The King in the Making
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Martin Luther King Jr was one of the world’s most distinguished advocates of social reforms through non-violent means. The boy born in Atlanta on January 15, 1929 was named Michael Luther King Jr but was later changed to Martin. He was the first son and second child born to the Reverend Martin Luther King Sr and Alberta Williams King. Martin’s roots were in the African-American Baptist church. He was the grandson of the Rev A D Williams, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist church and a founder of Atlanta’s NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) chapter. His father succeeded Williams as Ebenezer’s pastor and also became a civil rights leader.
America was on the verge of the Great Depression at the time of Martin’s birth. The depression was to slow down the economy with rising unemployment, high inflation, and non-availability of food for all. Martin was five years old when he was moved by seeing people standing in breadlines. The starvation and unavailability of primary requirements of life touched the little boy. This and similar incidents stilled anti-capitalist feelings in him as he grew old.
Martin’s mother had to meet head on the discrimination and seclusion of Negro community in America. She found it difficult to explain this segregation to a small child. She cultivated in him a feeling of self-esteem and made him realize that he had to face a system that based its tradition on inequality and racial discrimination. She educated him about slavery and how it ended with the Civil War. She explained the divided system of the South – the segregated schools, restaurants, theaters, housing, the white and colored signs on drinking fountains, waiting rooms, lavatories – as a social condition rather than a natural order. She inculcated a sense of opposition to this system in King’s mind – “You are as good as anyone.” The mother, then, perhaps had no idea that her son would once lead a movement against the inhumane system. His parents taught him not to hate the white, for it was his duty as a Christian to love all. He questioned this approach. It was incomprehensive as to how could he love a race that disliked him. He was a loner as a child. Always lost in his own world of thoughts and contemplating over the happenings around, he couldn’t make many childhood friends.
He grew up nauseating not only segregation but also the barbaric acts committed, which had become a regular feature. He saw police brutally dealing with the Blacks, and watched Negroes receive the most tragic injustice of the courts. An organization known as the Ku Klux Klan stood on white supremacy, and it used violent methods to preserve apartheid to make Negroes realize their value and place. He passed spots where Negroes had been savagely lynched. These and similar incidents created a deep influence on his personality.
He also learnt that racial injustice and economic injustice were inseparable twins. Although he came from an economically secured home, he would be worried of the economic insecurity of the Blacks and the distressing poverty of those living around him. He had his share of firsthand experience of injustice, when during his late teens, he worked two summers in a plant that hired both Negroes and whites. To his stark realization the poor white was exploited just as much as the Negro. He learnt about a variety of injustices prevailing in the American society.
Boyhood
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Martin appeared to be non-religious though in the real sense he wasn’t. He grew up in the church. His father was a preacher, his grandfather was a preacher, his great-grandfather was also a preacher, his only brother was a preacher, and his father’s brother was a preacher too. However, he resented religious emotionalism and questioned literal interpretations of scripture. Though he admired black social gospel proponents and saw the church as an instrument for improving the lives of African Americans.
He found the lessons taught in Sunday school to be fundamental in nature. None of his teachers ever doubted the inconceivability of the scriptures. He accepted the teachings as they were offered. He accepted biblical studies without questioning them until he was about 12 years old. But this uncritical attitude ceased to prolong for long given the very nature of his personality. At 13, he startled his Sunday school class by denying the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Doubt sprouted henceforth unceasingly.
Education
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His formal education began at the Yonge Street Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia; and next he enrolled in David T Howard Elementary School. He was also a student at the Atlanta University Laboratory School and Booker T Washington High School. Martin was an exceptionally bright student and always excelled in his class. Due to his extraordinary high score on the college entrance examinations in his junior year of high school, at the age of 15, he enrolled in Morehouse College without formal graduation from high school.
