pages=1348}}</ref> |
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In 1977, the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] was awarded posthumously to King by [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref |
In 1977, the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] was awarded posthumously to King by [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.|publisher=The Official Site of the Presidential Medal of Freedom|accessdate=2008-06-13|url=http://www.medaloffreedom.com/MartinLutherKingJr.htm}}</ref> |
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| title =Carter Center |
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| publisher =[[Carter Center]] |
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|date=2006 |
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| url =http://www.cartercenter.org/doc2295.htm |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
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King is the [[Gallup's List of Widely Admired People|second most admired person in the 20th century]], according to a [[Gallup poll]]. |
King is the [[Gallup's List of Widely Admired People|second most admired person in the 20th century]], according to a [[Gallup poll]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1999|last=Gallup|first=George|coauthors=Alec Gallup, Jr.|pages=249|isbn=0842026991|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2000}}</ref> |
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In 2000, King was voted 6th in the Person of the Century poll by ''[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]''.<ref name=Time-WEB1>{{cite news |
In 2000, King was voted 6th in the Person of the Century poll by ''[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]''.<ref name=Time-WEB1>{{cite news |
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| title =The Person of the Century Poll Results |
| title =The Person of the Century Poll Results |
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| publisher =[[Time magazine]] |
| publisher =[[Time magazine|Time]] |
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|date= |
|date=2000-01-19 |
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| url =http://www.time.com/time/time100/poc/century.html |
| url =http://www.time.com/time/time100/poc/century.html |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
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King was elected the third [[Greatest American]] of all time by the American public in a contest conducted by the [[Discovery Channel]] and [[America Online|AOL]]. |
King was elected the third [[Greatest American]] of all time by the American public in a contest conducted by the [[Discovery Channel]] and [[America Online|AOL]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Reagan voted 'greatest American'|date=2005-06-28|accessdate=2008-06-13|publisher=BBC|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4631421.stm}}</ref> |
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As of 2006, more than 730 cities in the United States had [[Streets named after Martin Luther King, Jr.|streets named after King]]. [[King County, Washington|King County]], [[Washington]] rededicated its name in his honor in 1986, and changed its logo to an image of his face in 2007. The city government center in [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania|Harrisburg]], [[Pennsylvania]], is the only [[city hall]] in the United States to be named in honor of King. |
As of 2006, more than 730 cities in the United States had [[Streets named after Martin Luther King, Jr.|streets named after King]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://personal.ecu.edu/aldermand/pubs/alderman_chapter.pdf|last=Alderman|first=Derek H.|title=Naming Streets for Martin Luther King, Jr.: No Easy Road|work=Landscape and Race in the United States|publisher=Routledge Press}}</ref> [[King County, Washington|King County]], [[Washington]] rededicated its name in his honor in 1986,<ref>{{cite web|title=King County Was Rededicated For Mlk|publisher=The Seattle Times|accessdate=2008-06-13|date=1998-01-18|url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19980118&slug=2729257}}</ref> and changed its logo to an image of his face in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|title=New logo is an image of civil rights leader|publisher=King County|url=http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/logo.aspx|accessdate=2008-06-13}}</ref> The city government center in [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania|Harrisburg]], [[Pennsylvania]], is the only [[city hall]] in the United States to be named in honor of King.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Competition Winners Announced|publisher=City of Harrisburg|url=http://www.harrisburgpa.gov/pressReleases/prArchives/2003/01/20030119_mlkEssay.html|date=2003-01-19|accessdate=2008-06-13}}</ref> |
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==Honorary degrees== |
==Honorary degrees== |
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Martin Luther King was awarded |
Martin Luther King was awarded 50 [[honorary degree]]s from various colleges and universities in the United States and several foreign countries.<ref name=merv>{{cite book|title=King Came Preaching: The Pulpit Power of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|pages=79|last=Warren|first=Mervyn A.|isbn=0830826580|date=2001|publisher=InterVarsity Press}}</ref> They include:<ref name=kingcenterbio>{{cite web|title=Biographical Outline of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=The King Center|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/mlk/bio.html|accessdate=2008-06-08}}</ref> |
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* [[Doctor of Humane Letters]] from [[Morehouse College]] |
* [[Doctor of Humane Letters]] from [[Morehouse College]] |
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* Doctor of Laws from [[Howard University]] |
* Doctor of Laws from [[Howard University]] |
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==Plagiarism== |
==Plagiarism== |
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{{main|Martin Luther King, Jr. authorship issues}} |
{{main|Martin Luther King, Jr. authorship issues}} |
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In the 1980s, questions were raised regarding the authorship of King's dissertation, other papers, and his speeches. Concerns about his doctoral dissertation at [[Boston University]] led to a formal inquiry by university officials, which concluded that |
In the 1980s, questions were raised regarding the authorship of King's dissertation, other papers, and his speeches.<ref>{{cite book|last=Baldwin|first=Lewis V.|pages=298|title=To Make the Wounded Whole: The Cultural Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.|isbn=0800625439|publisher=Fortress Press|date=1992}}</ref> Concerns about his doctoral dissertation at [[Boston University]] led to a formal inquiry by university officials, which concluded that portions of it had been [[plagiarism|plagiarized]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Boston U. Panel Finds Plagiarism by Dr. King|date=1991-10-11|accessdate=2008-06-14|publisher=The New York Times|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD61030F932A25753C1A967958260}}</ref> However, Boston University decided not to revoke his doctorate, stating that although King acted improperly, his dissertation still "makes an intelligent contribution to scholarship".<ref>{{cite book|title=Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility|last=Heller|first=Steven|coauthors=Veronique Vienne|pages=156|isbn=1581152655|publisher=Allworth Communications, Inc.|date=2003}}</ref> |
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==Books by or about Martin Luther King, Jr.== |
==Books by or about Martin Luther King, Jr.== |
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*''Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws that Changed America'' by [[Nick Kotz]] (2005) |
*''Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws that Changed America'' by [[Nick Kotz]] (2005) |
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*''At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965–68'' by [[Taylor Branch]] (2006) |
*''At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965–68'' by [[Taylor Branch]] (2006) |
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*''King Remembered'' ''by Flip Schulke and Penelope McPhee'' ''Forerword by Jesse Jackson''(1986) |
*''King Remembered'' ''by Flip Schulke and Penelope McPhee'' ''Forerword by Jesse Jackson'' (1986) |
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==Wife and children== |
==Wife and children== |
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Spouse: |
Spouse: |
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[[Coretta Scott King]]<ref name=fam>{{cite book|title=King Came Preaching: The Pulpit Power of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|pages=35|last=Warren|first=Mervyn A.|isbn=0830826580|date=2001|publisher=InterVarsity Press}}</ref> |
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[[Coretta Scott King]] |
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Children: |
Children:<ref name=fam/> |
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*[[Yolanda King|Yolanda Denise King]] |
*[[Yolanda King|Yolanda Denise King]] |
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*[[Martin Luther King III|Martin Luther III]] |
*[[Martin Luther King III|Martin Luther III]] |
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==Legacy== |
==Legacy== |
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[[Image:MLKJr KC TroostWall.PNG|right|thumb|400px|A mural in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Missouri]] commemorating King's activism]] |
[[Image:MLKJr KC TroostWall.PNG|right|thumb|400px|A mural in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Missouri]] commemorating King's activism]] |
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Throughout his participation in the civil rights movement, King was criticized by many groups. This included opposition by more militant blacks and such prominent critics as [[Nation of Islam]] member [[Malcolm X]].<ref>{{cite book|pages=105|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2007|isbn=0742529282|last=Bobbitt|first=David|title=The Rhetoric of Redemption: Kenneth Burke's Redemption Drama and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech}}</ref> [[Stokely Carmichael]] was a [[separatist]] and disagreed with King's plea for [[racial integration]] because he considered it an insult to a uniquely African-American culture.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Ling|first=Peter J.|pages=250-251|publisher=Routledge|date=2002|isbn=0415216648}}</ref> [[Omali Yeshitela]] urged Africans to remember the history of violent European [[colonization]] and how power was not secured by Europeans through integration, but by violence and force.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apspuhuru.org/publications/repnow/ReparationsNow-OCR.txt|title=Abbreviated Report from the International Tribunal on Reparations for Black People in the U.S.|publisher=African People's Socialist Party|accessdate=2008-06-15|last=Yeshitela|first=Omali}}</ref> The notion of [[decolonization]] was problematic for [[Frantz Fanon]], an influential figure for black liberation movements. In ''Decolonizing, National Culture, and the Negro Intellectual'' (1961), he wrote about the violent foundation on which colonizers claimed their names against the exploited and the obstacles in making peace under such circumstances: |
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King is one of the most widely revered figures in American history. Even posthumous accusations of marital infidelity and academic plagiarism have not seriously damaged his public reputation but merely reinforced the image of a very human hero and leader. It is true that King's movement faltered in the latter stages, after the great legislative victories were won by 1965 (The Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act). Sharp attacks by more militant blacks, and even such prominent critics as Muslim leader [[Malcolm X]], have not diminished his stature. |
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Criticism did not consist of mere blind attacks. [[Stokely Carmichael]] was a [[separatist]] and disagreed with King's plea for [[racial integration]] because he considered it an insult to a uniquely African-American culture. [[Omali Yeshitela]] urged Africans to remember the history of violent European [[colonization]] and how power was not secured by Europeans through integration, but by violence and force.<ref>[http://www.apspuhuru.org/publications/repnow/ReparationsNow-OCR.txt Abbreviated Report from the International Tribunal on Reparations for Black People in the U.S.] – commentary from the African People's Socialist Party in the early 1980s</ref> To then attempt to integrate with the colonizers' culture further insulted the original African cultures. Even the notion of [[decolonization]] was problematic for [[Frantz Fanon]], an influential figure for black liberation movements. In ''Decolonizing, National Culture, and the Negro Intellectual'' (1961), he wrote about the violent foundation on which colonizers claimed their names against the exploited and the obstacles in making peace under such circumstances: |
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[[Image:Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..jpg|thumb|200px|right|A sidewalk plaque in downtown Washington, D.C., honoring Martin Luther King Jr.]] |
[[Image:Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..jpg|thumb|200px|right|A sidewalk plaque in downtown Washington, D.C., honoring Martin Luther King Jr.]] |
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<blockquote>Decolonization is the meeting of two forces, opposed to each other by their very nature, which in fact owe their originality to the sort of substantification which results from and is nourished by the situation in the colonies. Their first encounter was marked by violence and their existence together — that is to say the exploitation of the native by the settler — was carried on by dint of a great array of bayonets and cannons… The naked truth of decolonization evokes for us the searing bullets and blood-stained knives which emanate from it. For if the last shall be first, this will only come to pass after a murderous and decisive struggle between the two protagonists. That affirmed intention to place the last at the head of things, and to make them climb at a pace (too quickly, some say) the well-known steps which characterize an organized society, can only triumph if we use all means to turn the scale, including, of course, that of violence.</blockquote> |
