The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.

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Martin Luther King Jr. in Philadelphia

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Born in Atlanta in 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. remained in Atlanta to attend Morehouse College before moving to the Philadelphia area to study at Crozer Theological Seminary. While in the Philadelphia area, King participated in his first anti-racist protest and attended a lecture on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi and his tactics of non-violent protest that helped to shape his future work as a civil rights activist. By 1955, King was serving as a Pastor of a Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama and he had received his PhD in systemic theology from Boston University.

After incidents on Mongomery buses where black women, including Rosa Parks, refused to give up their seats for white passengers had roiled the community, King led what would become the Montgomery Bus Boycott. King took the position despite the great personal risk it brought him, and his house was even bombed by racists in the community who opposed him. The bus boycott became a national story and the just 26 year old King was suddenly thrust into the national spotlight as a prominent face of the burgeoning civil rights movement.

Over the next 13 years, Martin Luther King, Jr. became the most prominent face of the movement for Civil Rights for African Americans. King led non-violent protests, strikes and sit ins across the country, often being arrested for his civil disobedience. In perhaps his most famous action, in 1963 King was one of the leaders of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was at this event in Washington, D.C. where King gave his famous I have a Dream speech. The speech, considered one of the finest and most impactful in American History, helped build momentum for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a year later.

While King had great success in furthering the Civil Rights Movement, the very real and very violent opposition to King's goals continually put him in danger. In addition to his house being bombed, King was stabbed, assaulted and continually threatened. On March 29, 1968, King was in Memphis to support striking sanitation workers when he was assassinated outside his hotel room. King was just 39 and left behind a wife and four children.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

In 2011, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial opened to the public in Washington, D.C. The centerpiece of the Memorial park is the statue Stone of Hope by the artist Lei Yixin. In the statue, King is partially submerged in the enormous block of granite from which the King statue is carved. The inspiration for this depiction comes from his famous I Have A Dream speech: "Out of the Mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

The Memorial is located on the Tidal Basin within sight of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial where King made his famous speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In addition to the statue, the Memorial contains inspiring quotes from some of King's most famous speeches and writings on the Inscription Wall. The Memorial is open to the public and free of charge. The Memorial is managed by the National Park Service.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial