Martin Luther King

I wish to note a sporting angle.

Two of the best quarterbacks in the National Football League will square off on Sunday.

Two of the best quarterbacks in the league, who also happen to be African-American. On the day after Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

Worth noting, especially because it's barely been noticed.

He was, and is, truly a great man of significance.

It's not so long ago blacks were not considered quarterback material. Jesse Jackson played football until he was informed that quarterback could not be his position because of his color..

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born at noon Tuesday, January 15, 1929, at the family home, 501 Auburn Avenue, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Charles Johnson was the attending physician. Martin Luther King, Jr., was the first son and second child born to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr., and Alberta Williams King. Other children born to the Kings were Christine King Farris and the late Reverend Alfred Daniel Williams King. Martin Luther King's maternal grandparents were the Reverend Adam Daniel Williams, second pastor of Ebenezer Baptist, and Jenny Parks Williams. His paternal grandparents, James Albert and Delia King, were sharecroppers on a farm in Stockbridge, Georgia.

He married the former Coretta Scott, younger daughter of Obadiah and Bernice McMurray Scott of Marion, Alabama on June 18, 1953. The marriage ceremony took place on the lawn of the Scott's home in Marion. The Reverend King, Sr., performed the service, with Mrs. Edythe Bagley, the sister of Mrs. King, maid of honor, and the Reverend A.D. King, the brother of Martin Luther King, Jr., best man.


Four children were born to Dr. and Mrs. King:
Yolanda Denise (November 17, 1955 Montgomery, Alabama)
Martin Luther III (October 23, 1957 Montgomery, Alabama)
Dexter Scott (January 30, 1961 Atlanta, Georgia)
Bernice Albertine (March 28, 1963 Atlanta, Georgia)
Education

Martin Luther King, Jr. began his education at the Yonge Street Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia. Following Yonge School, he was enrolled in David T. Howard Elementary School. He also attended the Atlanta University Laboratory School and Booker T. Washington High School. Because of his high score on the college entrance examinations in his junior year of high school, he advanced to Morehouse College without formal graduation from Booker T. Washington. Having skipped both the ninth and twelfth grades, Dr. King entered Morehouse at the age of fifteen.

In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse College with a B.A. degree in Sociology. That fall, he enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. While attending Crozer, he also studied at the University of Pennsylvania. He was elected president of the senior class and delivered the valedictory address; he won the Pearl Plafker Award for the most outstanding student; and he received the J. Lewis Crozer fellowship for graduate study at a university of his choice. He was awarded a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer in 1951.

In September of 1951, Martin Luther King began doctoral studies in Systematic Theology at Boston University. He also studied at Harvard University. His dissertation, "A Comparison of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Wieman," was completed in 1955, and the Ph.D. degree from Boston, a Doctorate of Philosophy in Systematic Theology, was awarded on June 5, 1955.

Honorary Degree

Dr. King was awarded honorary degrees from numerous colleges and universities in the United States and several foreign countries. They include the following:

1957

Doctor of Human Letters, Morehouse College
Doctor of Laws, Howard University
Doctor of Divinity, Chicago Theological Seminary
1958

Doctor of Laws, Morgan State College
Doctor of Humanities, Central State College
1959

Doctor of Divinity, Boston University
1961

Doctor of Laws, Lincoln University
Doctor of Laws, University of Bridgeport
1962

Doctor of Civil Laws, Bard College
1963

Doctor of Letters, Keuka College
1964

Doctor of Divinity, Wesleyan College
Doctor of Laws, Jewish Theological Seminary
Doctor of Laws, Yale University
Doctor of Divinity, Springfield College
1965

Doctor of Laws, Hofstra University
Doctor of Human Letters, Oberlin College
Doctor of Social Science, Amsterdam Free University
Doctor of Divinity, St. Peter's College
1967