<blockquote>Decolonization is the meeting of two forces, opposed to each other by their very nature, which in fact owe their originality to the sort of substantification which results from and is nourished by the situation in the colonies. Their first encounter was marked by violence and their existence together — that is to say the exploitation of the native by the settler — was carried on by dint of a great array of bayonets and cannons… The naked truth of decolonization evokes for us the searing bullets and blood-stained knives which emanate from it. For if the last shall be first, this will only come to pass after a murderous and decisive struggle between the two protagonists. That affirmed intention to place the last at the head of things, and to make them climb at a pace (too quickly, some say) the well-known steps which characterize an organized society, can only triumph if we use all means to turn the scale, including, of course, that of violence.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fanon|first=Frantz|coauthors=Jean-Paul Sartre; Constance Farrington|pages=36-37|isbn=0802150837|publisher=Grove Press|date=1963|title=The wretched of the earth}}</ref></blockquote> |
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On the international scene, King's legacy included influences on the [[Black Consciousness Movement]] and Civil Rights Movement in South Africa. King's work was cited by and served as an inspiration for [[Albert Lutuli]], another black Nobel Peace prize winner who fought for racial justice in that country. |
On the international scene, King's legacy included influences on the [[Black Consciousness Movement]] and Civil Rights Movement in South Africa.<ref>{{cite book|title=Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music, and Politics in South Africa|last=Ansell|first=Gwen|pages=139|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|date=2005|isbn=0826417531}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us|last=Clinton|first=Hillary Rodham|pages=137|isbn=1416540644|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=2007}}</ref> King's work was cited by and served as an inspiration for [[Albert Lutuli]], another black Nobel Peace prize winner who fought for racial justice in that country.<ref>{{cite book|pages=307-308|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Clayborne Carson; Peter Holloran; Ralph Luker; Penny A. Russell|title=The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=University of California Press|date=1992|isbn=0520079507}}</ref> |
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[[Image:MLKJrstatue.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A statue of King located within Ingram Park, [[Birmingham, Alabama]]]] |
[[Image:MLKJrstatue.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A statue of King located within Ingram Park, [[Birmingham, Alabama]]]] |
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King's wife, [[Coretta Scott King]], followed her husband's footsteps and was active in matters of social justice and civil rights until her death in 2006. The same year that Martin Luther King was assassinated, Mrs. King established the King Center<ref name=KC-WEB1>{{cite web |
King's wife, [[Coretta Scott King]], followed her husband's footsteps and was active in matters of social justice and civil rights until her death in 2006. The same year that Martin Luther King was assassinated, Mrs. King established the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to preserving his legacy and the work of championing nonviolent conflict resolution and tolerance worldwide.<ref name=KC-WEB1>{{cite web |
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| title =The King Center |
| title =The King Center's Mission | publisher =[[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site|The King Center]] |
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| url =http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/mission.asp| accessdate = 2008-06-15 }}</ref> His son, Dexter King, currently serves as the center's chairman.<ref>{{cite web|title=Future of Atlanta's King Center in limbo|publisher=USA Today|last=Copeland|first=Larry|date=2006-02-01|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-31-king-center_x.htm|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/chairman.asp|title=Chairman's Message: Introduction to the King Center and its Mission|publisher=The King Center|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> Daughter Yolanda King is a motivational speaker, author and founder of Higher Ground Productions, an organization specializing in diversity training.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Higher Ground Productions|url=http://www.highergroundproductions.com/index2.htm|title=Welcome to Higher Ground Productions|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> |
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| publisher =[[The King Center]] |
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|date=2006 |
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| url =http://www.thekingcenter.org/ |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to preserving his legacy and the work of championing nonviolent conflict resolution and tolerance worldwide. His son, Dexter King, currently serves as the center's president and CEO. Daughter Yolanda King is a motivational speaker, author and founder of Higher Ground Productions, an organization specializing in diversity training. |
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King's name and legacy have often been invoked since his death as people have debated his likely position on various modern political issues. For example, there is some debate even within the King family as to where he would have stood on gay rights issues. King's widow Coretta said publicly that she believed her husband would have supported gay rights. His daughter Bernice believed he would have been opposed to them.<ref name=MPR-WEB1>{{cite news |
King's name and legacy have often been invoked since his death as people have debated his likely position on various modern political issues. For example, there is some debate even within the King family as to where he would have stood on gay rights issues. King's widow Coretta said publicly that she believed her husband would have supported gay rights. His daughter Bernice believed he would have been opposed to them.<ref name=MPR-WEB1>{{cite news |
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| title =What would Martin Luther King do? |
| title =What would Martin Luther King do? |
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| publisher =[[Minnesota Public Radio]] |
| publisher =[[Minnesota Public Radio]] |
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|date= |
|date=2005-01-16 |
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| url =http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/01/17_williamsb_wwmlkd/ |
| url =http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/01/17_williamsb_wwmlkd/ |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> The King Center includes [[homophobia]] |
| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> The King Center includes discrimination, and lists [[homophobia]] as one of its examples, in its list of "The Triple Evils" that should be opposed.<ref name=KC-WEB2>{{cite web |
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| title =The Triple Evils |
| title =The Triple Evils |
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| publisher =[[The King Center]] |
| publisher =[[The King Center]] |
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|date=2006 |
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| url =http://www.thekingcenter.org/misc/triple_evils.htm |
| url =http://www.thekingcenter.org/misc/triple_evils.htm |
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| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
| accessdate = 2006-12-23 }}</ref> |
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The day following King's assassination, school teacher [[Jane Elliott]] conducted her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise with her class of elementary school students in [[Riceville, Iowa]]. Her purpose was to help them understand King's death as it related to [[racial discrimination]], something they little understood from having lived in a predominately white community. |
The day following King's assassination, school teacher [[Jane Elliott]] conducted her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise with her class of elementary school students in [[Riceville, Iowa]]. Her purpose was to help them understand King's death as it related to [[racial discrimination]], something they little understood from having lived in a predominately white community.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Class Divided: One Friday in April, 1968|work=Frontline|publisher=PBS|last=Peters|first=William|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/friday.html|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> |
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[[Image:George H. W. Bush signs Martin Luther King Day Proclamation.jpg|300px|thumb|[[George H. W. Bush]] signs Martin Luther King Day Proclamation]] |
[[Image:George H. W. Bush signs Martin Luther King Day Proclamation.jpg|300px|thumb|[[George H. W. Bush]] signs Martin Luther King Day Proclamation]] |
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In 1980, King's boyhood home in Atlanta and several other nearby buildings were declared the [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site]]. At the [[White House]] Rose Garden on [[November 2]], [[1983]], [[U.S. President]] [[Ronald Reagan]] signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor King. Observed for the first time on [[January 20]], [[1986]], it is called [[Martin Luther King, Jr. Day]]. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, near the time of King's birthday. In [[January 17]], [[2000]], for the first time, Martin Luther King Day was officially observed in all 50 [[U.S. state]]s.<ref>{{cite |
In 1980, King's boyhood home in Atlanta and several other nearby buildings were declared the [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site]]. At the [[White House]] Rose Garden on [[November 2]], [[1983]], [[U.S. President]] [[Ronald Reagan]] signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor King. Observed for the first time on [[January 20]], [[1986]], it is called [[Martin Luther King, Jr. Day]]. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, near the time of King's birthday.<ref>{{cite web|title=Martin Luther King Day|publisher=U.S. Department of State|url=http://exchanges.state.gov/education/engteaching/mlkbday.htm|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> In [[January 17]], [[2000]], for the first time, Martin Luther King Day was officially observed in all 50 [[U.S. state]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A07E0DC1031F935A15756C0A96F958260|title=Contrarian New Hampshire To Honor Dr. King, at Last|publisher=The New York Times|last=Goldberg|first=Carey|date=1999-05-26|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> |
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In |
In 1996, [[Alpha Phi Alpha|Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity]] was authorized by the [[Congress of the United States|United States Congress]] to establish a foundation to manage fund raising and design of a [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Washington, DC Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation Breaks Ground On Historic $100 Million Memorial On The National Mall In Washington, D.C.|date=2006-11-06|accessdate=2008-06-15|publisher=Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation|url=http://www.mlkmemorial.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hkIUL9MVJxE&b=1601407&ct=3612187}}</ref> King was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate [[Greek alphabet|Greek-letter]] [[Fraternities and sororities|fraternity]] established for African Americans.<ref>{{cite book|title=Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations|last=Mjagkij|first=Nina|pages=30|isbn=0815323093|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=2001}}</ref> King was the first [[African American]] honored with his own memorial in the [[National Mall]] area and the first non-[[President of the United States|President]] to be commemorated in such a way.<ref>{{cite web|title=Celebrating the Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=U.S. Department of State|last=Tobias|first=Randall L.|url=http://www.state.gov/f/releases/remarks2007/87649.htm|date=2007-01-18}}</ref> The sculptor chosen was [[Lei Yixin]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Choice of sculptor for Martin Luther King Jr. monument draws flak|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-08-25-mlkmemorial_N.htm|quote=The selection of a Chinese sculptor to carve a three-story monument to Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall is raising questions about what part of his legacy should be celebrated.|last=Evans|first=Ben|publisher=USA Today|date=2007-08-25 |accessdate=2008-06-15 }}</ref> The King Memorial will be administered by the [[National Parks Service]].<ref>{{cite web|title=History of the Memorial|accessdate=2008-06-15|publisher=Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation|url=http://www.mlkmemorial.org/site/c.hkIUL9MVJxE/b.1190613/k.5EE9/History_of_the_Memorial.htm}}</ref> |
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In spring of 2006, a stage play about King |
In spring of 2006, a stage play about King was produced in Beijing, China with King portrayed by Chinese actor, Cao Li. The play was written by [[Stanford University]] professor, Clayborne Carson.<ref>{{cite web|title=National Theatre Company of China Tours Atlanta, Birmingham, and Memphis|publisher=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute|url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/China/mlkchina/try2_files/mlkpp_data/Touring_Atlanta_text.htm|accessdate=2008-06-15|date=2007-02-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11330396 NPR:|title=Martin Luther King's Story Plays on Beijing Stage|publisher=National Public Radio|accessdate=2008-06-15|last=Kuhn|first=Anthony|last=2007-06-23}}</ref> |
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King is one of ten 20th-century martyrs from across the world who are depicted in statues above the Great West Door of [[Westminster Abbey]], [[London]]. He is commemorated on April 4 in the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)|Calendar of saints]] of the [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal Church]] as a Civil Rights Leader, and on January 15 in the [[Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)|Calendar of Saints]] of the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] as a renewer of society and martyr. |
