A Dream of Equality: Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement from 1954 until his assassination in 1968. He is remembered for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs.

King was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, the second of three children of Martin Luther King Sr., a Baptist minister, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher. King graduated from Morehouse College in 1948, and then attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951. He later earned a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Boston University.

In 1955, King was a leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks, an African American woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. The boycott, which lasted for over a year, led to the United States Supreme Court declaring that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. The success of the boycott made King a national figure and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

In 1957, King, Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, Joseph Lowery and other civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which was dedicated to achieving equal rights for African Americans through nonviolent means. King served as the SCLC's first president.

In 1963, King led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which is best remembered for King's "I Have a Dream" speech. In the speech, King called for an end to racism in the United States and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. He also dreamed of a day when his four children "will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." The march and King's speech helped to galvanize the Civil Rights Movement and led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination in public places, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which ensured that African Americans had the right to vote.

King's activism and leadership were not limited to the United States. He also spoke out against poverty and war, and he advocated for nonviolent resistance as a means to achieve change. In 1968, he went to Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by sanitation workers. On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated while standing on the balcony of his hotel room.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a federal holiday in the United States in 1986. Every year on the third Monday in January, the nation honors the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement and to the nation as a whole. His message of nonviolence, of love and brotherhood, has continued to inspire people all over the world to work for equality, justice and peace.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's legacy still resounds today, for civil rights and for his humanitarian messages. He is an inspiration for all of us to stand up for what is right and to fight for a more just and fair society. His life and his message will always be a powerful reminder of the progress that can be achieved when people come together to demand change.