He earned his BA degree in Sociology in 1948. Same year, he enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania as well as studied at the University of Pennsylvania. Here too the glitter of this diamond did not remain hidden for long, he won the Pearl Plafker Award for the most outstanding student. He also received the J Lewis Crozer fellowship for graduate study at a university of his choice. He was elected president of the predominantly white senior class and was honored to deliver the farewell address, providing a glimpse of his oratorical skills. He was awarded a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer in 1951. In September, he began his doctoral studies in Systematic Theology at Boston University. He also studied for sometime at Harvard University. His dissertation, “A Comparison of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Wieman,” was completed in 1955, and received a PhD degree, Doctorate of Philosophy in Systematic Theology, on June 5, 1955.
Finding the Right Ideology
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Mahatma Gandhi, the man behind India’s successful freedom movement, and his theory of non-violence and equality for all races had incredible influence on Martin. He believed Gandhi was the first person in history to lift the love ethics of Jesus above mere interaction between individuals as a powerful and effective social force on a large scale. Love for Gandhi was a potent instrument for social and collective transformation. It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that he discovered the method for social reform that he sought. He said, “Gandhi was the guiding light of our technique for nonviolent social change.” He appreciated Gandhian philosophy and followed it till his last breath. To King, Gandhi was an equally inspirational figure as was Jesus Christ a motivational figure, “Christ furnished the spirit and motivation, while Gandhi furnished the method.”
To Martin Luther King, nonviolence was not only a method for social change, but also a positive way of life. He emphasized that it should become a part of all personal relationships and way of life; in whatever people do in homes, communities and political and business life, the principle of nonviolence should be reflected. It should be a permanent attitude that one practiced in everyday activity like in the choice and tone of words, in body language and way of thinking. This philosophy, once accepted and imbibed in him, always remained the guiding principle of his life.
Marriage
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At Boston, he met Coretta Scott of Alabama and married her on June 18, 1953. The ceremony took place on the lawn of the Scott’s home in Marion. His father Rev King, Sr, performed the service.
The Kings had four children. Their first child, Yolanda Denise was born on November 17, 1955; second was Martin Luther III, born on October 23, 1957; followed by Dexter Scott on January 30, 1961; and the youngest Bernice Albertine was born on March 28, 1963.
The Doctrine of Leadership
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Although Martin had a strong religious background, it was Morehouse College president Benjamin Mays that influenced his decision to become a minister and serve society. His continued skepticism, however, shaped his subsequent theological studies at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, and at Boston University. Martin decided while completing his PhD requirements to return to the South and accept the pastorate of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
The Boycott
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In the apparently secular America, racial discrimination was prevalent in many sections of the society. The normal civil rights were also denied to them and African-Americans were forced to sit in the back of buses and whites occupied the front seats. And if need arose, if there were too many whites riding the bus, the blacks were forced to abandon the seats in favor of the whites. One black activist, Rosa Parks refused to vacate her seat for a white. The event sparked up many events, which marked the attainment of equality in the black civil rights movements.
On December 5, 1955, five days after Montgomery civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to obey 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. In his first speech to the group as its president, King declared :
“We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice.”
These words introduced to the nation a fresh voice, a skillful rhetoric, an inspiring personality, and in time a dynamic new doctrine of civil struggle.
Stride towards Freedom
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As the boycott continued during 1956, King gained national prominence as a result of his exceptional oratorical skills and personal courage. His house was bombed and he was convicted along with other boycott leaders on charges of interfering with the bus company’s operations. Despite these attempts to suppress the movement, Montgomery buses were made available to all in December, 1956, after the United States Supreme Court declared Alabama’s segregation laws unconstitutional.
In 1957, seeking to build upon the success of the Montgomery boycott movement, King and other southern black ministers founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As SCLC’s president, King emphasized the goal of black voting rights when he spoke at the Lincoln Memorial during the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom. In 1958, he published his first book, Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story.
In February 1959, he toured India, enriched his understanding of Gandhian non-violent philosophy and strategies. He and his party were warmly received by India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru; after a brief discussion with followers of Gandhi about the Gandhian concepts of satyagraha (“devotion to truth”), King became more convinced than ever that nonviolent resistance was the most potent weapon available to the oppressed in their struggle for freedom.