King is one of ten 20th-century martyrs from across the world who are depicted in statues above the Great West Door of [[Westminster Abbey]], [[London]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Raised on High|work=Footlights|publisher=The New York Times|date=1997-10-29|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E4DE1231F93AA15753C1A961958260|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> He is commemorated on April 4 in the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)|Calendar of saints]] of the [[Episcopal Church in the United States of America|Episcopal Church]] as a Civil Rights Leader,<ref>{{cite web|title=What it Takes to Become a Saint|publisher=The Morgan Hill Times|last=Flagg|first=Chuck|date=2006-02-10|accessdate=2008-06-15|url=http://www.morganhilltimes.com/lifestyles/178715-what-it-takes-to-become-a-saint}}</ref> and on January 15 in the [[Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)|Calendar of Saints]] of the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] as a renewer of society and martyr.<ref>{{cite web|title=News & Events — January 2008|publisher=St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church|url=http://www.stlconline.org/archive/200801.html|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> |
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<!--===Coinage=== |
<!--===Coinage=== |
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[[Coin]] redesign advocates have asked that King's image be placed on the [[Cent (United States coin)|penny]] or [[Dime (United States coin)|dime]]. The penny will be permanently redesigned in 2010, and the current design will no longer be issued beyond 2008, but [[Abraham Lincoln]] will remain on the coin. A group of civil rights activists have suggested placing his image on the [[United States twenty-dollar bill|twenty dollar bill]], in place of [[Andrew Jackson]].<ref> [http://putkingonthe20.com/ Put Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Twenty-Dollar Bill]</ref>--> |
[[Coin]] redesign advocates have asked that King's image be placed on the [[Cent (United States coin)|penny]] or [[Dime (United States coin)|dime]]. The penny will be permanently redesigned in 2010, and the current design will no longer be issued beyond 2008, but [[Abraham Lincoln]] will remain on the coin. A group of civil rights activists have suggested placing his image on the [[United States twenty-dollar bill|twenty dollar bill]], in place of [[Andrew Jackson]].<ref> [http://putkingonthe20.com/ Put Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Twenty-Dollar Bill]</ref>--> |
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[[Category:Assassinated religious leaders]] |
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[[af:Martin Luther King Jr.]] |
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Revision as of 23:33, 15 June 2008
Template:Infobox revolution biography Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was one of the pivotal leaders of the American civil rights movement. King was a Baptist minister, one of the few leadership roles available to black men at the time. He became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956) and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957), serving as its first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Here he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.[1]
Life
Part of a series on |
African Americans |
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Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King.[2] King's father was born "Michael King", and Martin Luther King, Jr. was initially named "Michael King, Jr.", until the family traveled to Europe in 1934 and visited Germany. His father soon changed both of their names to Martin to honor the German Protestant Martin Luther.[3] He had an older sister, Willie Christine (born September 11, 1927) and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel (July 30, 1930 – July 1, 1969).[4] King sang with his church choir at the 1939 Atlanta premiere of the movie Gone with the Wind.[5] He entered Morehouse College at age fifteen, skipping his ninth and twelfth high school grades without formally graduating.[6] In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in sociology,[7] and enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, from which graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) degree in 1951.[8] In September 1951, King began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and received his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) on June 5, 1955.Cite error: The <ref>
tag has too many names (see the help page).
Civil rights activism, 1953–1968
Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to comply with the Jim Crow laws that required her to give up her seat to a white man.[9] The Montgomery Bus Boycott, urged and planned by E. D. Nixon (head of the Montgomery NAACP chapter and a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters) and led by King, soon followed.[10] (In March 1955, a 15-year-old school girl, Claudette Colvin, had to give up her seat, but King did not then become involved.)[11] The boycott lasted for 385 days,[12] and the situation became so tense that King's house was bombed.[13] King was arrested during this campaign,[14] which ended with a United States District Court ruling in Browder v. Gayle that ended racial segregation on all Montgomery public buses.[15]
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
King was instrumental in the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, a group created to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests in the service of civil rights reform. King led the organization until the time of his death.[16] In 1958, while signing copies of his book Strive Toward Freedom in a Harlem department store, he was stabbed in the chest by Izola Curry, a deranged black woman with a letter opener, and narrowly escaped death.[17]
King was an adherent of the philosophies of nonviolent civil disobedience as described in Henry David Thoreau's essay of the same name,[18] and used successfully in India by "the Mahatma", Mohandas K. Gandhi.[19] King applied this philosophy to the protests organized by the SCLC. In 1959, he wrote The Measure of A Man, from which the piece What is Man?, an attempt to sketch the optimal political, social, and economic structure of society, is derived.[20]
The FBI, under written directive from then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, began wiretapping King in 1963.[21] J. Edgar Hoover feared that Communists were trying to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement, but when no such evidence emerged, the bureau used the incidental details caught on tape over the next five years in attempts to force King out of the preeminent leadership position.[22]
King correctly recognized that organized, nonviolent protest against the system of southern segregation known as Jim Crow laws would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality and voting rights. Journalistic accounts and televised footage of the daily deprivation and indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment of civil rights workers and marchers, produced a wave of sympathetic public opinion that convinced the majority of Americans that the Civil Rights Movement was the most important issue in American politics in the early 1960s.[23][24]
King organized and led marches for blacks' right to vote, desegregation, labor rights and other basic civil rights.[25] Most of these rights were successfully enacted into United States law with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[26][27]
King and the SCLC applied the principles of nonviolent protest with great success by strategically choosing the method of protest and the places in which protests were carried out. There were often dramatic stand-offs with segregationist authorities. Sometimes these confrontations turned violent.[28] King and the SCLC were instrumental in the unsuccessful Albany Movement in Albany, Georgia, in 1961 and 1962, where divisions within the black community and the canny, low-key response by local government defeated efforts;[29] in the Birmingham protests in the summer of 1963;[30] and in the protest in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1964.[31] King and the SCLC joined forces with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Selma, Alabama, in December 1964, where SNCC had been working on voter registration for several months.[32]
March on Washington, 1963
King, representing SCLC, was among the leaders of the so-called "Big Six" civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. The other leaders and organizations comprising the Big Six were: Roy Wilkins, NAACP; Whitney Young, Jr., Urban League; A. Philip Randolph, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; John Lewis, SNCC; and James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).[33] The primary logistical and strategic organizer was King's colleague Bayard Rustin.[34] For King, this role was another which courted controversy, since he was one of the key figures who acceded to the wishes of President John F. Kennedy in changing the focus of the march.[35][36] Kennedy initially opposed the march outright, because he was concerned it would negatively impact the drive for passage of civil rights legislation, but the organizers were firm that the march would proceed.[37]
The march originally was conceived as an event to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in the South and a very public opportunity to place organizers' concerns and grievances squarely before the seat of power in the nation's capital. Organizers intended to excoriate and then challenge the federal government for its failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks, generally, in the South. However, the group acquiesced to presidential pressure and influence, and the event ultimately took on a far less strident tone.[38] As a result, some civil rights activists felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony; Malcolm X called it the "Farce on Washington," and members of the Nation of Islam were not permitted to attended the march.[38][39]
The march did, however, make specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public school; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality; a $2 minimum wage for all workers; and self-government for the District of Columbia, then governed by congressional committee.[40][41][42]
Despite tensions, the march was a resounding success. More than a quarter million people of diverse ethnicities attended the event, sprawling from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial onto the National Mall and around the reflecting pool. At the time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington's history.[43] King's "I Have a Dream" speech electrified the crowd. It is regarded, along with Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Infamy Speech, as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory.[44]
Throughout his career of service, King wrote and spoke frequently, drawing on his experience as a preacher. His "Letter from Birmingham Jail", written in 1963, is a "passionate" statement of his crusade for justice.[45] On October 14, 1964, King became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States.[46]
"Bloody Sunday", 1965
King and SCLC, in partial collaboration with SNCC, attempted to organize a march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery, for March 7, 1965. The first attempt to march on March 7 was aborted because of mob and police violence against the demonstrators. This day has since become known as Bloody Sunday. Bloody Sunday was a major turning point in the effort to gain public support for the Civil Rights Movement, the clearest demonstration up to that time of the dramatic potential of King's nonviolence strategy. King, however, was not present. After meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson, he decided not to endorse the march, but it was carried out against his wishes and without his presence on March 7 by local civil rights leaders. Footage of police brutality against the protesters was broadcast extensively and aroused national public outrage.[47]
King next attempted to organize a march for March 9. The SCLC petitioned for an injunction in federal court against the State of Alabama; this was denied and the judge issued an order blocking the march until after a hearing. Nonetheless, King led marchers on the 9th to the Edmund Pettus bridge, then held a short prayer session before turning the marchers around and asking them to disperse so as not to violate the court order. The unexpected ending of this second march aroused the surprise and anger of many within the local movement.[48] The march finally went ahead fully on March 25; it was during this march that Willie Ricks coined the phrase "Black Power" (widely credited to Stokely Carmichael).[49][50] At the conclusion of the march and on the steps of the state capitol building, King delivered a speech that has become known as "How Long, Not Long."[51]
Chicago, 1966
In 1966, after several successes in the South, King and other people in the civil rights organizations tried to spread the movement to the North, with Chicago as its first destination. King and Ralph Abernathy, both middle class folk, moved into Chicago's slums as an educational experience and to demonstrate their support and empathy for the poor.[52]
The SCLC formed a coalition with CCCO, Coordinating Council of Community Organizations, an organization founded by Albert Raby, Jr., and the combined organizations' efforts were fostered under the aegis of The Chicago Freedom Movement (CFM).[53] During that spring several dual white couple/black couple tests on real estate offices uncovered the practice, now banned by the Real Estate Industry, of "steering"; these tests revealed the racially selective processing of housing requests by couples who were exact matches in income, background, number of children, and other attributes, with the only difference being their race.[54]
The needs of the movement for radical change grew, and several larger marches were planned and executed, including those in the following neighborhoods: Bogan, Belmont-Cragin, Jefferson Park, Evergreen Park (a suburb southwest of Chicago), Gage Park and Marquette Park, among others.[55][56][57]
In Chicago, Abernathy later wrote that they received a worse reception than they had in the South. Their marches were met by thrown bottles and screaming throngs, and they were truly afraid of starting a riot.[58][59] King's beliefs mitigated against his staging a violent event, and he negotiated an agreement with Mayor Richard J. Daley to cancel a march in order to avoid the violence that he feared would result from the demonstration.[60] King, who received death threats throughout his involvement in the civil rights movemeny, was hit by a brick during one march but continued to lead marches in the face of personal danger.[61][62]
When King and his allies returned to the south, they left Jesse Jackson, a seminary student who had previously joined the movement in the South, in charge of their organization.[63] Jackson continued their struggle for civil rights by organizing the Operation Breadbasket movement that targeted chains stores that did not deal fairly with blacks.[64]
