Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Jan. 15, 1996, edition 1 / Page 3
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The life of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr devoted his lite to the fight fojr full citizen ship rights of the pUor, disadvan tage, and racially oppressed in the UjJited States. Born on Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta, he received a bachelor's degree in sociology in 1948 from Morehouse College, a divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1951, and a doctorate in philosophy from Boston University in 1955. King accepted his pastorate - the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. He and his wife, Coretta Scott King, whom he had met and married in June 1953 while at Boston University, were living in Montgomery for less tharf a year when Rosa Parks defied the ordinance concerning segregated seating on city buses in December 1955. His successful organization of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, with the assistance of the Rev. Ralph ;ph Abernathy and Edward Nixon, cata pulted him into national prominence as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement King studied the life and teach- ? ings of Mahatma Gandhi and further developed the Indians leader's doc trine of nonviolent civil disobedi ence. After the Montgomery, he traveled , delivered speeches, and wrote his first book, "Strive Toward Freedom" in 1958. Two years later, he accepted copastorship with his father of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta' and become president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). King led major campaigns in Albany , Ga., Birmingham, Ala., Danville, Va. He organized the March on Washington in August 1963, where in his brilliant "I Have a Dream" speech, he subpoenaed the c^n science of the nation before the judgment seat of morality. King was chosen as Time maga zine's Man of the Year in January 1964, the first African American honored with the award. Later that year, he became the youngest recipi ent of the Nobel Peace Prize. After supporting desegregation efforts in Saint Augustine., Fla., King focused is the voter-registra tion drive in Selma, Ala., leading a harrowing march from Selma to Montgomery in March 1965. He assailed economic and social discrimination in Northern cities, marking a shift in SCLC strategy, one intended to "bring the Negro into the mainstream of America life as quickly as possible." Recognizing a deeper relation ship between economics and poverty to racism, King began calling for a reconstruction of society and a rev olution of values. He demanded stronger civil and voting rights leg islation and a significant poverty budget. A critic of the Vietnam war, he told an audience on April 4, 1967 that President Johnson antipoverty program know as "The Great Society" had been shot down on the battlefields of Vietnam." In 1968, King planned a multira cial poor people's march on Washington to demand an end of discrimination and the funding of a $12 billion "Economic Bill of Rights." In the midst of organizing this campaign, he Hew to Memphis, Tenn., to assist striking sanitation workers. There on April 4, 1968, Killed was killed by an assassin s bullet. Riots in black ghettos nationwide followed his death. James Earl Ray was convicted of King's murder, but questions remain whether he was a paid agent of conspirators. King's birthday was a declared a federal holiday in 1983. "If any of you are abound when I have met my day .. I'd like someone to mention that day that ^Martin Luther , Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to love M&F X MFC '.H ANK:S AMI) FARMERS HANK ILem hemfor you. 770 Martin Luther King Blvd. Winston-Salem ? 722-0200 M a r t i n Luttier King Jr. ? had a dream ? * of freedom, , of equality. Let us continue to remember en id live his dream... today; and forei er IN OUR 18TH YKAR As a minority owned business. Wo are opoc iallv proud to observe this national holidax, 102 > West 14th Street uoitici ot t 'ni\orsit\ Parkv\a\l / 24-6912 CONTRACT OFFICE FURNISHINGS. INC. FINE OFFICE runkllTUPE
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Jan. 15, 1996, edition 1
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