At the end of 1959, he resigned from Dexter and returned to Atlanta where the SCLC headquarters were located and where he could assist his father as pastor of Ebenezer.
Although increasingly portrayed as the pre-eminent black spokesperson, King did not mobilize mass protest activity during the first five years after the Montgomery boycott ended. While King moved cautiously, southern black college students took the initiative, launching a wave of sit-in protests during the winter and spring of 1960. King sympathized with the student movement and spoke at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in April 1960, but he soon became the target of criticisms from SNCC activists determined to assert their independence. Even King’s decision in October, 1960, to join a student sit-in in Atlanta did not allay the tensions, although presidential candidate John F Kennedy’s sympathetic telephone call to King’s wife, Coretta Scott King, helped attract crucial black support for Kennedy’s successful campaign.
The 1961 ‘Freedom Rides’, which sought to integrate southern transportation facilities, demonstrated that neither King nor Kennedy could control the expanding protest movement spearheaded by students. Conflicts between King and younger militants were also evident when both SCLC and SNCC assisted the Albany (Georgia) Movement’s campaign of mass protests during December 1961 and the summer of 1962.
An Open Combat
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After achieving few of his objectives in Albany, King appreciated the need to organize a successful protest campaign free of conflicts with SNCC. During the spring of 1963, he and his staff guided mass demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, where local white police officials were known for their anti-black attitudes. Clashes between black demonstrators and police using police dogs and fire hoses on them generated newspaper headlines through the world. King’s campaign to end segregation at lunch counters and in hiring practices drew nationwide attention when police turned dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators.
King was jailed with a large numbers of supporters, including hundreds of school children. His supporters did not, however, include all the black clergy of Birmingham, and he was strongly opposed by some of the white clergy who had issued a statement urging the blacks not to support the demonstrations. From the Birmingham jail, King wrote an eloquent letter, in which he spelled out his philosophy of nonviolence :
“You may well ask : “Why direct action ? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth ? Isn’t negotiation a better path ?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored…We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
‘I Have a Dream’
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President Kennedy reacted to the Birmingham protests and the obstinacy of segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace by agreeing to submit broad civil rights legislation to Congress (which eventually passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964). Subsequent mass demonstrations in many communities culminated in a march on August 28, 1963, that attracted more than 2,50,000 protesters to Washington, DC. Addressing the marchers from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” oration.
King’s spoke his most quoted line here : “I have a dream that my four little children will 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,” continues to be endorsed.
The Amnesty Lover
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The following year, King’s renown grew as he became Time magazine’s Man of the Year and, in December 1964, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Despite fame and accolades, however, King faced many challenges to his leadership. Malcolm X’s message of self-defense and black nationalism expressed the discontent and anger of northern, urban blacks more effectively than did King’s moderation. During the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march, King and his lieutenants were able to keep intra-movement conflicts sufficiently under control to bring about passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, but while participating in a 1966 march through Mississippi, King encountered strong criticism from ‘Black Power’ proponent Stokely Carmichael. Shortly afterward white counter-protesters in the Chicago area physically assaulted King during an unsuccessful effort to transfer non-violent protest techniques to the urban North. Despite these leadership conflicts, King remained committed to the use of non-violent techniques. Early in 1968, he initiated a Poor Peoples’ Campaign designed to confront economic problems that had not been addressed by early civil rights reforms.
Assassination
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King’s effectiveness in achieving his objectives was limited not merely by divisions among blacks, but also 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. King had lost the support of many white liberals, and his relations with the Lyndon Johnson administration were at a low point.
His plans for a Poor People’s March to Washington were interrupted in the spring of 1968 by a trip to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of a strike by that city’s sanitation workers against low wages and intolerable conditions. On April 4, he was killed by a sniper’s bullet while standing on the balcony of the motel where he and his associates were staying. The President of the United States declared a day of mourning and flags flew at half-staff.
On March 10, 1969, the accused white assassin, James Earl Ray, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
King’s immortal lines mark his invincible spirit :
“If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize – that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards – that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr, tried to give his life serving others. I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr, tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity. Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that’s all I want to say.”