Opposition to the Vietnam War, 1967
Starting in 1965, King began to express doubts about the United States' role in the Vietnam War. In an April 4, 1967 appearance at the New York City Riverside Church—exactly one year before his death—King delivered a speech titled "Beyond Vietnam".[65] In the speech, he spoke strongly against the U.S.'s role in the war, insisting that the U.S. was in Vietnam "to occupy it as an American colony"[66] and calling the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today".[67] He also argued that the country needed larger and broader moral changes:
A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just."[68]
King also was opposed to the Vietnam War on the grounds that the war took money and resources that could have been spent on the War on Poverty. The United States Congress was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs at the same time. He summed up this aspect by sayng, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death".[68]
King was long hated by many white southern segregationists, but this speech turned the more mainstream media against him. Life magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi",[65] and The Washington Post declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."[69]
With regard to Vietnam, King claimed that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands".[70] King also criticized the United States' resistance to North Vietnam's land reforms.[71] He accused the United States of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children."[72]
The speech was a reflection of King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive Highlander Research and Education Center, with whom King was affiliated.[73][74] King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation. Toward the end of his life, King more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice.[75] Though his public language was guarded, so as to avoid being linked to communism by his political enemies, in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism. In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism", and claimed:
There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.[76]
King had read Marx while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism," he also rejected Communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism," and its "political totalitarianism."[77]
King also stated in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar....it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring".[78] King quoted a United States official, who said that, from Vietnam to South America to Latin America, the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution"[78] King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America," and said that the United States should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the Third World rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution.[79]
Poor People's Campaign, 1968
In 1968, King and the SCLC organized the "Poor People's Campaign" to address issues of economic justice. However, King and SCLC's Poor People's Campaign was not unanimously supported by the other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, including Bayard Rustin. Their opposition incorporated arguments that the goals of Poor People Campaign were too broad, the demands unrealizable, and thought these campaigns would accelerate the backlash and repression on the poor and the black.[80]
The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C. demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the United States[81] King traveled the country to assemble "a multiracial army of the poor" that would march on Washington to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol until Congress created a bill of rights for poor Americans.[82]
King and the SCLC called on the government to invest in rebuilding America's cities. He felt that Congress had shown "hostility to the poor" by spending "military funds with alacrity and generosity". He contrasted this with the situation faced by poor Americans, claiming that Congress had merely provided "poverty funds with miserliness".[82] His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: he cited systematic flaws of "racism, poverty, militarism and materialism", and argued that "reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced".[83]
Assassination, 1968
On March 29, 1968, King went to Memphis, Tennessee in support of the black sanitary public works employees, represented by AFSCME Local 1733, who had been on strike since March 12 for higher wages and better treatment. In one incident, black street repairmen received pay for two hours when they were sent home because of bad weather, but white employees were paid for the full day.[84][85][86]
On April 3, King addressed a rally and delivered his "I've been to the Mountaintop" address at Mason Temple, the World Headquarters of the Church of God in Christ. King's flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat against his plane.[87] In the close of the last speech of his career, in reference to the bomb threat, King said the following:
And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.[88]
King was booked in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel, owned by Walter Bailey, in Memphis. The Reverend Ralph Abernathy, King's close friend and colleague who was present at the assassination, swore under oath to the HSCA that King and his entourage stayed at room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often it was known as the 'King-Abernathy suite.'[89] King was shot at 6:01 p.m. April 4, 1968 while he was standing on the motel's 2nd floor balcony. The bullet entered through his right cheek smashing his jaw and then traveling down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder.[90][91] According to Jesse Jackson, who was present, King's last words on the balcony were to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: "Ben, make sure you play Take My Hand, Precious Lord in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."[92] Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor.[93] The events following the shooting have been disputed, as some people have accused Jackson of exaggerating his response.[94]
After emergency surgery, King was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7:05 p.m.[95] The assassination led to a nationwide wave of riots in more than 100 cities.[96]
President Lyndon B. Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning for the lost civil rights leader.[97] Vice-President Hubert Humphrey attended King's funeral on behalf of Lyndon B. Johnson, as there were fears that Johnson's presence might incite protests and perhaps violence.[98] At his widow's request, King's last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church was played at the funeral.[99] It was a recording of his "Drum Major" sermon, given on February 4, 1968. In that sermon, King made a request that at his funeral no mention of his awards and honors be made, but that it be said that he tried to "feed the hungry", "clothe the naked", "be right on the [Vietnam] war question", and "love and serve humanity".[100] His good friend Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, "Take My hand, Precious Lord", at the funeral.[101]
According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's autopsy revealed that though he was only 39 years old, he had the heart of a 60-year-old man, evidencing the stress of 13 years in the civil rights movement.[102]
After the assassination, the city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on terms favorable to the sanitation workers.[103][104]
Two months after King's death, escaped convict James Earl Ray was captured at London Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on a false Canadian passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd.[105] Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's murder. He confessed to the assassination on March 10, 1969, though he recanted this confession three days later.[106]
On the advice of his attorney Percy Foreman, Ray took a guilty plea to avoid a trial conviction and thus the possibility of receiving the death penalty. Ray was sentenced to a 99-year prison term.[106][107]
Ray fired Foreman as his attorney (from then on derisively calling him "Percy Fourflusher").[108] He claimed that a man he met in Montreal, Quebec with the alias "Raoul" was involved and that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy.[109][110] He spent the remainder of his life attempting (unsuccessfully) to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had.[107]
On June 10, 1977, shortly after Ray had testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he did not shoot King, he and six other convicts escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Petros, Tennessee. They were recaptured on June 13 and returned to prison.[111]
Allegations of conspiracy
Some have speculated that Ray had been used as a "patsy" similar to the way that alleged John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was supposed to have been. Some of the claims used to support this assertion are:
- Ray's confession was given under pressure, and he had been threatened with death penalty.[107][112]
- Ray was a thief and burglar and had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon.[113][110]
Many suspecting a conspiracy in the assassination point out the two separate ballistic tests conducted on the Remington Gamemaster recovered by police had neither conclusively proved Ray had been the killer nor that it had even been the murder weapon.[107][114] Moreover, witnesses surrounding King at the moment of his death say the shot came from another location, from behind thick shrubbery near the rooming house (which had been inexplicably cut away in the days following the assassination), and not from the rooming house window.[115]
Recent developments
In 1997, Martin Luther King's son Dexter King met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a retrial.[116]
In 1999, Coretta Scott King, King's widow, along with the rest of King's family, won a wrongful death civil trial against Loyd Jowers and "other unknown co-conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty and that "governmental agencies were parties" to the assassination plot.[117] William F. Pepper represented the King family in the trial.[118]
King biographer David Garrow disagrees with William F. Pepper's claims that the government killed King.[119] He is supported by author Gerald Posner who has researched and written about the assassination.[120]
In 2000, the Department of Justice completed the investigation about Jowers' claims but did not find evidence to support allegations about conspiracy. The investigation report recommended no further investigation unless some new reliable facts are presented.[121]
On April 6, 2002, the New York Times reported a church minister, Rev. Ronald Denton Wilson, claimed his father, Henry Clay Wilson — not James Earl Ray — assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr. He stated, "It wasn't a racist thing; he thought Martin Luther King was connected with communism, and he wanted to get him out of the way."[122]
King's friend and colleague, James Bevel, disputed the argument that Ray acted alone, stating, "There is no way a ten-cent white boy could develop a plan to kill a million-dollar black man."[123] In 2004, Jesse Jackson, who was with King at the time of his death, noted:
The fact is there were saboteurs to disrupt the march. [And] within our own organization, we found a very key person who was on the government payroll. So infiltration within, saboteurs from without and the press attacks. …I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray.[124]
Influences
Howard Thurman
Civil rights leader, theologian, and educator Howard Thurman was an early influence on King. A classmate of King's father at Morehouse College,[125] Thurman mentored the young King and his friends.[126] Thurman's missionary work had taken him abroad where he had met and conferred with Mohandas Gandhi.[127] When he was a student at Boston University, King often visited Thurman, who was dean of Marsh Chapel there.[128] Walter Fluker, who has studied Thurman's writings, has stated, "I don't believe you'd get a Martin Luther King, Jr. without a Howard Thurman".[129]
Bayard Rustin
African American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who had studied Gandhi's teachings,[130] counseled King to dedicate himself to the principles of non-violence,[131] served as King's main advisor and mentor throughout his early activism,[132] and was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.[133] However, Rustin's open homosexuality, support of democratic socialism, and ties to the Communist Party USA caused many white and African-American leaders to demand that King distance himself from Rustin.[134]
Mohandas Gandhi
Inspired by Mohandas Gandhi's success with non-violent activism, King visited the Gandhi family in India in 1959, with assistance from the Quaker group the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).[135] The trip to India affected King in a profound way, deepening his understanding of non-violent resistance and his commitment to America’s struggle for civil rights. In a radio address made during his final evening in India, King reflected, “Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation.”[136]
Stance on compensation
Martin Luther King Jr. expressed a view that black Americans, as well as other disadvantaged Americans, should be compensated for historical wrongs. In an interview conducted for Playboy in 1965, he said that granting black Americans only equality could not realistically close the economic gap between them and whites. King said that he did not seek a full restitution of wages lost to slavery, which he believed impossible, but proposed a government compensatory program of US$50 billion over ten years to all disadvantaged groups. He posited that "the money spent would be more than amply justified by the benefits that would accrue to the nation through a spectacular decline in school dropouts, family breakups, crime rates, illegitimacy, swollen relief rolls, rioting and other social evils".[137] He presented this idea as an application of the common law regarding settlement of unpaid labor but clarified that he felt that the money should not be spent exclusively on blacks. He stated, "It should benefit the disadvantaged of all races".[138]
King and the FBI