Doctor of Civil Law, University of New Castle Upon Tyne
Doctor of Laws, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa
Martin Luther King entered the Christian ministry and was ordained in February 1948 at the age of nineteen at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia. Following his ordination, he became Assistant Pastor of Ebenezer. Upon completion of his studies at Boston University, he accepted the call of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama. He was the pastor of Dexter Avenue from September 1954 to November 1959, when he resigned to move to Atlanta to direct the activities of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. From 1960 until his death in 1968, he was co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church and President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Dr. King was a pivotal figure in the Civil Rights Movement. He was elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization which was responsible for the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1955 to 1956 (381 days). He was arrested thirty times for his participation in civil rights activities. He was a founder and president of Southern Christian Leadership Conference from 1957 to 1968. He was also vice president of the national Sunday School and Baptist Teaching Union Congress of the National Baptist Convention. He was a member of several national and local boards of directors and served on the boards of trustees of several institutions and agencies. Dr. King was elected to membership in several learned societies including the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

To read the entire piece, click link.

http://www.lib.lsu.edu/hum/mlk/srs218.html

As I wondered round the world so lost and angry,
He called me home and reached out for my hand,
He spoke with words that sounded more like music,
The words my heart could finally understand.

He showed me pride and said I could feel better,
But no better than the smallest of the small,
He showed me victories where no one loses,
He showed me the answer for us all.

And the song I sing,
I sing for you, sweet Martin Luther King,
And the song I sing,
I sing for you, sweet Martin Luther King,

And as we walked the people gathered round him,
Open arms the only weapons that they bore,
He wore us into cloth of many colors,
And armed with love he marched us off to war.

And the song I sing,
I sing for you, sweet Martin Luther King,
And the song I sing,
I sing for you, sweet Martin Luther King.

The more he spoke of love the more they feared him,
The more he spoke the truth their lies would grow,
Then suddenly with no good-byes we lost him,
My sweet black prince of peace,
I miss you so

They cut his dreams down thinking they would not flower,
But he planted seeds everywhere he'd gone
So that someday in an endless field of colors,
A million dreams would bloom to carry on.

And the song I sing.
I sing for you, sweet Martin Luther King,
And the song I sing,
I sing for You, sweet Martin Luther King,

And the song I sing,
I sing for you, sweet Martin Luther King,
And the song I sing,
I sing for you, my sweet prince of peace,
My sweet prince of peace.

Sitting in the same church where her husband preached equality more than four decades ago, Coretta Scott King said Saturday that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s message is as relevant today as it was in the 1960s.

"It's as if he were writing for this period," King said in a rare public appearance on what would have been her husband's 76th birthday. "Nonviolence would work today. It would work 2,000 years from now. It would work 5,000 years from now."

King reminisced about her life with -- and without -- the slain civil rights leader in an appearance at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Hundreds of people filled the pews and stood in the aisles to hear her speak in the same church where Martin Luther King Jr. was preacher from 1960 until his death in 1968 at age 39.

Her appearance was part of the 12th annual Hands on Atlanta Martin Luther King Jr. Service Summit. The event continues through Monday.

King said her husband's "moral voice" is missing from American society. But she said she is committed to spreading his teachings -- a task she said she embraced during their marriage.

King said she helped her husband through times of disappointment when he grew weary of his fight for equality, adding that he was frequently depressed when people would riot.

"I would tell him, 'You're the only one who's making any sense right now,' " she said.

After his death, the King Center, a memorial and resource center honoring him, became Coretta Scott King's legacy and vision, along with raising her children.

"When he died, I knew I didn't have his abilities and skills, but I have my own," she said.

Widow reflects on King's legacy

Well the world lost a good man
When we lost doctor Martin Luther King
A man who tried to do everything
He tried to keep the world in peace
And now the poor man is gone to rest
But go on, doctor Martin Luther King, take your rest
There will always be another Luther King.

It was early one evening, when the sun was sinking down
Early in the evening, some dirty sniper shot Martin Luther King down
He was nothing but a coward
He dropped his gun and run
But he will never have no peace
He'll always be on the run
The words that he say just before he died
That I'm, I'm going upon, I'm going way upon, way upon the mountain top
Well nobody know and nobody seem to care
Seem like the whole world, the whole world is in sin
Oh Lord, is in sin. Oh, what will, what will become of me?
I say Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on this family.

