Martin Luther King Jr.
By: The Eagle Times Staff
Michael King Jr. was born on January 15, 1926 and would later become Baptist minister and Civil Rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Although assassinated on April 4, 1968, his life and memory made leaps in racial eqauility and civil rights legislation.
Before this article, did you know that his name was originally Michael? Allow us share with you the life of Martin Luther King Jr.
Huey Campbell
Despite being a minister later in his life, Martin Luther King Jr. was not strongly religious in his early life. He was baptized at the age of five which made little impression on him. He questioned faith and over-enthusiastic worship, and this discomfort continued during his adolescence and well throughout college. However, his spirituality was kindled by a Bible study class taken in his junior year. By his senior year, Martin informed his relieved father, who was a minister, of his decision to following his father's carrer path. After graduating Morehouse College, he attended Crozer Theological Seminary where he came under the tutelage of Benjamin E. Mays, President of Morehouse College and racial equality advocate. He taught King to use Christianity for social change. In 1954, 25 year old Martin Luther King Jr. became pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church while working on his doctorate.
Dylan Chesterman
M.L.K. was an avid supporter of Star Trek, so much so that he convinced actress Nichelle Nichols, who played the role of Lt. Nyota Uhura on Star Trek: The Original Series to stay with the show instead of accepting that a Broadway offer at the end of the first season. In the midst of the civil rights movement, week after week Americans were watching Nichelle on television, and not as a servant but as a lieutenant. Star Trek was important to MLK as it changed how much the role of pop culture had on the fight for equality.