King had a mutually antagonistic relationship with the FBI, especially its director, J. Edgar Hoover.[139] The FBI began tracking King and the SCLC in 1957;[140] its investigations were largely superficial until 1962, when it learned that one of King's most trusted advisers was New York City lawyer Stanley Levison. The FBI found that Levison had been involved with the Communist Party USA.[141] Another key King lieutenant, Hunter Pitts O'Dell, was also linked to the Communist Party by sworn testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).[142][143] The Bureau placed wiretaps on Levison's and King's home and office phones, and bugged King's rooms in hotels as he traveled across the country.[144][145] The Bureau also informed Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, both of whom unsuccessfully tried to persuade King to dissociate himself from Levison.[144] For his part, King adamantly denied having any connections to Communism, stating in a 1965 Playboy interview that "there are as many Communists in this freedom movement as there are Eskimos in Florida";[146] Hoover did not believe the statement and replied by saying that King was "the most notorious liar in the country."[147]
The attempt to prove that King was a Communist was in keeping with the feeling of many segregationists that blacks in the South were happy with their lot but had been stirred up by "communists" and "outside agitators".[148] Lawyer-advisor Stanley D. Levison did have ties with the Communist Party in various business dealings, but the FBI refused to believe its own intelligence bureau reports that Levison was no longer associated in that capacity.[149] In response to the FBI's comments regarding communists directing the civil rights movement, King said that "the Negro revolution is a genuine revoltion, born from the same womb that produces all massive social upheavals—the womb of intolerable conditions and unendurable situations".[150]
Later, the focus of the Bureau's investigations shifted to attempting to discredit King through revelations regarding his private life. FBI surveillance of King, some of it since made public, attempted to demonstrate that he also engaged in numerous extramarital affairs.[145] Further remarks on King's lifestyle were made by several prominent officials, such as President Johnson who once said that King was a “hypocritical preacher”.[151]
In 1989, Ralph Abernathy, a close associate of King's in the civil right movement, stated in his book about the movement that King was a womanizer. The book was titled And The Walls Came Tumbling Down, and was published by Harper & Row. In an interview, Abernathy said that he only wrote the term "womanizing", and did not specifically say King had extramarital sex.[152] Evidence indicating that King possibly engaged in sexual affairs is also detailed by history professor David Garrow in his book Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, published in 1986 by William Morrow & Company.[153]
The FBI distributed reports regarding such affairs to the executive branch, friendly reporters, potential coalition partners and funding sources of the SCLC, and King's family.[154] The Bureau also sent anonymous letters to King threatening to reveal information if he did not cease his civil rights work.[155] One anonymous letter sent to King just before he received the Nobel Peace Prize read, in part, "The American public, the church organizations that have been helping—Protestants, Catholics and Jews will know you for what you are—an evil beast. So will others who have backed you. You are done. King, there, is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite practical significant [sic]). You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy fraudulent self is bared to the nation."[156] King interpreted this as encouragement for him to commit suicide,[157] although William Sullivan, head of the Domestic Intelligence Division at the time, argued that it may have only been intended to "convince Dr. King to resign from the SCLC."[158]
In January 31, 1977, United States District Judge John Lewis Smith, Jr., ordered all known copies of the recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI's electronic surveillance of King between 1963 and 1968 to be held in the National Archives and sealed from public access until 2027.[159]
Across from the Lorraine Motel, next to the rooming house in which James Earl Ray was staying, was a vacant fire station. The FBI was assigned to observe King during the appearance he was planning to make on the Lorraine Motel second-floor balcony later that day, and utilized the fire station as a makeshift base. Using papered-over windows with peepholes cut into them, the agents watched over the scene until Martin Luther King was shot. Immediately following the shooting, all six agents rushed out of the station and were the first people to administer first-aid to King. Their presence nearby has led to speculation that the FBI was involved in the assassination.
Awards and recognition
Martin Luther King Jr. | |
---|---|
Martyr, Prophet, Civil Rights Leader | |
Venerated in | Episcopal Church in the United States of America |
Feast | 4 April |
Controversy | Racial Equality, Civil Rights |
Besides winning the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize,[160] in 1965 King was awarded the American Liberties Medallion by the American Jewish Committee for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty".[161] Reverend King said in his acceptance remarks, "Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free".[162]
In 1965 King was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII calling for all people to strive for peace.[163] Pacem in Terris is Latin for 'Peace on Earth.'[164]
In 1966, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America awarded King the Margaret Sanger Award for "his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity."[165]
King was posthumously awarded The Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights by the Jamaican Government in 1968.[166]
In 1971, King was posthumously awarded the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for his Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam.[167]
In 1977, the Presidential Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to King by Jimmy Carter.[168]
King is the second most admired person in the 20th century, according to a Gallup poll.[169]
In 2000, King was voted 6th in the Person of the Century poll by TIME.[170]
King was elected the third Greatest American of all time by the American public in a contest conducted by the Discovery Channel and AOL.[171]
As of 2006, more than 730 cities in the United States had streets named after King.[172] King County, Washington rededicated its name in his honor in 1986,[173] and changed its logo to an image of his face in 2007.[174] The city government center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is the only city hall in the United States to be named in honor of King.[175]
Honorary degrees
Martin Luther King was awarded 50 honorary degrees from various colleges and universities in the United States and several foreign countries.[160] They include:[166]
- Doctor of Humane Letters from Morehouse College
- Doctor of Laws from Howard University
- Doctor of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary
- Doctor of Laws from Morgan State University
- Doctor of Humanities from Central State University
- Doctor of Divinity from Boston University
- Doctor of Laws from Lincoln University
- Doctor of Laws from University of Bridgeport
- Doctor of Civil Law from Bard College
- Doctor of Letters from Keuka College
- Doctor of Divinity from Wesleyan College
- Doctor of Laws from Jewish Theological Seminary
- Doctor of Laws from Yale University
- Doctor of Divinity from Springfield College
- Doctor of Laws from Hofstra University
- Doctor of Humane Letters from Oberlin College
- Doctor honoris causa in Social Science from Vrije Universiteit
- Doctor of Divinity from St. Peter’s College
- Doctor of Civil Law from University of Newcastle upon Tyne
- Doctor of Laws from Grinnell College
Plagiarism
In the 1980s, questions were raised regarding the authorship of King's dissertation, other papers, and his speeches.[176] Concerns about his doctoral dissertation at Boston University led to a formal inquiry by university officials, which concluded that portions of it had been plagiarized.[177] However, Boston University decided not to revoke his doctorate, stating that although King acted improperly, his dissertation still "makes an intelligent contribution to scholarship".[178]
Books by or about Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Stride toward freedom; the Montgomery story (1958)
- The Measure of a Man (1959)
- Strength to Love (1963)
- Why We Can't Wait (1964)
- Where do we go from here: Chaos or community? (1967)
- The Trumpet of Conscience (1968)
- A Testament of Hope : The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1986)
- Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63 by Taylor Branch (1988)
- Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by David Garrow (1989)
- Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963–65 by Taylor Branch (1998)
- The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King Jr. and Clayborne Carson (1998)
- Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws that Changed America by Nick Kotz (2005)
- At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965–68 by Taylor Branch (2006)
- King Remembered by Flip Schulke and Penelope McPhee Forerword by Jesse Jackson (1986)
Wife and children
Spouse: Coretta Scott King[179]
Children:[179]
Legacy
Throughout his participation in the civil rights movement, King was criticized by many groups. This included opposition by more militant blacks and such prominent critics as Nation of Islam member Malcolm X.[180] Stokely Carmichael was a separatist and disagreed with King's plea for racial integration because he considered it an insult to a uniquely African-American culture.[181] Omali Yeshitela urged Africans to remember the history of violent European colonization and how power was not secured by Europeans through integration, but by violence and force.[182] The notion of decolonization was problematic for Frantz Fanon, an influential figure for black liberation movements. In Decolonizing, National Culture, and the Negro Intellectual (1961), he wrote about the violent foundation on which colonizers claimed their names against the exploited and the obstacles in making peace under such circumstances:
Decolonization is the meeting of two forces, opposed to each other by their very nature, which in fact owe their originality to the sort of substantification which results from and is nourished by the situation in the colonies. Their first encounter was marked by violence and their existence together — that is to say the exploitation of the native by the settler — was carried on by dint of a great array of bayonets and cannons… The naked truth of decolonization evokes for us the searing bullets and blood-stained knives which emanate from it. For if the last shall be first, this will only come to pass after a murderous and decisive struggle between the two protagonists. That affirmed intention to place the last at the head of things, and to make them climb at a pace (too quickly, some say) the well-known steps which characterize an organized society, can only triumph if we use all means to turn the scale, including, of course, that of violence.[183]
On the international scene, King's legacy included influences on the Black Consciousness Movement and Civil Rights Movement in South Africa.[184][185] King's work was cited by and served as an inspiration for Albert Lutuli, another black Nobel Peace prize winner who fought for racial justice in that country.[186]
King's wife, Coretta Scott King, followed her husband's footsteps and was active in matters of social justice and civil rights until her death in 2006. The same year that Martin Luther King was assassinated, Mrs. King established the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to preserving his legacy and the work of championing nonviolent conflict resolution and tolerance worldwide.[187] His son, Dexter King, currently serves as the center's chairman.[188][189] Daughter Yolanda King is a motivational speaker, author and founder of Higher Ground Productions, an organization specializing in diversity training.[190]
King's name and legacy have often been invoked since his death as people have debated his likely position on various modern political issues. For example, there is some debate even within the King family as to where he would have stood on gay rights issues. King's widow Coretta said publicly that she believed her husband would have supported gay rights. His daughter Bernice believed he would have been opposed to them.[191] The King Center includes discrimination, and lists homophobia as one of its examples, in its list of "The Triple Evils" that should be opposed.[192]
The day following King's assassination, school teacher Jane Elliott conducted her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise with her class of elementary school students in Riceville, Iowa. Her purpose was to help them understand King's death as it related to racial discrimination, something they little understood from having lived in a predominately white community.[193]
In 1980, King's boyhood home in Atlanta and several other nearby buildings were declared the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. At the White House Rose Garden on November 2, 1983, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor King. Observed for the first time on January 20, 1986, it is called Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, near the time of King's birthday.[194] In January 17, 2000, for the first time, Martin Luther King Day was officially observed in all 50 U.S. states.[195]
In 1996, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity was authorized by the United States Congress to establish a foundation to manage fund raising and design of a Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial.[196] King was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.[197] King was the first African American honored with his own memorial in the National Mall area and the first non-President to be commemorated in such a way.[198] The sculptor chosen was Lei Yixin.[199] The King Memorial will be administered by the National Parks Service.[200]
In spring of 2006, a stage play about King was produced in Beijing, China with King portrayed by Chinese actor, Cao Li. The play was written by Stanford University professor, Clayborne Carson.[201][202]
King is one of ten 20th-century martyrs from across the world who are depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey, London.[203] He is commemorated on April 4 in the Calendar of saints of the Episcopal Church as a Civil Rights Leader,[204] and on January 15 in the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as a renewer of society and martyr.[205]
Notes
- ^ "Top 100 American Speeches by Rank Order". American Rhetoric. 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
- ^ Ogletree, Charles J. (2004). All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half Century of Brown v. Board of Education. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 138. ISBN 0393058972.
