Table Of Content

Martin Luther King, Jr. A Biography Roger Bruns Greenwood Press M ARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. R ecent Titles in Greenwood Biographies S tephen Hawking: A Biography K ristine Larsen B ill Russell: A Biography M urry R. Nelson V enus and Serena Williams: A Biography J acqueline Edmondson F lannery O’Connor: A Biography M elissa Simpson J ane Goodall: A Biography M eg Greene The Leakeys: A Biography M ary Bowman-Kruhm A rthur Ashe: A Biography R ichard Steins Cesar Chavez: A Biography R oger Bruns F . Scott Fitzgerald: A Biography E dward J. Rielly S addam Hussein: A Biography S hiva Balaghi T iger Woods: A Biography Lawrence J. Londino Mohandas K. Gandhi: A Biography P atricia Cronin Marcello M uhammad Ali: A Biography Anthony O. Edmonds M ARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. A Biography R oger Bruns G REENWOOD BIOGRAPHIES G REENWOOD PRESS W ESTPORT, CONNECTICUT · LONDON L ibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bruns, Roger. Martin Luther King, Jr. : a biography / Roger Bruns. p. cm. — (Greenwood biographies, ISSN 1540–4900) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–313–33686–5 1. King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929–1968. 2. African Americans—Biography. 3. Civil rights workers—United States—Biography. 4. Baptists—United States— Clergy—Biography. 5. African Americans—Civil rights—History—20th century. I. Title. II. Series. E185.97.K5B77 2006 323.092—dc22 2006007005 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. C opyright © 2006 by Roger Bruns A ll rights reserved. No portion of this book may be r eproduced, by any process or technique, without the e xpress written consent of the publisher. T his book is included in the A frican American Experience database from Greenwood Electronic Media. For more information, visit www.africanamericanexperience.com. L ibrary of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2 006007005 I SBN: 0–313–33686–5 I SSN: 1540–4900 F irst published in 2006 G reenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 A n imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. w ww.greenwood.com P rinted in the United States of America T he paper used in this book complies with the P ermanent Paper Standard issued by the National I nformation Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 C ONTENTS S eries Foreword vii I ntroduction ix T imeline of Events in the Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. xi C hapter 1 Sweet Auburn 1 C hapter 2 Learning Years 11 C hapter 3 Boston and Coretta 23 C hapter 4 M ontgomery and the Road to Civil Rights 33 C hapter 5 A Growing Movement 47 C hapter 6 Albany, Georgia 61 C hapter 7 Bloody Birmingham 73 C hapter 8 Tumult and Tragedy—1963 85 C hapter 9 J ohnson, King, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 97 C hapter 10 Selma 109 C hapter 11 Taking on Chicago 119 C hapter 12 Vietnam, Black Power, and 1967 131 C hapter 13 Memphis 143 vi CONTENTS S elected Bibliography 149 I ndex 153 Photo essay follows page 72. SERIES FOREWORD I n response to high school and public library needs, Greenwood devel- oped this distinguished series of full-length biographies specifically for student use. Prepared by field experts and professionals, these engaging biographies are tailored for high school students who need challenging yet accessible biographies. Ideal for secondary school assignments, the length, format and subject areas are designed to meet educators’ require- ments and students’ interests. Greenwood offers an extensive selection of biographies spanning all curriculum related subject areas including social studies, the sciences, literature and the arts, history and politics, as well as popular culture, covering public figures and famous personalities from all time periods and backgrounds, both historic and contemporary, who have made an impact on American and/or world culture. Greenwood biographies were chosen based on comprehensive feedback from librarians and educators. Consideration was given to both curriculum relevance and inherent interest. The result is an intriguing mix of the well known and the u nexpected, the saints and sinners from long-ago history and c ontemporary pop culture. Readers will find a wide array of subject choices from fasci- nating crime figures like Al Capone to inspiring pioneers like Margaret Mead, from the greatest minds of our time like Stephen Hawking to the most amazing success stories of our day like J. K. Rowling. While the emphasis is on fact, not glorification, the books are meant to be fun to read. Each volume provides in-depth information about the subject’s life from birth through childhood, the teen years, and adulthood. A thorough account relates family background and education, traces viii SERIES FOREWORD personal and professional influences, and explores struggles, accomplish- ments, and contributions. A timeline highlights the most significant life events against a historical perspective. Bibliographies supplement the reference value of each volume. I NTRODUCTION O n August 28, 1963, under a sizzling hot sun in Washington, D.C., more than 200,000 people engulfed the area around the Lincoln Memorial— blacks and whites, young and old, the largest reform demonstration in American history. On the steps a short distance from the great, brooding statue of the nation’s sixteenth president, the “Great Emancipator,” the last speaker of the day stepped to the microphone to address the mammoth crowd and a television and radio audience that reached into the millions. Short, stocky, dressed in a black suit, he was the son and grandson of preachers, descendants of slaves freed in the time of Lincoln and the Civil War. He was the man around whom much of the Civil Rights movement in the United States had turned—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. H is road to this moment had not been long; after all, he was only 34 years old. But it had been one of momentous times that tugged at the l imits of both human cruelty and heroism. It was a time when once again the people of the United States came face to face with its age-old problem of race relations. If human slavery as an institution had been crushed by the Civil War, many legal and social freedoms of black individuals had not yet been achieved. This enormous crowd over which King now looked was here to proclaim that the time had come. If fateful occurrences had not intervened, he would likely have f ollowed his father as a long-term pastor at a church. Or, more likely, given his intellectual bent, he might have accepted a teaching position at a major university. But the young preacher from Atlanta, Georgia, who was beginning a pastorate in Montgomery, Alabama, was in history’s path