President Ronald Reagan signed a legislation declaring the third Monday of January as the Martin Luther King Holiday to celebrate the birth, the life and the dream of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. In words of Coretta Scott King,
“We commemorate … the timeless values he taught us through his example – the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service that so radiantly defined Dr King’s character and empowered his leadership. On this holiday, we commemorate the universal, unconditional love, forgiveness and nonviolence that empowered his revolutionary spirit… On this day we commemorate Dr King’s great dream of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace and reconciliation.”
King remained a controversial symbol of the African-American civil rights struggle, revered by many for his martyrdom on behalf of nonviolence and condemned by others for his militancy and insurgent views.
The contribution of Martin Luther King Jr to the black freedom movement was that of a leader who was able to turn protests into a crusade and to translate local conflicts into moral issues of nationwide concern. Successful in awakening the black masses and galvanizing them into action, he won his greatest victories by appealing to the conscience of white Americans and thus bringing political leverage to bear on the federal government in Washington.
The strategy that broke the segregation laws of the South, however, proved inadequate to solve more complex racial problems elsewhere. King was only 39 at the time of his death – a leader in mid-passage who never wavered in his insistence that nonviolence must remain the essential tactic of the movement, nor in his faith that all Americans would some day attain racial and economic justice.
King wrote a number of books. The most important for to understand his career are : Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (1958), Why We Can’t Wait (1964), and Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967).
January 15, 1929
Birth of Michael, later known as Martin Luther King Jr.
1935 – 1944
King attended David T Howard Elementary School, Atlanta University Laboratory School, and Booker T Washington High School. He passed the entrance examination to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia without graduating from high school.
September 20, 1944
King began his freshman year at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
August 6, 1946
The Atlanta Constitution published King’s letter.
January/February, 1947
King’s article, The Purpose of Education was published in the Morehouse student paper, The Maroon Tiger.
February 25, 1948
King ordained and appointed assistant pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
June 8, 1948
Received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology.
September 14, 1948
Began his studies at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.
May 6–8, 1951
Graduated.
September 13, 1951
King began his graduate studies in Systematic Theology at Boston University.
June 18, 1953
Married Coretta Scott.
June 5, 1955
Was awarded his doctorate in Systematic Theology from Boston University.
December 5, 1955
Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) formed.
King became its president.
November 13, 1956
The US Supreme Court declared Montgomery and Alabama bus segregation laws unconstitutional.
January 10-11, 1957
King became chairman of the Southern Negro Leaders Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration (later known as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC).
February 18, 1957
Appeared on the cover of Time.
May 17, 1957
Delivered his first national address, Give Us The Ballot, at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom.
September 17, 1958
King’s first book, Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story published.
February 3, 1959
Visited India.
February 1, 1960
Became assistant pastor to his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
October 19, 1960
Arrested during a sit-in demonstration.
Released on $2000 bond on October 27.
September 28, 1962
Assaulted at the SCLC conference.
1963
Strength to Love published.
April 16, 1963
King wrote his Letter from Birmingham Jail. King was arrested on April 12 and released on April 19.
August 28, 1963
King delivered his I Have a Dream speech.
June 1964
Why We Can’t Wait published.
December 10, 1964
Nobel Peace Prize.
May 16, 1966
Read Washington Rally Statement to protest the war in Vietnam.
January 1967
King wrote his book Where Do We Go From Here : Chaos or Community? while in Jamaica.
April 3, 1968
Last speech titled I’ve Been to The Mountaintop delivered.
April 4, 1968
Assassinated, died in St Joseph’s Hospital from a gunshot wound in the neck.
April 9, 1968
Buried in Atlanta, Georgia.
Books by Martin Luther King Jr
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King, Martin Luther, Jr A Testament of Hope
San Francisco, Harper & Row Publishers, 1986.
Strength to Love
New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1963.
Strength to Love
New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1963.
Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story
New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1958.
The Trumpet of Conscience
New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1968.