- ^ Ling, Peter J. (2002). Martin Luther King, Jr. Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 0415216648.
- ^ King, Jr., Martin Luther (1992). The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. University of California Press. p. 76. ISBN 0520079507.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Katznelson, Ira (2005). When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 5. ISBN 0393052133.
- ^ Ching, Jacqueline (2002). The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Rosen Publishing Group. p. 18. ISBN 0823935434.
- ^ Downing, Frederick L. (1986). To See the Promised Land: The Faith Pilgrimage of Martin Luther King, Jr. Mercer University Press. p. 150. ISBN 0865542074.
- ^ Nojeim, Michael J. (2004). Gandhi and King: The Power of Nonviolent Resistance. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 179. ISBN 0275965740.
- ^ "December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks arrested". CNN. 2003-03-11. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ Walsh, Frank (2003). The Montgomery Bus Boycott. Gareth Stevens. p. 24. ISBN 0836854039.
- ^ Manheimer, Ann S. (2004). Martin Luther King Jr: Dreaming of Equality. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 103. ISBN 1575056275.
- ^ McMahon, Thomas F. (2004). Ethical Leadership Through Transforming Justice. University Press of America. p. 25. ISBN 0761829083.
- ^ Fisk, Larry J. (1999). Patterns of Conflict, Paths to Peace. Broadview Press. p. 115. ISBN 1551111543.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ King, Jr., Martin Luther (1992). The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. University of California Press. p. 9. ISBN 0520079507.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Jackson, Thomas F. (2007). From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 53. ISBN 0812239695.
- ^ Marable, Manning (2000). Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal: an African American Anthology. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 391–392. ISBN 084768346X.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Vivian, Octavia (2006). Coretta: The Story of Coretta Scott King. Fortress Press. p. 45. ISBN 0800638557.
- ^ "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Morehouse College". The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ Gordon, Haim (1987). Education for Peace: Testimonies from World Religions. Orbis Books. p. 143. ISBN 0883443597.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ King, Jr., Martin Luther (1988). The Measure of a Man. Fortress Press. p. 9. ISBN 0800608771.
- ^ Theoharis, Athan G. (1999). The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 148. ISBN 089774991X.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Theoharis, Athan G. (1999). The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 123. ISBN 089774991X.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Wilson, Joseph (2006). Race and Labor Matters in the New U.S. Economy. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 47. ISBN 0742546918.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Schofield, Norman (2006). Architects of Political Change: Constitutional Quandaries and Social Choice Theory. Cambridge University Press. p. 189. ISBN 0521832020.
- ^ Jackson, Thomas F. (2007). From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 85. ISBN 0812239695.
- ^ Shafritz, Jay M. (1998). International Encyclopedia of Public Policy and Administration. Westview Press. p. 1242. ISBN 0813399742.
- ^ Loevy, Robert D. (1997). The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Passage of the Law that Ended Racial Segregation. SUNY Press. p. 337. ISBN 0791433617.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Glisson, Susan M. (2006). The Human Tradition in the Civil Rights Movement. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 190. ISBN 0742544095.
- ^ Glisson, Susan M. (2006). The Human Tradition in the Civil Rights Movement. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 190–193. ISBN 0742544095.
- ^ Harrell, David Edwin. Unto a Good Land: A History of the American People, Volume 2. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 1055. ISBN 0802829457.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Jones, Maxine D. (1993). African Americans in Florida: An Illustrated History. Pineapple Press Inc. pp. 113–115. ISBN 156164031X.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Haley, Alex (January 1965). "Martin Luther King". The Playboy Interview. Playboy. Retrieved 2006-09-17.
- ^ Gates, Henry Louis (1999). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Basic Civitas Books. p. 1251. ISBN 0465000711.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Cashman, Sean Dennis (1991). African-Americans and the Quest for Civil Rights, 1900-1990. NYU Press. p. 162. ISBN 0814714412.
- ^ Schlesinger, Jr., Arthur Meier (2002). Robert Kennedy and His Times. Houghton Mifflin Books. p. 351. ISBN 0618219285.
- ^ Marable, Manning (1991). Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945-1990. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 74. ISBN 0878054936.
- ^ Rosenberg, Jonathan (2003). Kennedy, Johnson, and the Quest for Justice: The Civil Rights Tapes. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 130. ISBN 0393051226.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b Boggs, Grace Lee (1998). Living for Change: An Autobiography. U of Minnesota Press. p. 127. ISBN 0816629552.
- ^ Aron, Paul (2005). Mysteries in History: From Prehistory to the Present. ABC-CLIO. p. 399. ISBN 1851098992.
- ^ Singleton, Carl (1999). The Sixties in America. Salem Press. p. 454. ISBN 0893569828.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Bennett, Scott H. (2003). Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915-1963. Syracuse University Press. p. 225. ISBN 0815630034.
- ^ Davis, Rep. Danny (2007-01-16). "Celebrating the Birthday and Public Holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
- ^ Powers, Roger S. (1997). Protest, power, and change: an encyclopedia of nonviolent action from ACT-UP to Women's Suffrage. Taylor & Francis. p. 313. ISBN 0815309139.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Moore, Lucinda (2003-08-01). "Dream Assignment". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
- ^ Galchutt, Kathryn M. (2005). The Career of Andrew Schulze, 1924-1968: Lutherans And Race in the Civil Rights Era. Mercer University Press. p. 194. ISBN 086554946X.
- ^ Wintle, Justin (2001). Makers of Modern Culture: Makers of Culture. Routledge. p. 272. ISBN 0415265835.
- ^ Jackson, Thomas F. (2007). From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 222–223. ISBN 0812239695.
- ^ Jackson, Thomas F. (2007). From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 223. ISBN 0812239695.
- ^ Isserman, Maurice (2000). America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s. Oxford University Press US. p. 175. ISBN 0195091906.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Azbell, Joe (1968). The Riotmakers. Oak Tree Books. p. 176.
- ^ Leeman, Richard W. (1996). African-American Orators: A Bio-critical Sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 220. ISBN 0313290148.
- ^ Cohen, Adam Seth (2000). Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley : His Battle for Chicago and the Nation. Back Bay. pp. 360–362. ISBN 0316834890.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Ralph, James (1993). Northern Protest: Martin Luther King, Jr., Chicago, and the Civil Rights Movement. Harvard Univerity Press. p. 1. ISBN 0674626877.
- ^ Cohen, Adam Seth (2000). Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley : His Battle for Chicago and the Nation. Back Bay. p. 347. ISBN 0316834890.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Cohen, Adam Seth (2000). Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley : His Battle for Chicago and the Nation. Back Bay. p. 416. ISBN 0316834890.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Ralph, James (1993). Northern Protest: Martin Luther King, Jr., Chicago, and the Civil Rights Movement. Harvard Univerity Press. p. 1. ISBN 0674626877.
- ^ Fairclough, Adam (1987). To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference & Martin Luther King, Jr. University of Georgia Press. p. 299. ISBN 0820323462.
- ^ Baty, Chris. Chicago: City Guide. Lonely Planet. p. 52. ISBN 1741040329.
- ^ Stone, Eddie (1988). Jesse Jackson. Holloway House Publishing. pp. 59–60. ISBN 087067840X.
- ^ Lentz, Richard (1990). Symbols, the News Magazines, and Martin Luther King. LSU Press. p. 230. ISBN 0807125245.
- ^ Isserman, Maurice (2000). America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s. Oxford University Press US. p. 200. ISBN 0195091906.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Miller, Keith D. (1998). Voice of Deliverance: The Language of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Its Sources. University of Georgia Press. p. 139. ISBN 0820320137.
- ^ Mis (2008). Meet Martin Luther King, Jr. Rosen Publishing Group. p. 20. ISBN 1404242090.
{{cite book}}
: Text "first Melody S." ignored (help) - ^ Slessarev, Helene (1997). The Betrayal of the Urban Poor. Temple University Press. p. 140. ISBN 1566395437.
- ^ a b Krenn, Michael L. (1998). The African American Voice in U.S. Foreign Policy Since World War II. Taylor & Francis. p. 29. ISBN 0815334184.
- ^ Robbins, Mary Susannah (2007). Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 107. ISBN 0742559149.
- ^ Robbins, Mary Susannah (2007). Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 102. ISBN 0742559149.
- ^ a b Robbins, Mary Susannah (2007). Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 109. ISBN 0742559149.
- ^ Lawson, Steven F. (2006). Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 148. ISBN 0742551091.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Robbins, Mary Susannah (2007). Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 106. ISBN 0742559149.
- ^ Long, Michael G. (2002). Against Us, But for Us: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the State. Mercer University Press. p. 199. ISBN 0865547688.
