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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1982)
God is on our side. M a rtin L u th er K in g , J r., was born in A tlan ta, Georgia on Janu ary 15, 1929 in a com fortable thir- teen-room tw o-story house at 501 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia. His parents were middle class Black A m ericans. M a rtin Lu th er King, Sr., his father, was a Baptist minis ter; his m other, A lb erta W illiam s King, a schoolteacher. King Jr. was nineteen when he graduated from Morehouse College in 1948. Three years later he re ceived a Bachelor o f Divinity degree at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, graduating at the head o f the class. In 1951 he entered the G ra d u ate School o f Theology at Boston University and was awarded a Ph .D . degree in sys tematic theology four years later. While studying at Boston Univer sity, K ing met C o re tta Scott o f M a rio n , A la b a m a , who was then studying at the New England C on servatory o f M usic. She had just graduated from A n tio ch College. Coretta and Martin were married in 1953, and became the parents o f Yo landa Denise, M a rtin Luther i l l , Dexter, and Bernice Albertine. From 1954 until 1960 he was the pastor o f the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. W h ile pastor at D exter Avenue, King was elected president o f the M ontgom ery Im provem ent Asso ciation which organized a year long boycott against segregated public transportation in Montgomery. The success o f this boycott catapulted Dr. King into prominence in the civ il rights struggles o f Black A m eri cans. In 1957 King organized what later became the Souther Christian Lead ership Conference and was elected its President. The S C LC offices in Atlanta, was the organizational base for D r. King’s civil rights activities after 1960, when he left M ontgom ery, A labam a to jo in his father as co-pastor o f Ebenezer Baptist Church. For a decade M artin Luther King was w o rld -fam o u s as a leader o f Black Americans in their struggle against discrimination and race pre judice. He was a principal leader of the historic “ M arch On Washing to n ” in 1963, and Tim e magazine designated him " M a n o f the Year” for 1963. In !964 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize— the young est Peace Laureate in history. A lo n g w ith this w o rld -fam o u s leadership came threats on his life, the bombing o f his home and gen eral violence and hatred towards h im . In the midst o f plans for a “ Poor Peoples March On Washing ton ” M artin Luther King Jr. made the second o f two trips to Memphis, Tennessee to support the garbage collectors there who were on strike for better wages and working condi tions. W hile in Memphis on A p ril 4th, 1968 he was murdered by assas sin James Earl Ray, who shot D r. King with a high-powered rifle as he stood on the balcony o f the L o r raine Hotel talking with friends and members o f his staff. Empty buses w ait as Blacks in Montgomery walk rather than ride in segregated busses. The young Dr. Kinq studies Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence. Early in 1957 sixty Black leaders founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and elected Martin Luther King, Jr. President. He was now a national figure and in May, with A. Philip Randolph and Roy Wilkins, he organized the Prayer Pilgrimage in Washington, D .C ., the biggest civil rights demonstration by Blacks. A bus ride a fte r the successful boycott ended. Car pools were an effective means of getting to work; many walked "History has thrust upon our generation an indescribably important destiny—to complete a process of democratization which our nation has too long developed too slowly, but which is our most powerful weapon for world respect and emulation." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. S t JOlh e DIVISION SE T2nd a FLAVE1 N t It lh a FREMOKT W BURNSIDE .121.1 SAN RAFAEL - 1S10 NE 122nd ForaM ttrov. - 2 3 » PACIFIC Oneon City - B7S MOI ALLA Candy- I M I SW 1.1 LLOVO CENTER 1441« SE DIVISION JSSBSE POWELL NE M th a OLISAN MILLSBORO SSO SE OAK Portland Observer, January 21, 1982 Section II Pagi
