Celebrating the Life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta over ten years after Nelson Mandela was born in South Africa, and over two years before Desmond Tutu was born.
He is the only African-American person, as well as the only member of the clergy, for whom the United States has designated a national holiday. He was not perfect, but he accomplished a great deal in a short lifetime.
The eldest son of an African-American minister, Martin grew up in a position of relative comfort within a segregated society. The church and the expectations of his family played central roles in his early life. A graduate of Morehouse College, he decided to attend seminary in Pennsylvania and do his doctoral work at Boston University. In graduate school he became familiar with the thinking of Christian theologians including Walter Rauschenbusch and Reinhold Neibuhr, as well as the writing and work of Leo Tolstoy in Russia, Henry David Thoreau, and Mahatma Gandhi in India.
At home in the world of education and ideas, he worked throughout the rest of his life to put his core values into practice, making a meaningful difference.
After completing his education, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. returned to the South at the age of 25 to become the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Six months after arriving, he was asked to take a leadership role in an effort to change Montgomery’s policy of segregation in public transportation.
Dr. King’s life and accomplishments were shaped by his earliest experiences. His speaking and writing, and his work to bring more justice and reconciliation to American society, grew out of his own personal values and the values of the people he inspired around him.
How has Dr. King’s work changed your life?
How will you celebrate his life and legacy this weekend?
[Image by e-strategyblog.com]
2 Comments
Peg Gillard (@gracinginfinity)
January 20, 2013Thank you Greg for this lovely commemorative! Dr. Martin Luther King is one of my heroes. I grew up in Maryland and remember well his assassination. I watched my town go up in flames from my parents’ bedroom window as riots broke out. School was closed due to fear of violence in the wake of his death. It was a horrible time. I was crushed that he had been murdered. That same year a classmate and friend was killed in a fire in his apartment due to an overturned space heater, used because a slumlord wouldn’t fix the heat. Buck died when he went back into his burning apartment to try to rescue his two little sisters. He was in seventh grade, as was I. His funeral is something I will never forget. Housing segregation still existed at that time. It was a very difficult year. Thank you again for reminding us what this man stood for.
Strategic Monk
January 20, 2013Thank you, Peg.
Dr. King is an example to me of quiet, centered dignity in the face of violence and oppression. I grew up in rural Wisconsin, and it was through television and his writings that his words and actions opened new worlds to me.
He was the kind of leader I aspire to become. His life and work grew out of who he was at his core, and developed as he discovered his true self more deeply. He was not perfect, but he certainly packed a great deal into a life tragically cut short.