- ^ Baldwin, Lewis V. (1992). To Make the Wounded Whole: The Cultural Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Fortress Press. p. 273. ISBN 0800625439.
- ^ Harding (2006). Restaging the Sixties: Radical Theaters and Their Legacies. University of Michigan Press. p. 297. ISBN 0472069543.
{{cite book}}
: Text "James Martin" ignored (help) - ^ Lentz, Richard (1990). Symbols, the News Magazines, and Martin Luther King. LSU Press. p. 64. ISBN 0807125245.
- ^ Ling, Peter J. (2002). Martin Luther King, Jr. Routledge. p. 277. ISBN 0415216648.
- ^ Franklin, Robert Michael (1990). Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African-American Thought. Fortress Press. p. 125. ISBN 0800623924.
- ^ King, Jr., Martin Luther (1998). The Martin Luther King, Jr. Companion: Quotations from the Speeches, Essays, and Books of Martin Luther King, Jr. St. Martin's Press. p. 39. ISBN 0312199902.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b Zinn, Howard (2002). The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace. Beacon Press. p. 122. ISBN 0807014079.
- ^ Zinn, Howard (2002). The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace. Beacon Press. pp. 122–123. ISBN 0807014079.
- ^ Isserman, Maurice (2001). The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington. PublicAffairs. p. 281. ISBN 1586480367.
- ^ Vigil, Ernesto B. (1999). The Crusade for Justice: Chicano Militancy and the Government's War on Dissent. Univeristy of Wisconsin Press. p. 54. ISBN 0299162249.
- ^ a b Kick, Russell (2001). You are Being Lied to: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths. The Disinformation Campaign. p. 1991. ISBN 0966410076.
- ^ Lawson, Steven F. (2006). Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 148–149. ISBN 0742551091.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ "1,300 Members Participate in Memphis Garbage Strike". AFSCME. 1968. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ "Memphis Strikers Stand Firm". AFSCME. 1968. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - ^ Davis, Townsend (1998). Weary Feet, Rested Souls: A Guided History of the Civil Rights Movement. W.W. Norton & Company. p. 364. ISBN 0393318192.
- ^ Thomas, Evan (2007-11-19). "The Worst Week of 1968, Page 2". Newsweek. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
- ^ Montefiore, Simon Sebag (2006). Speeches that Changed the World: The Stories and Transcripts of the Moments that Made History. Quercus. p. 155. ISBN 1905204167.
- ^ "United States Department of Justice Investigation of Recent Allegations Regarding the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr – VII. King V. Jowers Conspiracy Allegations". United States Department of Justice. June 2000. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
- ^ Garner, Joe (2002). We Interrupt this Broadcast: The Events that Stopped Our Lives...from the Hindenburg Explosion to the Attacks of September 11. Sourcebooks, Inc. p. 62. ISBN 1570719748.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Pepper, William (2003). An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King. Verso. p. 159. ISBN 1859846955.
- ^ Pilkington, Ed (2008-04-03). "40 years after King's death, Jackson hails first steps into promised land". The Guardian.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|accessdaste=
ignored (help) - ^ Kirk, John A. (2005). Martin Luther King Jr. Longman. p. 181. ISBN 0582414318.
- ^ Purnick, Joyce (1988-04-18). "Koch Says Jackson Lied About Actions After Dr. King Was Slain". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
- ^ Lokos, Lionel (1968). House Divided: The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King. Arlington House. p. 48.
- ^ "1968: Martin Luther King shot dead". On this Day. BBC. 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-17.
{{cite news}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) - ^ Manheimer, Ann S. (2004). Martin Luther King Jr: Dreaming of Equality. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 97. ISBN 1575056275.
- ^ Dickerson, James (1998). Dixie's Dirty Secret: The True Story of how the Government, the Media, and the Mob Conspired to Combat Immigration and the Vietnam Antiwar Movement. M.E. Sharpe. p. 169. ISBN 0765603403.
- ^ Hatch, Jane M. (1978). The American Book of Days. Wilson. p. 321.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ King, Jr., Martin Luther (2007). Dream: The Words and Inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blue Mountain Arts, Inc. p. 26. ISBN 1598422405.
- ^ Werner, Craig (2006). A Change is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America. University of Michigan Press. p. 9. ISBN 0472031473.
- ^ "Citizen King Transcript". PBS. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
- ^ "AFSCME Wins in Memphis". AFSCME. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
- ^ "1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike Chronology". AFSCME. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
- ^ Ling, Peter J. (2002). Martin Luther King, Jr. Routledge. p. 296. ISBN 0415216648.
- ^ a b Flowers, R. Barri (2004). Murders in the United States: Crimes, Killers And Victims Of The Twentieth Century. McFarland. p. 38. ISBN 0786420758.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d "James Earl Ray Dead At 70". CBS. 1998-04-23. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
- ^ Clarke, James W. Defining Danger: American Assassins And the New Domestic Terrorists. Transaction Publishers. p. 297. ISBN 0765802899.
- ^ House Select Committee on Assassinations (2001). Compilation of the Statements of James Earl Ray: Staff Report. The Minerva Group, Inc. p. 17. ISBN 0898752973.
- ^ a b Davis, Lee (1995). Assassination: 20 Assassinations that Changed the World. JG Press. p. 105. ISBN 1-57215-235-4.
- ^ "History of the Knoxville Office". FBI. Retrieved 2006-09-17.
- ^ Knight, Peter. Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 402. ISBN 1576078124.
- ^ "From small-time criminal to notorious assassin". CNN. Retrieved 2006-09-17.
- ^ "Questions left hanging by James Earl Ray's death". BBC. 1998-04-23. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
- ^ Frank, Gerold (1972). An American Death: The True Story of the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Greatest Manhunt of our Time. Doubleday. p. 283.
- ^ "James Earl Ray, convicted King assassin, dies". CNN. 1998-04-23. Retrieved 2006-09-17.
- ^ "Trial Transcript Volume XIV". The King Center. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
- ^ Smith, Robert Charles (2000). Contemporary Controversies and the American Racial Divide. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 97. ISBN 074250025X.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Pepper, William (2003). An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King. Verso. p. 182. ISBN 1859846955.
- ^ Sargent, Frederic O. (2004). The Civil Rights Revolution: Events and Leaders, 1955-1968. McFarland. p. 129. ISBN 0786419148.
- ^ "United States Department of Justice Investigation of Recent Allegations Regarding the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr". USDOJ. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
- ^ Canedy, Dana (2002-04-06). "My father killed King, says pastor, 34 years on". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
- ^ Branch, Taylor (2006). At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68. Simon & Schuster. p. 770. ISBN 978-0-684-85712-1.
- ^ Goodman, Amy (2004-01-15). "Jesse Jackson On "Mad Dean Disease," the 2000 Elections and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
{{cite news}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Thurman, Howard (1981). With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman. Harcourt. p. 254. ISBN 015697648X.
- ^ Thurman, Howard (1998). A Strange Freedom: The Best of Howard Thurman on Religious Experience and Public Life. Beacon Press. p. 6. ISBN 080701057X.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Curtis, Nancy C. (1996). Black Heritage Sites: An African American Odyssey and Finder's Guide. ALA Editions. p. 62. ISBN 0838906435.
- ^ Marsh, Charles (1999). God's Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights. Princeton University Press. p. 122. ISBN 0691029407.
- ^ "The Legacy of Howard Thurman - Mystic and Theologian". Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. PBS. 2002-01-18. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
- ^ Kahlenberg, Richard D. "Book Review: Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen". Washington Monthly. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
- ^ Bennett, Scott H. (2003). Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915-1963. Syracuse University Press. p. 217. ISBN 0815630034.
- ^ Farrell, James J. (1997). The Spirit of the Sixties: Making Postwar Radicalism. Routledge. p. 90. ISBN 0415913853.
- ^ De Leon, David (1994). Leaders from the 1960s: a biographical sourcebook of American activism. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 138. ISBN 0313274142.
- ^ Arsenault, Raymond (2006). Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. Oxford University Press US. p. 62. ISBN 0195136748.
- ^ King, Jr., Martin Luther (1992). The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. University of California Press. p. 3. ISBN 0520079507.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ King, Jr., Martin Luther (1992). The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. University of California Press. pp. 135–136. ISBN 0520079507.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Washington, James M. (1991). A Testament of Hope: The Esential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. HarperCollins. pp. 365–367. ISBN 0-06-064691-8.
- ^ Washington, James M. (1991). A Testament of Hope: The Esential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. HarperCollins. pp. 367–368. ISBN 0-06-064691-8.
- ^ Downing, Frederick L. (1986). To See the Promised Land: The Faith Pilgrimage of Martin Luther King, Jr. Mercer University Press. pp. 246–247. ISBN 0865542074.
- ^ Theoharis, Athan G. (1999). The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 123. ISBN 089774991X.
{{cite book}}
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ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Kotz, Nick (2005). Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws that Changed America. Houghton Mifflin Books. p. 233. ISBN 0618088253.
- ^ Woods, Jeff (2004). LSU Press. p. 126. ISBN 0807129267.
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help); Text "Black Struggle, Red Scare: Segregation and Anti-communism in the South, 1948-1968" ignored (help) - ^ Wannall, Ray (2000). The Real J. Edgar Hoover: For the Record. Turner Publishing Company. p. 87. ISBN 1563115530.
- ^ a b Ryskind, Allan H. (2006-02-27). "JFK and RFK Were Right to Wiretap MLK". Human Events. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
- ^ a b Christensen, Jen (2008-04-07). "FBI tracked King's every move". CNN.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|acceessdate=
ignored (help) - ^ Washington, James M. (1991). A Testament of Hope: The Esential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. HarperCollins. p. 362. ISBN 0-06-064691-8.
- ^ Bruns, Roger (2006). Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Biography. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 67. ISBN 0313336865.
- ^ Gilbert, Alan (1990). Democratic Individuality: A Theory of Moral Progress. Cambridge University Press. p. 435. ISBN 0521387094.
- ^ Manheimer, Ann S. (2004). Martin Luther King Jr: Dreaming of Equality. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 50. ISBN 1575056275.
- ^ Washington, James M. (1991). A Testament of Hope: The Esential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. HarperCollins. p. 363. ISBN 0-06-064691-8.
