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February is Black History Month, and in celebration of his month, we are providing some facts you may not have known about one of America’s greatest leaders who spearheaded the Civil Rights Movement.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born as Michael King Jr on January 15,1929. He is one of only two Americans that have their birthdays observed as a national holiday (the other is George Washington). President Reagan signed a bill in 1983 that created a federal holiday to honor King. The holiday is celebrated on the third Monday in January, close to the civil rights leader’s January 15 birthday.
Named after his father, Michael King Sr, Martin Luther King, Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps in several ways. in 1931, Michael King Sr. became pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church upon the death of his father-in-law. He adopted the name Martin Luther King Sr. in honor of Protestant leader Martin Luther, and eventually, Michael Jr. followed his father’s lead. Martin Luther King Jr. enrolled at Morehouse College in 1944, and he did not intend to follow the family vocation of becoming a minister until Morehouse president Benjamin E. Mays convinced him otherwise.
The civil rights leader went to jail nearly 30 times in his life. He was arrested for acts of civil disobedience as part of his activist work, and on trumped-up charges, such as when he was jailed for driving 30 miles per hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone.
Through his activism, King played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the South and other areas of the nation, as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
