AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST AND MINISTER
1929–1968

Martin Luther King Jr., was born on January 15, 1929, the eldest son of a family deeply rooted in the African-American social gospel tradition. His father and maternal grandfather, both of whom were prominent Baptist ministers in Atlanta, Georgia, viewed religious beliefs, social values, and political action as the core of day-to-day living. Born Michael King Jr., King became known as Martin Luther when his father, inspired by the Lutheran movement in Germany, took that name. Early in life Martin struggled with his religious beliefs, and he entered the ministry only after his exposure to a combination of theology and social action while a student at Morehouse College. King attended Crozier Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and received a Ph.D. from Boston University in 1955. In Boston, he met Coretta Scott (b. 1927), a student at the New England Conservatory...