- ^ Sidey, Hugh (1975-02-10). "L.B.J., Hoover and Domestic Spying". Time. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
- ^ "And the Walls Came Tumbling Down]] by Rev. Ralph David Abernathy". Booknotes. 1989-10-29. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
- ^ Burrow, Jr., Rufus (Spring 2003). "The humanity of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Vigilance in pursuing his dream". Encounter. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
- ^ Burnett, Thom (2005). Conspiracy Encyclopedia. Collins & Brown. p. 58. ISBN 1843402874.
- ^ Thragens, William C. (1988). Popular Images of American Presidents. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 532. ISBN 031322899X.
- ^ Kotz, Nick (2005). Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws that Changed America. Houghton Mifflin Books. p. 247. ISBN 0618088253.
- ^ Wilson, Sondra K. (1999). In Search of Democracy: The NAACP Writings of James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and Roy Wilkins (1920-1977). Oxford University Press US. p. 466. ISBN 019511633X.
- ^ Church, Frank (April 23, 1976). "Church Committee Book III". Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Case Study. Church Committee. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ Phillips, Geraldine N. (Summer 1997). "Documenting the Struggle for Racial Equality in the Decade of the Sixties". Prologue Magazine. The National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ a b Warren, Mervyn A. (2001). King Came Preaching: The Pulpit Power of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. InterVarsity Press. p. 79. ISBN 0830826580.
- ^ Engel, Irving M. "Commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr.: Presentation of American Liberties Medallion". American Jewish Committee. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ King, Jr., Martin Luther. "Commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr.: Response to Award of American Liberties Medallion". American Jewish Committee. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ "Habitat co-founder to receive Pacem in Terris award tonight". Quad-City Times. 2005-10-23. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Pope John XXII (1963). Pacem in Terris: Peace on Earth; Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope John XXII. Paulist Press. p. 3.
- ^ "The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. upon accepting The Planned Parenthood Federation Of America Margaret Sanger Award". PPFA. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
- ^ a b "Biographical Outline of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr". The King Center. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ Gates, Henry Louis (1999). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Basic Civitas Books. p. 1348. ISBN 0465000711.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Rev. Martin Luther King Jr". The Official Site of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Gallup, George (2000). The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1999. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 249. ISBN 0842026991.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ "The Person of the Century Poll Results". Time. 2000-01-19. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
- ^ "Reagan voted 'greatest American'". BBC. 2005-06-28. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Alderman, Derek H. "Naming Streets for Martin Luther King, Jr.: No Easy Road" (PDF). Landscape and Race in the United States. Routledge Press.
- ^ "King County Was Rededicated For Mlk". The Seattle Times. 1998-01-18. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ "New logo is an image of civil rights leader". King County. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ "Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Competition Winners Announced". City of Harrisburg. 2003-01-19. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
- ^ Baldwin, Lewis V. (1992). To Make the Wounded Whole: The Cultural Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Fortress Press. p. 298. ISBN 0800625439.
- ^ "Boston U. Panel Finds Plagiarism by Dr. King". The New York Times. 1991-10-11. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
- ^ Heller, Steven (2003). Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility. Allworth Communications, Inc. p. 156. ISBN 1581152655.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b Warren, Mervyn A. (2001). King Came Preaching: The Pulpit Power of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. InterVarsity Press. p. 35. ISBN 0830826580.
- ^ Bobbitt, David (2007). The Rhetoric of Redemption: Kenneth Burke's Redemption Drama and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 105. ISBN 0742529282.
- ^ Ling, Peter J. (2002). Martin Luther King, Jr. Routledge. pp. 250–251. ISBN 0415216648.
- ^ Yeshitela, Omali. "Abbreviated Report from the International Tribunal on Reparations for Black People in the U.S." African People's Socialist Party. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ Fanon, Frantz (1963). The wretched of the earth. Grove Press. pp. 36–37. ISBN 0802150837.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ Ansell, Gwen (2005). Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music, and Politics in South Africa. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 139. ISBN 0826417531.
- ^ Clinton, Hillary Rodham (2007). It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us. Simon & Schuster. p. 137. ISBN 1416540644.
- ^ King, Jr., Martin Luther (1992). The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. University of California Press. pp. 307–308. ISBN 0520079507.
{{cite book}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ "The King Center's Mission". The King Center. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ Copeland, Larry (2006-02-01). "Future of Atlanta's King Center in limbo". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ "Chairman's Message: Introduction to the King Center and its Mission". The King Center. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ "Welcome to Higher Ground Productions". Higher Ground Productions. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ Williams, Brandt (2005-01-16). "What would Martin Luther King do?". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
- ^ "The Triple Evils". The King Center. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
- ^ Peters, William. "A Class Divided: One Friday in April, 1968". Frontline. PBS. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ "Martin Luther King Day". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ Goldberg, Carey (1999-05-26). "Contrarian New Hampshire To Honor Dr. King, at Last". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ "Washington, DC Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation Breaks Ground On Historic $100 Million Memorial On The National Mall In Washington, D.C." Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. 2006-11-06. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ Mjagkij, Nina (2001). Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations. Taylor & Francis. p. 30. ISBN 0815323093.
- ^ Tobias, Randall L. (2007-01-18). "Celebrating the Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr". U.S. Department of State.
- ^ Evans, Ben (2007-08-25). "Choice of sculptor for Martin Luther King Jr. monument draws flak". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
The selection of a Chinese sculptor to carve a three-story monument to Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall is raising questions about what part of his legacy should be celebrated.
- ^ "History of the Memorial". Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ "National Theatre Company of China Tours Atlanta, Birmingham, and Memphis". The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. 2007-02-06. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ 2007-06-23, Anthony. NPR: "Martin Luther King's Story Plays on Beijing Stage". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
{{cite web}}
:|last=
has numeric name (help); Check|url=
value (help) - ^ "Raised on High". Footlights. The New York Times. 1997-10-29. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ Flagg, Chuck (2006-02-10). "What it Takes to Become a Saint". The Morgan Hill Times. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
- ^ "News & Events — January 2008". St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
References
- Abernathy, Ralph. And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: An Autobiography. New York: Harper & Row, 1989. ISBN 0-06-016192-2
- Ayton, Mel. A Racial Crime: James Earl Ray And The Murder Of Martin Luther King Jr. Las Vegas: Archebooks Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-59507-075-3
- Beito, David, and Beito, Linda Royster. "T.R.M. Howard: Pragmatism over Strict Integrationist Ideology in the Mississippi Delta, 1942–1954" in Glenn Feldman, ed. Before Brown: Civil Rights and White Backlash in the Modern South. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004, 68–95. ISBN 0-8173-5134-5
- Branch, Taylor. At Canaan's Edge: America In the King Years, 1965–1968. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. ISBN 0-684-85712-X
- Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–1963. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988. ISBN 0-671-46097-8
- Branch, Taylor. Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963–1965. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. ISBN 0-684-80819-6
- Chernus, Ira. American Nonviolence: The History of an Idea, chapter 11. ISBN 1-57075-547-7
- Garrow, David J. The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Penguin Books, 1981. ISBN 0-14-006486-9
- Jackson, Thomas F., From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8122-3969-0
- King, Coretta Scott. My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969.
- Kirk, John A., Martin Luther King, Jr. London: Pearson Longman, 2005. ISBN 0-582-41431-8
- Lindgren, Carl Edwin. "Tour Resurrects Shantytown Art". Southern Exposure, Vol. XX, No. 1 (Spring, 1992): 7. Information relating to Resurrection City and Martin Luther King.
External links
- Martin Luther King, Jr., Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A permanent section of the newspaper dedicated to the life of Dr. King
- The Coalition on Political Assassintions, research and lobby group that also organize a conference on the assassination of Dr King
- This black history resource offers a biography of MLK and links to other related articles.
- Photo Essay: The Last Days of Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King's life and death recalled in images on Time.com (a division of Time magazine)
- The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project
- The King Center
- National Civil Rights Museum
- MLK Online Martin Luther King Jr. Speeches, Pictures, Quotes, Biography, Videos, Information on MLK Day and more!
- Martin Luther King Jr.'s "A New Sense of Direction (1968)" article published in WorldView magazine
- Martin Luther King Jr.'s FBI file
- Department of Justice investigation on King assassination
- Martin Luther King in New York
- Martin Luther King Jr. Photographs Photos by Benedict J. Fernandez
- The Seattle Times: Martin Luther King Jr.
- Winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Peace
- About.com's Lesser Known Wise and Prophetic Words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Speeches of Martin Luther King
- Pamphlet on King and Socialism from the Socialist Party USA (PDF)
- "The MLK you don't see on TV" from FAIR
- The Martin Luther King Center (German)
- Works by Martin Luther King, Jr. at Project Gutenberg
- 1956 Comic Book: Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story
- Kirk, John A. New Georgia Encyclopedia Short Biography
- Declassified document, FBI's letter urging him to commit suicide.
- Dyson, Michael Eric. No Small Dreams: The Radical Evolution of MLK's Last Years. LiP Magazine, January 2003
- Wise, Tim. Misreading the Dream: The Truth About Martin Luther King Jr. and Affirmative Action. LiP Magazine, January 2003
- Summary of plagiarism controversy
- Shelby County Register of Deeds documents on the Assassination Investigation
- Template:Worldcat id
- Transcript of interview with Dr. Kenneth Clark
- The Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March: Shaking the Conscience of the Nation, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
Video and audio material
- Martin Luther King Videos full streaming video speeches of "I Have a Dream" and "I've been to the mountaintop"
- Martin Luther King Audio audio recordings of Martin Luther King speeches on www.MLKOnline.net including full "I Have a Dream" speech
- "I Have a Dream" by Common popular new hiphop song sampling King
- Internet Archive: The New Negro, King interviewed by J. Waites Waring.
- RealAudio recording of the "I Have a Dream" speech at the History Channel's site
- Full "I Have a Dream" speech video
- YouTube clip of "How Long? Not Long!" speech in Montgomery, Ala., March 25, 1965
- "Beyond Vietnam" speech text and audio
- YouTube clip of "Mountaintop" speech, April 3, 1968
- Rare Mp3 Sound Recording from 4/19/61 King, Martin Luther, Jr. "The Church on the Frontier of Racial Tension, Gay Lecture delivered at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary."
Template:Persondata {{subst:#if:King, Martin Luther, Jr.|}} [[Category:{{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:1929}}
|| UNKNOWN | MISSING = Year of birth missing {{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:1968}}||LIVING=(living people)}} | #default = 1929 births
}}]] {{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:1968}}
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}}