King Martin Luther - I am Martin Luther King, Jr

Change is hard. Most people dont like any kind of change. So you can imagine how hard it is to change strong beliefs. Im talking about racism, and the idea that some folks are better than others just because of the color of their skin.

During my time, many Americans thought this was true. In some towns, black people couldnt stay in hotels or eat in restaurants. They even had separate water fountains for us, as if our dark skin was contagious! It didnt matter how well we did in school, how hard we worked at our jobs, or how devoted we were to our families, we were often thought of as ignorant, and even dangerous.

Despite their treatment, I always believed I was just as good as anyone else. So I set about changing not only peoples hearts and minds, but also the laws of our land. As I put it in my famous I Have a Dream speech, my goal was that people of color, including my own children, could one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

It wasnt easy. Like I said, change is hard, even painful. Despite my brains, my supporters, and my skills as a speaker, I was challenged every day. But I never gave up believing and working toward my dream that little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I am Martin Luther King, Jr.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.:

A great student who grew up to become a popular minister and one of the most important leaders of all time for his work to bring equality to all races using a nonviolent approach.

ALBERTA CHRISTINE WILLIAMS:

Martins mother, a loving and educated woman, who attended college, which was unusual in her day. Her father was a minister at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, SR.:

The son of sharecroppers, Martin, Sr., worked his way out of poverty, went to college, and became a minister at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

CORETTA SCOTT:

Martins wife, a college graduate and the mother of their four children, who continued to advocate for civil rights long after her husbands death.

ROSA PARKS:

A black seamstress who refused to follow the rules and move to the back of the bus, kicking off a massive bus boycott and the modern civil-rights movement.

JOHN F. KENNEDY:

The senator whose brother Robert helped get Martin out of jail, and who was elected the first Catholic president of the United States thanks in part to black voters. He was assassinated in 1963.

EUGENE BULL CONNOR:

Birminghams public safety commissioner who threatened anyone who tried to bring white and black people together.

GEORGE WALLACE:

The Alabama governor who was so against integration that he broke the law to keep it from happening in his own state.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON:

The vice president who became president after John F. Kennedys assassination, and who succeeded in getting the Civil Rights Act passed.

January 15, 1929:

Martin Luther King, Jr., is born to Martin, Sr., and Alberta Williams.

1944:

Martin begins college at Morehouse.

1948:

Martin attends Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania.

1951:

Martin begins graduate school at Boston Universitys School of Theology.

June 18, 1953:

Martin and Coretta Scott are married.

September 1, 1954:

Martin becomes the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

November 17, 1955:

Martin and Corettas first child, Yolanda Denise, is born.

December 5, 1955:

The Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott begins. It lasts 381 days.

October 23, 1957:

The Kings second child, Martin Luther III, is born.

February 1959:

Martin and Coretta travel to India to visit Gandhis homeland.

January 30, 1961:

The third King child, Dexter Scott, is born.

March 28, 1963:

The fourth King child, Bernice Albertine, is born.

April 1963:

Martin writes his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail.

August 28, 1963:

Martin gives his I Have a Dream speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

September 15, 1963:

A bomb kills four young schoolgirls at Birminghams Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

December 1964:

Martin became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, for his commitment to social change through nonviolence.

March 25, 1965:

Martin completes his march for equal voting rights from Selma to Montgomery with more than twenty thousand marchers.

April 4, 1968:

Martin is assassinated on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee.

1983:

President Ronald Reagan signs a bill to create a federal holiday on the third Monday of January, near Martins birthday, to celebrate the civil-rights hero.