King, Martin Luther, Jr

King, Martin Luther, Jr

. (1929–1968) civil rights leader and clergyman whose pleas for justice won support of millions. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 1134]

See : Eloquence

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King, Martin Luther, Jr

Born Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Ga.; died Apr. 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn. Figure in the black movement in the US. A leader in the struggle for civil rights for blacks.

King received a Ph.D. degree from Boston University in 1955. He became a Baptist minister in 1954. In 1957 he organized and headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a black organization. Although at first a bourgeois liberal, in the last years of his life King came to understand the social nature of the race problem and the necessity for social reforms. He called upon blacks to unite their cause with that of white workers. King developed and extensively used the tactic of mass nonviolent acts in the struggle for civil rights. He was the first prominent black leader to oppose US aggression in Vietnam. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was murdered by racists.

WORKS

Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. New York, 1958.
Why We Can’t Wait. New York, 1964.
Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? New York, 1967.
In Russian translation:
Est’ u menia mechta . . . : Izbr. trudy i vystupleniia. Moscow, 1970.

REFERENCES

Kondrashov, S. N. Zhizn’ i smert’ M. L. Kinga. [Moscow] 1970.
King, C. S. My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr. New York, 1969.

E. L. NITOBURG