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{{Short description|American civil rights activist (1929–1968)}}
{{Redirect-multi|2|Martin Luther King|MLK}}
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{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Reverend]]
| image = Martin Luther King, Jr..jpg
| caption = King in 1964
| alt = Black-and-white head shot of King wearing a suit and facing left
| office1 = 1st President of the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]]
| term_start1 = January 10, 1957
| term_end1 = April 4, 1968
| predecessor1 = ''Position established''
| successor1 = [[Ralph Abernathy]]
| birth_name = Michael King Jr.
| birth_date = {{birth date|1929|1|15}}
| birth_place = [[Atlanta]], Georgia, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1968|4|4|1929|1|15}}
| death_place = [[Memphis, Tennessee]], U.S.
| death_cause = [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.|Assassination by gunshot]]
| resting_place = [[Martin Luther King&nbsp;Jr. National Historical Park]]
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Coretta Scott King|Coretta Scott]]|June 18, 1953}}
| children = {{hlist|[[Yolanda King|Yolanda]]|[[Martin Luther King III|Martin&nbsp;III]]|[[Dexter King|Dexter]]|[[Bernice King|Bernice]]}}
| parents = {{unbulleted list|[[Martin Luther King Sr.]]|[[Alberta Williams King]]}}
| relatives = {{unbulleted list|[[Christine King Farris]] (sister)|[[A.&nbsp;D. King]] (brother)|[[Alveda King]] (niece)}}
| education = {{unbulleted list|[[Morehouse College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])|[[Crozer Theological Seminary]] ([[Bachelor of Divinity|BDiv]])|[[Boston University]] ([[PhD]])}}
| occupation = {{hlist|Baptist minister|activist}}
{{Infobox person|child=yes
| monuments           = [[List of memorials to Martin Luther King Jr.|Full list]]
| movement            = {{hlist|[[Civil rights movement|Civil rights]]|[[peace movement|peace]]|[[Anti-war movement|anti-war]]}}}}
| awards = {{unbulleted list|[[Nobel Peace Prize]] (1964)|[[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] ([[Posthumous award|posthumous]], 1977)|[[Congressional Gold Medal]] (posthumous, 2004)}}
| signature = Martin Luther King Jr Signature2.svg
| module = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks about Barry Goldwater at a press conference at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, August 1964 (audio from Polygoon).oga|title=Martin Luther King Jr.'s voice|type=speech|description=King giving a press conference at [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol]]<br />Recorded August 1964}}
| nickname = MLK
}}
{{Martin Luther King Jr. sidebar}}

'''Martin Luther King Jr.''' (born '''Michael King Jr.'''; January 15, 1929&nbsp;– April 4, 1968) was an American [[civil rights]] activist and [[Baptist]] minister who was a leader of the [[civil rights movement]] from 1955 until [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.|his assassination]] in 1968. He advanced civil rights for [[people of color]] in the United States through the use of [[nonviolent resistance]] and [[civil disobedience]] against [[Jim Crow laws]] and other forms of legalized [[discrimination in the United States|discrimination]], which most commonly affected [[African Americans]].

A [[Black church]] leader, King participated in and led marches for the [[right to vote]], [[Desegregation in the United States|desegregation]], [[labor rights]], and other civil rights.{{sfn|Jackson|2006|p=53}} He oversaw the 1955 [[Montgomery bus boycott]] and was the first president of the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] (SCLC), leading the unsuccessful [[Albany Movement]] in [[Albany, Georgia]], and helping organize nonviolent 1963 protests in [[Birmingham, Alabama]]. King was one of the leaders of the 1963 [[March on Washington]], where he delivered his "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech, and helped organize two of the three [[Selma to Montgomery marches]] during the 1965 Selma voting rights movement.  There were dramatic standoffs with [[segregationist]] authorities, who often responded violently.{{sfn|Glisson|2006|p=190}}  The civil rights movement achieved pivotal legislative gains in the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]], the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]], and the [[Fair Housing Act of 1968]].

King was jailed several times. [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] considered King a radical and made him an object of [[COINTELPRO]] from 1963. FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties, spied on his personal life, and secretly recorded him. In 1964, the FBI mailed King [[FBI–King letter|a threatening anonymous letter]], which he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> King won the [[1964 Nobel Peace Prize]] for combating [[Racism in the United States|racial inequality]] through nonviolent resistance. In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards [[Poverty in the United States|poverty]] and the [[Vietnam War]].