Yeah they shot him down
Just like they done all the rest
Shot on Abraham Lincoln,
Shot on president Kennedy
And they took poor Martin Luther King
So you know I don't stand a chance
I ain't nobody

I know you people, I know you glad you ain't one of me
I know you people glad, I know you glad you white and free
Oh yeah, white and free, oh, what will, what will become of me?
Oh I am begging, yes, I'm begging to be free.

by Champion Jack Dupree

Thank you for adding that, graffiti.

Thank you for posting the thread, edgarblythe.

It was my pleasure to respond.

As an aside, I have noticed many of your posts and you seem to have about the biggest heart in the world.

You are correct, graf.



-- Martin Luther King, Jr. who would have been 76 yesterday

AW, pshaw, graffiti.
I just do my little song and dance and quietly exit before the hounds can start ripping my flesh.

E-Man is my hero on A2K

Yes, well, your 'little song and dance' are wonderful and your humanity always shines through. As to the majority who seem to take glee in ripping anyone's flesh (well, okay ... anyone's posts): how do you think they appear? It's not a good thing to visualize, believe me.

Okay, you deserve a hug now! :wink:

Thank you.

You are most welcome. Now, back to your/the topic (and referencing the author of the song you chose to post): :wink:


When Harry Belafonte met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1950s, he promised to always assist in his mission.

Thirty-seven years after King's death, the actor, singer and activist is still keeping his pledge.

Belafonte on Saturday met with a group of about 60 people, many of them children, during a celebration of King's life at a Boys and Girls Club. He said the 13 years he worked side-by-side with King were ``the most important of my life.''

``Each and every one of you has the power, the will and the capacity to make a difference in the world in which you live in,'' Belafonte said. ``You should go through life knowing, 'I am somebody.'''

Freedom was the theme of many questions posed by the kids, and one query left the 77-year-old Belafonte particularly reflective. ``How does it feel to be free?'' asked 10-year-old Shawn Gordon.

Answered Belafonte: ``When I get it, I will tell you.''

Belafonte -- famous for his blend of rhythm and calypso-inspired music -- is well known for his role as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador and as a leader in the civil rights movement.

He has also been a vocal critic of the Bush administration, once saying the president displays a combination "of arrogance and limited intellect.''

``All of the things that Dr. King fought for ... are in jeopardy with the Bush administration,'' Belafonte said. To the delight of the children, Belafonte ended his speech with an impromptu rendition of the famous ``Banana Boat Song.''

``The children honestly did not know who Mr. Belafonte is other than the `Day-O' song,'' said B.J. Smith, a club director. ``But just the mere fact that he had direct contact and worked with Dr. King, this makes him very real and important to them.''

Belafonte Honors Martin Luther King's Birthday

Belafonte is one of my main men. I still have the albums I bought as long ago as 1958. His voice in civil rights and children's rights is pure as a bell. If I were in a position to do so I would give the man much more public honor than he has heretofore recieved.

There is a new thread that mentions MLK, but was started to demean Jesse Jackson. Many people who want to knock black leaders start out by saying, "Martin Luther King, okay. (To ward off charges of predjudice) But, Jackson (or Sharp or several others) -" and then they show their true colors. As I see it, if you want to knock down those carrying King's message, if not King himself, then you probably don't support civil rights way down deep.

Sometimes I am stunned to think that he happened in my lifetime.

That he was necessary in my lifetime.

I'm not that old.

But already people forget that it wasn't that long ago that things were so different.

That just now people are being held accountable for their actions. For bombing churchs and killing children. For killing people who dared to register black people to vote.

This world is not my home.

But it is getting closer.

Am I the only person on this site to have actually been present in Washington, D.C. when Rev. King made his memorable "I have a dream" speech? The March on Washington. It was a different time, a different world then. I remember driving down the NJ Pike and passing any number of cars and chartered buses with MARCH ON WASHINGTON signs on their sites. My wife at the time was with me. And so was my son, although he hadn't been born yet.