Martin Luther King, Jr. At 33, he was pressing the case of civil rights with President John Kennedy. Britannica Premium: Serving the evolving needs of knowledge seekers.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s entire education was a sham, a fraud, a great deception, that served as a prerequisite to his false glorification as a respected teacher.

At least, that’s the point of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a federal holiday that takes place on the third Monday of each January.

Martin Luther King Jr. lived an extraordinary life.

By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica.Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. “When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.” – Martin Luther King Jr. The intention behind the holiday is to commemorate this great man’s life, and recommit to his call to fight for justice everywhere. From 1955 until his death in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was the dominant leader of the US civil rights movement.Following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, the Rev.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”At 6:05 p.m. the following day, King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where he and his associates were staying, when a sniper’s bullet struck him in the neck. All Rights Reserved. Amid a wave of national mourning, President He also called on Congress to speedily pass the civil rights legislation then entering the On June 8, authorities apprehended the suspect in King’s murder, a small-time criminal named On March 10, 1969, Ray pleaded guilty to King’s murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

King’s birth name was Michael, not Martin.

In the wake of the riots and looting that broke out with protests over the killing of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis, Minnesota, police last month, supporters of the cause have cited Dr. Martin Luther King…

All Rights Reserved.

But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.

Shortly afterwards, however, Ray recanted his confession, claiming he was the victim of a conspiracy. Update: The Martin Luther KIng, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University has audio of the entire address here.

But the name on his original birth certificate was not Martin.

King knew that storms pass and that joy comes in On January 15, the United States celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 50 years on from his assassination in 1968. The Though blacks and whites alike mourned King’s passing, the killing in some ways served to widen the rift between black and white Americans, as many blacks saw King’s assassination as a rejection of their vigorous pursuit of equality through the nonviolent resistance he had championed.His murder, like the killing of Malcolm X in 1965, radicalized many moderate African American activists, fueling the growth of the Black Power movement and the King has remained the most widely known African American leader of his era, and the most public face of the A campaign to establish a national holiday in his honor began almost immediately after his death, and its proponents overcame significant opposition—critics pointed to Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.Martin Luther King, Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968.

At 35, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

And I’m happy tonight. If you can't be a sun, be a star.