Roundtable: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Childhood and Education

Did you know that …  

Martin Luther King Jr. was born Michael King Jr. on January 15, 1929 to Michael King and Alberta (Williams) King. Michael King went to Morehouse College and studied to be a minister. As senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, he raised attendance from approximately six hundred to several thousand.  

In 1934, the church sent Pastor King on a multinational trip to Rome, Tunisia, Egypt, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Berlin, and various locations in Germany associated with Martin Luther, the Reformation leader.  When Michael King returned home in August 1934, he changed his name to Martin Luther King (Sr.) and changed his son’s name to Martin Luther King Jr.

Many young men enlisted in WWII causing enrollment at Morehouse College to decrease.  As a result, it began offering the entrance examination to younger high school students. Martin Luther King Jr. applied and was accepted in 1944 when he was 15 years old. The summer before starting school, he joined a group of Morehouse College students on a trip to Simsbury, Connecticut to work on a tobacco farm. It was his first trip outside of the segregated south into the integrated north. He was surprised they were able to go to “One of the finest restaurants in Hartford” and that “Negroes and whites go to the same church.”  At Morehouse College, he played freshman football and chose to enter the ministry. He graduated with a BA in sociology in 1948 at age 19.

Martin Luther King Jr. continued his education at Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania and graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951.  He began his doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University in 1951 and audited philosophy classes at Harvard University in 1952 and 1953. He received his doctorate in 1955.

Soon after meeting Coretta Scott, the couple married on June 18, 1953 in Alabama. They had four children, Yolanda King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King and Bernice King.  Martin Luther King Jr. was the co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church with his father until his death in 1968.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Civil Right Leader, https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/martin-luther-king-jr/ 

Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964,  https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/biographical/

And gave one of the most famous speeches in history, “I Have a Dream.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP4iY1TtS3s

On August 22, 2011, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was unveiled on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-king-memorial/martin-luther-king-memorial-unveiled-on-national-mall-idUSTRE77L5HJ20110822

On Monday, January 17th, 2022, 77WABC is honoring and celebrating Dr. King’s life and accomplishments with a roundtable discussion hosted by 55th Governor of New York, Gov. David Paterson, followed by a luncheon with some of Dr. King’s favorite foods according to Taste of Home magazine.

It is with great honor and respect that 77WABC honors the important legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.