Ireland's OWN: History

 

A Brief Biography of Civil Rights Advocate,  Martin Luther King, Jr (1929–1968)* —by  D. Míchealín Daugherty "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." —Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr was born in Atlanta, on 15 January 1929, into a family already active in civil rights and in the African-American Baptist church. Growing up, he realised the capacity of the church as an instrument for reaching and motivating African Americans. King attended seminary college; and on 18 June 1953, he married the former Coretta Scott. They would have four children: Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott and Bernice Albertine. King�s activism in civil rights issues soon became known. On 5 December 1955, five days after Rosa Parks refused to adhere to the city's rules mandating segregation on buses, black residents launched a bus boycott and elected King as president of the newly-formed Montgomery Improvement Association. The protests carried into 1956 (381 days); and King's election coupled with his exceptional oratorical skills soon gained him national recognition. His house was bombed, and he was convicted along with other boycott leaders on charges of conspiring to interfere with the bus company's operations. However, Montgomery buses were desegregated in December, 1956, after the United States Supreme Court declared Alabama's segregation laws unconstitutional. In his short lifetime, King was arrested 30 times for civil rights activities. In 1957, King helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As SCLC's president, King emphasized the goal of black voting rights. During 1958, he published his first book, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. The following year, he toured India, in an effort to increase his understanding of Gandhian non-violent strategies. During the spring of 1963, King and his staff guided mass demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, which achieved international coverage and generated newspaper headlines as clashes between demonstrators and anti-Black, racist police using police dogs and fire hoses were caught on camera. King continued to inspire mass demonstrations as a means to elicit change. On 28 August 1963, to over 250,000 people in Washington, DC, King delivered his famous I Have a Dream oration. A camera panning the crowd would show a crowd of black and white people standing together in solidarity. In December 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize. President Kennedy reacted to the protests and marches by agreeing to submit broad civil rights legislation to Congress. The legislation eventually passed, and is known as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. King�s Selma to Montgomery march was instrumental in bringing about the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. There is no doubt that King's courage and dedication gave direction to 13 years of civil rights activities; and inspired men and women, young and old, black and white to take action.  His concept of "somebodiness" gave black and working class people a new sense of worth and dignity; and his philosophy of non-violent protest and strategies for non-destructive social change certainly awakened the conscienceness of America. King faced many challenges however... Many believed that peaceful protest was not enough. Malcolm X, for example, was purporting a stronger message of self-defence and black nationalism. King also encountered strong criticism from Black Power proponent Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) while participating in a 1966 march through Mississippi. Students too were becoming more politically aware of social injustices and recognised a need for more militant actions. King sympathised with the student movement and spoke at the founding meeting of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee in April 1960. However, conflicts regarding strategy between King and younger militants began to arise. King�s efforts were also limited by the increasing resistance he encountered from national political leaders. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's already extensive efforts to undermine King's leadership were intensified during 1967 as urban racial violence escalated and King criticized American intervention in the Vietnam war. On 4th April 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr, was shot by James Earl Ray while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.  King had been in Memphis to help lead sanitation workers in a protest against low wages and intolerable conditions. Ray was arrested in London, England on 8th June 1968 and returned to Memphis. He entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to 98 years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary. Martin Luther King, Jr remains a controversial symbol of the African-American civil rights struggle, revered by many for the changes he elicited via non-violence and condemned by others for his lack of militancy. The question still remains today, and plays a large part in the Irish struggle as well as other anti imperialist struggles worldwide: Can complete freedom truly be won without taking up arms? See also: Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence The Irish Civil Rights Movement "The rise of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland was directly inspired by the events in the United States. Our inspiration to take to the streets in peaceful mass marches to demand equality came directly from Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and the civil rights marches in America that we saw on television. In 1968, I was 19 years old. I was not a revolutionary or a socialist then. I was not even a militant. I was a young [Irish] Catholic student who simply wanted equality before the law and equality within the system. "What made me a revolutionary and an international socialist was practical experience. I saw what happens to people who ask for little. They get less! I saw that when people refuse to lie down and be walked over, they get kicked down." —Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Irish Civil Rights Leader, New York City speech to US workers in 1982 To learn more about the Irish civil rights movement, I suggest Ulster's White Negroes: From Civil Rights to Insurrection by Fionnbarra Ó Dochartaigh. The introduction is written by Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. It can be purchased from Amazon.com. Liam Ó Comain's upcoming book, Towards Revolution: The Memoirs and Thoughts of an Irish Republican, will also bring much insight to those who wish to learn more the struggle in the North of Ireland.   *Sources for this article: 1.Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, A Biographical Sketch. Prepared by the National Library Involvement Committee, Martin Luther King, Jr Federal Holiday Commission. (Washington DC: Martin Luther King, Jr Federal Holiday Commission), 1994. 2."Martin Luther King Jr: Charismatic Leadership in a Mass Struggle". Journal of American History. September 1987. 3."Martin Luther King, Jr". Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. 1996. 4."Reconstructing the King Legacy: Scholars and National Myths". We Shall Overcome: Martin Luther King, Jr, and the Black Freedom Struggle. 1990. Copyright © 2002 Ireland's OWN. 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