Martin luther king jr. biography for kids

So this coming month, February, is “Black History Month” in the United States and Canada.  Black History Month is a time for us to remember important people and events in the history of people of African descent around the world and in our countries. Black History Month can be traced back to 1926 when Carter G. Woodson founded Negro History Week to recognize the achievements made by African Americans.  Carter Woodson was a Harvard university graduate and he chose February as the month to celebrate black history because the birthdays of Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln were both in February.  

We thought that for this month’s first episode of Bedtime History, we would focus on one of the great black rights activists and civil rights leaders of American history, Martin Luther King Jr.  Civil rights are the rights of citizens to political and social freedom and equality. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia.  His dad was a pastor and his mother was a school teacher.  A pastor is a minister in charge of a Christian church or congregation.  Martin also had an older sister named Cristine and a younger brother named Alfred.  They grew up in a wealthy area of Atlanta called “Sweet Auburn” where many black families lived at the time.

Martin knew from a young age that he enjoyed a great childhood and a good education that not many black children in America at the time had access to.  It inspired him to want to help other black children have the same opportunities to live a good life.  He was also inspired by his father, who worked hard on activities to try to improve the lives of black people and achieve equality.

Martin was a very good student and he worked hard to get good grades.  Because of his hard work, he got into a good college when he was 15 to study law and medicine.  It was called Morehouse College and was the same college that his father and hi

Martin Luther King, Jr. (born Michael King, Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an Americanpastor, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He was best known for improving civil rights by using nonviolentcivil disobedience, based on his Christian beliefs. Because he was both a Ph.D. and a pastor, King is sometimes called the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. (abbreviation: the Rev. Dr. King), or just Dr King. He is also known by his initials MLK.

King worked hard to help people understand that people of all races should be treated equally. He gave speeches to encourage African Americans to protest without using violence.

Led by Dr. King and others, many African Americans used nonviolent, peaceful ways to fight for their civil rights. These strategies included sit-ins, boycotts, and

Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929–April 4, 1968) is considered one of history’s greatest speakers and social activists. He is known for his nonviolent philosophy. His leadership helped end segregation during the American civil rights movement.

When Martin Luther King Jr. was born, his parents, Michael and Alberta, gave him a different name from the one we know today. They called him Michael. But Michael Sr. later changed his name and his son’s to Martin Luther, after the famous religious leader. The middle-class family was very religious. Both Martin’s father and grandfather were pastors in Atlanta, Georgia. The King children grew up in a loving home but experienced racism from an early age.

Separate Is Never Equal

King attended segregated public schools in Georgia. He skipped the ninth and eleventh grades and graduated from high school at 15. It was around that time that he joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil rights organization. King’s father led the NAACP’s Atlanta chapter.

In 1948, King graduated from Morehouse College, in Atlanta. He went on to study religion at Crozer Theological Seminary, in Chester, Pennsylvania. In 1951, he graduated with honors and was class valedictorian. Soon after, he enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Boston University (B.U.), in Massachusetts. He met music student Coretta Scott in Boston. The couple married in 1953 and later had two sons and two daughters.

In 1954, while completing his degree, King moved to Montgomery, Alabama. He became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Soon after, on December 1, 1955, a woman named Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give her seat to white passengers on a Montgomery city bus. In response, the NAACP chose King to lead a citywide bus boycott. For 381 days, members of the Black community walked or carpooled to work. Many of them were attacked.

The NAACP filed a lawsuit against the city of Montgomery

Meet the civil rights leader in our Martin Luther King facts and discover how he changed history for millions of African-American people during the Civil Rights Movement…

Martin Luther King facts

Full name: Dr Martin Luther King Jr
Born: 15 January 1929.
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Occupation: Minister and activist.
Died: 4 April 1968.
Best known for: Campaigning for the rights of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

1) Martin Luther King Jr was born in the United States of America to African American parents. At birth he was named Michael King, but his father later changed his name to Martin Luther King Jr.

2) When Martin Luther King was growing up, life was hard for African Americans. The Southern United States operated under the ‘Jim Crow laws’ that kept black and white people separated in what was called ‘segregation’. Black people had different schools, toilets and even sections of the bus to white people. They were also denied the right to vote in elections.

3) Martin Luther King had his first experience of segregation at just six years old, when he was told he wasn’t allowed to play with his white friend anymore – his friend’s father wouldn’t allow it!

4) His first major role in the Civil Rights Movement came in 1955, after an African American lady – Rosa Parks – was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus. This sparked outrage in the African American community and Martin helped to organise a boycott of the city’s buses. After 381 days of protest, a court finally ruled that such segregation laws should no longer be recognised.

5) Martin was a great believer in peaceful protest, inspired by the Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi. His protests used no-violent tactics, even when the protesters themselves were met with violence from the police.