Martin Luther King Jr., pastor of the Baptist church in the United States, campaigner for the eradication of racial discrimination, peace laureate Nobel Prizes in 1964, was assassinated 55 years ago on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. His killing generated widespread outrage in the United States, with demonstrations taking place in over 150 places.
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| Martin Luther King Jr. during his famous speech "I have a dream" |
A few years earlier, on August 28, 1963, during the so-called March on Washington, a legal, nonviolent demonstration of the African American equality movement, Martin Luther King made a speech to nearly 250,000 people that went down in history. "I have a hope that one day our country would rise to the heights of the genuine meaning of his faith and embrace as true siblings Willie Christine and Alfred Daniel Williams."
King Jr. joined the church choir when he was a few years old and was subsequently moved to public school. After some time, his father relocated him to Atlanta University's experimental school.
He enrolled at Morehouse College in 1944. Its director was Benjamin Mays, who had previously met Mahatma Gandhi and had a significant impact on King and other pupils. In response to the murders of a World War II veteran black Maceo Snipes and two black couples, King sent an open letter to the publisher of the "Atlanta Constitution" in 1946. In the letter, he emphasized the concept of equal access to education, health care, and life and work protection.
He opted to become a Protestant priest and was ordained on February 4, 1948. He was admitted to Crozer Theological Seminars in Chester three weeks later. He had excellent academic scores, which he confirmed in a letter to King's parents.
During his seminary studies, he became aware of the existing social and consequent injustices, and he read the works of Karl Marx, Walter Rauschenbusch, and Reinhold Niebuhr. He also became aware of the Satyagraha movement (movement social initiated by Mahatma Gandhi; he promoted demonstration own beliefs without resorting to violence). His "No Violence" method had a significant influence on the young preacher. In 1951, he graduated from seminary and began doctorate studies in theology at Boston University School of Theology.
King met his future wife, Coretta Scott, while pursuing his doctorate. She was the daughter of an Alabama farmer and attended Antioch College and a Boston music school. Martin Luther King Sr. wedded his son and his wife in Marion on June 18, 1953. Coretta Scott, who was raised in a Methodist family, was soon baptized in the Baptist rite as well. Upon graduation, the pair relocated to Montgomery, Alabama. Yolanda Denise (born in 1955), Martin Luther III (born in 1957), Dexter Scott (born in 1961), and Bernice Albertine (born in 1962) were her four children (born in 1963).
More than a half-century after King's death, new information has emerged that casts doubt on his legacy. His biographer, David J. Garrow, told the publication "Standpoint" in 2019 that King had scores of extramarital affairs and engaged in orgies. The FBI has access to explosive documents. The evidence in this case will not be made public until until 2027.
Garrow cautions, however, that the matter demands a full investigation and a careful examination of all FBI archives papers. Throughout his lifetime, Martin Luther King was to admit to associates at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) that he was a man of temptation...
Even before defending his PhD dissertation, King was hired as a pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. On September 1, 1954, the Kings relocated to Alabama. He attended NAACP meetings with his friend Ralph Abernathy, among other things (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - PAP note).
On December 1, 1955, a black lady named Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, which was against the rules at the time. Once she was sentenced for this, social activists, who were subsequently joined by King, pushed Black Americans living in Montgomery to boycott public transportation until city officials agreed to end racial segregation on buses. Simultaneously, the Montgomery Improvement Association was created, with the preacher as its head.
A bomb was hurled at King's residence on February 1, 1956, but no one was hurt. Despite the incident, the pastor advised people to avoid escalation and to pray for the assailants. Prosecutors charged King in March for illegal resistance to help the demonstration and breaking the anti-boycott statute, while the city suffered damages. The court imposed a $500 fine and $500 in court expenses, as well as 386 days in prison.
During this time, he frequently invoked Gandhi and his success - India's independence from Great Britain in 1947 - in his sermons. Throughout the summer of 1956, he toured across the country preaching and gathering funds for MIA operations while maintaining the boycott. Following the conclusion of the demonstration, many attempts were made to assassinate King. The Ku Klux Klan's retaliation efforts exacerbated the events in 1957.
He resigned from the Deuter Avenue parish in November 1959 and relocated his family to Atlanta. He worked at his father's parish there.
On June 25, 1960, he met with John F. Kennedy, the Democratic nominee for the impending presidential election. Despite the fact that most black People backed the Republicans (including Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Emancipation Proclamation), King chose to endorse Kennedy.
In October 1962, King visited with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, pressing them to issue a new Emancipation Proclamation to replace the one issued by Abraham Lincoln a century before. Around this time, there was a surge in interest in J. Edgar Hoover's King. The FBI director suspected him of pro-communist tendencies and ordered that he be wiretapped.
The pastor, known for his unparalleled oratory skills, presented the dream of a society in which "the sons of former slaves together with the sons of former slaveholders will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood" during the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, which gathered over 250 thousand people in front of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial.
King's address, as one of the march's co-organizers, went down in history as one of the most powerful speeches in history, including his iconic "I Have a Dream".
Two days later, the FBI's chief of internal affairs, William C. Sullivan, wrote: "After the March on Washington, it became clear that Martin Luther King Jr. was the most dangerous black man in America. We must utilize all available methods to eliminate him."
King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was 35 years old at the time and the youngest laureate in history. This heightened FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover's assaults on the pastor, whom he dubbed "America's greatest liar."
Four years later, the charismatic leader of the equality movement was assassinated on a hotel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. Martin Luther King was 39 years old at the time of his death. The preacher appeared in Memphis to assist the municipal sanitation workers who were on strike. He was scheduled to deliver a speech on defense of victims who had been exploited by local officials. In Memphis, he stayed in room 306 of the Lorraine Hotel on Mulberry Street.
On April 4, King was getting ready to go out to lunch with Pastor Samuel Kyles and his companions. As the Nobel Peace Prize winner went to the room to grab his coat, his buddies heard the sound of a gunshot. The pastor was on the balcony, bleeding from a three-inch entrance cut in the right side of his jaw and neck. The bullet struck the carotid artery and the spinal cord, causing the injured guy to bleed profusely. He died in the hospital the next day. President Lyndon B. Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning, and a burial was conducted in Atlanta two days later.
A Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry discovered that prison escapee James Earl Ray rented the apartment across the balcony where King was slain. There was a Remington rifle with an optical sight found there. The bomber escaped to Atlanta and then to Europe before being apprehended in the United Kingdom and brought to the United States on June 19, the same year. State prosecutors accused him with murder and sought the death sentence in the spring of 1969. He received a 99-year jail term. Ray died in jail after serving 29 years in 1998.
The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the most prominent leader in the African-American civil rights and equality movement in history, prompted deadly racial riots in several American cities, including Chicago, Baltimore, Louisville, Kansas City, and Washington. Rioters in the American capital nearly entirely damaged the city's business area. The disturbances, which lasted three days, were only put down by more than 13,000 civilians summoned to assist military, National Guard personnel.
A few days after King's death, the US Congress approved the "Civil Rights Act of 1968," which, among other things, forbids discrimination in housing on the basis of race, religion, or ethnicity. The Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal were both bestowed to King posthumously.
"Martin Luther King Day" has been observed in the United States on the third Monday of January since 1986. Several streets, squares, and parks in the United States are named after Martin Luther King Jr.
His person is still a symbol of resistance to prejudice and the battle for minority rights. Threads from his life have frequently inspired filmmakers (the 2020 documentary "Martin Luther King vs. the FBI," feature films "Selma" from 2014, and "The Help" from 2011) and musicians ("Pride" by U2).
The author Katarzyna Krzykowska is a Polish journalist.