- Daily Schedule
- Science Thursday
- KC Bookmobile
- Ending Child Abuse
- Family Calendar
- Hall of Fame
- Joke of the Day
- Kathy's Corner
- The Music Box
- Nature Reports
- Spark's Pictures
- Top Ten Lists
- Video Vault
- Contact Us
The Kids Corner Hall Of Fame
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
We are inducting civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. into the Kids Corner Hall of Fame. Gary from Jackson nominated Dr. King and wrote: “He believed people of any skin color, where they come from, their religion, or their beliefs can all get along. He worked very hard to get this message all across the world.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in 1929 in Atlanta, GA. His father was a minister. Martin Jr. was an excellent student who entered college at the age of 15. Martin Luther King, Jr. graduated from Morehouse College and then studied religious studies at Crozer Seminary in Chester, PA. He earned the title of “Doctor of Philosophy” from Boston University in 1955. That is why he is referred to as “Doctor King.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. believed in non-violent resistance as a path to social change. He was inspired by the work of India’s former leader Mahatma Gandhi. When Martin Luther King, Jr. visited India in 1959, he was inspired to apply Gandhi’s teachings of non-violent resistance to the American Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King said, “Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity.”
On December 1, 1955, African-American seamstress Rosa Parks refused to give her seat on a Montgomery, AL city bus to a white man, as was the custom. When she was arrested, Dr. King saw his opportunity to take a stand for civil rights. He and other leaders organized a boycott of the bus system in Montgomery that lasted more than a year before the rules changed.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was in danger the whole time he and others worked to insure equal rights for all people. He was arrested several times, and was stabbed in New York City in 1958. Dr. King’s house, where he lived with his wife and four small children, was bombed. Still, he continued to organize people in peaceful protests against the laws in America that allowed people to discriminate against each other because of race. He believed that drawing worldwide attention to these unfair conditions would bring change in his lifetime.
In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. joined other American civil rights leaders to organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom that took place August 28 at the Lincoln Memorial and attracted thousands of people. This was where Dr. King delivered his most famous speech, known as the “I have a dream speech.” Dr. King talked about his dream for the future, where young children of all races and all differences would join together to celebrate being “free at last.” The March on Washington is credited with helping pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1966.
In 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in promoting equality in America. At the time, he was the youngest person ever to win that important honor. Dr. King continued to organize marches and protests in support of civil rights, and he was vocal in his criticism of the war in Vietnam. In April 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled to Memphis, TN in support of that city’s striking sanitation workers. On April 4, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel, he was shot and killed. Today, the Lorraine Motel stands as the National Civil Rights Museum. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s work continued after his death, and in 1983 Pres. Reagan signed a law declaring Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday.