(Foreword by Coretta Scott King.)
Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community ?
New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1967.
Why We Can’t Wait
New York, Harper & Row Publishers, 1963.
“ In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“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.”
“A just law is a man-made code that squares with moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with moral law…One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly and with a willingness to accept the penalty.”
“Darkness can not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate can not drive out hate; only love can do that.”
“The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community.” From King’s sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 2, 1957
“There is nothing quite so effective as the refusal to cooperate with the forces and institutions which perpetuate evil in our communities.”
“Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue…I must confess that I am not afraid of the word, tension. I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, but there is a type of constructive tension that is necessary for growth… the purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.” From Letter from A Birmingham Jail
“I have the audacity to believe that people everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.” Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, December 10, 1964
“If the inexpressible cruelties of slavery could not stop us, the opposition that we now face surely will fail. We’re going to win our freedom because both the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of the almighty God are embodied in our echoing demands.” From his sermon at the National Cathedral on Passion Sunday, March 31, 1968
“Let us hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all of their scintillating beauty.” Letter from A Birmingham Jail, 1963
“I still have a dream today that one day war will come to an end, that men will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, that nations will no longer rise up against nations, neither will they study war any more.” From Dr King’s sermon on Christmas Eve, 1967.
“Just as nonviolence exposed the ugliness of racial injustice, so must the infection and sickness of poverty be exposed and healed – not only its symptoms, but its basic causes. This too will be a fierce struggle, but we must not be afraid to pursue the remedy, no matter how formidable the task.” Dr King’s Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1964
“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not sallow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” ‘I Have A Dream’ speech, August 28, 1963
“Never forget that God is able to lift you from fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace.” Eulogy for the Martyred Children, 1963
“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. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others. In dangerous valleys and hazardous pathways, he will lift some bruised and beaten brother to a higher and more noble life.” “On Being A Good Neighbor” in Strength to Love, 1963.
Honorary Degrees
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Dr Martin Luther King, Jr was awarded honorary degrees from various colleges and universities worldwide :
1957
Doctor of Human Letters, Morehouse College
Doctor of Laws, Howard University
Doctor of Divinity, Chicago Theological Seminary
1958
Doctor of Laws, Morgan State College
Doctor of Humanities, Central State College
1959
Doctor of Divinity, Boston University
1961
Doctor of Laws, Lincoln University
Doctor of Laws, University of Bridgeport
1962
Doctor of Civil Laws, Bard College
1963
Doctor of Letters, Keuka College
1964
Doctor of Divinity, Wesleyan College
Doctor of Laws, Jewish Theological Seminary
Doctor of Laws, Yale University
Doctor of Divinity, Springfield College
1965
Doctor of Laws, Hofstra University
Doctor of Human Letters, Oberlin College
Doctor of Social Science, Amsterdam Free University
Doctor of Divinity, St Peter’s College
1967
Doctor of Civil Law, University of New Castle Upon Tyne
Doctor of Laws, Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa
Dr Martin Luther King, Jr received many awards for his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement. Some of them are listed here :
· Selected one of the most outstanding personalities of the year by Time, 1957.
· Listed in Who’s Who in America, 1957.
· The Spingarn Medal from NAACP, 1957.
· The Russwurm Award from the National Newspaper Publishers, 1957.
· The Second Annual Achievment -- The Guardian Association of the Police Department of New York, 1958.
· Link Magazine of New Delhi, India, listed Dr King as one of the 16 world leaders who had contributed most to the advancement of freedom during 1959.
· Named Man of the Year by Time, 1963.
· Named American of the Decade by Laundry, Dry Cleaning, and Die Workers International Union, 1963.
· The John Dewey Award, from the United Federation of Teachers, 1964.
· The John F Kennedy Award, from the Catholic Interracial Council of Chicago, 1964.
· The Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. At 35, he was the youngest man, the second American, and the third black man awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
· The Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights presented by the Jamaican Government (posthumously) 1968.
· The Rosa L Parks Award presented by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (posthumously) 1968.