In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the [[Poor People's Campaign]], when he was assassinated on April 4 in [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. [[James Earl Ray]] was convicted of the assassination, though it remains [[Martin Luther King Jr. assassination conspiracy theories|the subject of conspiracy theories]]. King's death led to [[King assassination riots|riots in US cities]]. King was posthumously awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] in 1977 and [[Congressional Gold Medal]] in 2003. [[Martin Luther King Jr. Day]] was established as a holiday in cities and states throughout the United States beginning in 1971; the federal holiday was first observed in 1986. The [[Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial]] on the [[National Mall]] in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.

== Early life and education ==

=== Birth ===
Michael King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in [[Atlanta]], the second of three children of [[Martin Luther King Sr.|Michael King Sr.]] and [[Alberta Williams King|Alberta King]] ({{Nee|Williams}}).<ref name="marshall">{{Cite book |last=Ogletree |first=Charles J. |url=https://archive.org/details/alldeliberatespe00ogle/page/138 |title=All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half Century of Brown v. Board of Education |publisher=W. W. Norton & Co |year=2004 |isbn=0-393-05897-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/alldeliberatespe00ogle/page/138 138]}}</ref><ref name="bf" /><ref name="bio" />  Alberta's father, Adam Daniel Williams,<ref name="The King Center">{{Cite web |title=Upbringing & Studies |url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/upbringing-studies |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122161058/http://www.thekingcenter.org/upbringing-studies |archive-date=January 22, 2013 |access-date=September 2, 2012 |publisher=The King Center}}</ref> was a minister in rural [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], moved to Atlanta in 1893,<ref name="bio">{{cite web |title=Martin Luther King Jr. |url=https://www.biography.com/activist/martin-luther-king-jr |date=March 9, 2015 |website=Biography |publisher=A&E Television Networks, LLC |access-date=January 22, 2020 |archive-date=March 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310135126/https://www.biography.com/activist/martin-luther-king-jr |url-status=live }}</ref> and became pastor of the [[Ebenezer Baptist Church (Atlanta, Georgia)|Ebenezer Baptist Church]] in the following year.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=6}} Williams married Jennie Celeste Parks.<ref name="bio" /> Michael Sr. was born to [[sharecroppers]] James Albert and Delia King of [[Stockbridge, Georgia]];<ref name="bf">{{cite web |title=Birth & Family |url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/birth-family |website=The King Center |publisher=The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change |access-date=January 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122161032/http://www.thekingcenter.org/birth-family |archive-date=January 22, 2013}}</ref><ref name="bio" /> he was likely of [[Mende people|Mende]] ([[Sierra Leone]]) descent.<ref>{{cite web|title=King, James Albert|url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_king_james_albert_1864_1933/|access-date=June 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217012826/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_king_james_albert_1864_1933/|archive-date=December 17, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Nsenga|first=Burton|title=AfricanAncestry.com Reveals Roots of MLK and Marcus Garvey|date=January 13, 2011|url=https://www.theroot.com/africanancestry-com-reveals-roots-of-mlk-and-marcus-gar-1790862357|access-date=May 29, 2020|archive-date=January 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118095620/https://www.theroot.com/africanancestry-com-reveals-roots-of-mlk-and-marcus-gar-1790862357|url-status=live|quote=They were also able to discover that Coretta Scott King shared ancestry with the Mend people of Sierra Leone.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Alondra|last=Nelson |author-link=Alondra Nelson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W5nhDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA160 |title=The Social Life of DNA | quote="His mtDNA analysis associated him with the Mende." |pages=160–161 |date=2016 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-2718-9}}</ref> He enrolled in [[Morehouse College]] to study for entry to the ministry.{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=2}} Michael Sr. and Alberta began dating in 1920, and married on November 25, 1926.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=12}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}} Until Jennie's death in 1941, their home was on the second floor of Alberta's parents' home, where King was born.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=4}}{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=12}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}} Michael Jr. had an older sister, [[Christine King Farris]], and a younger brother, [[A. D. King|Alfred Daniel King]].{{sfn|King|1992|p=76}}

Shortly after marrying Alberta, Michael King Sr. became assistant pastor of the Ebenezer church.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}} Senior pastor Williams died in the spring of 1931{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}} and that fall Michael Sr. took the role. With support from his wife, he raised attendance from six hundred to several thousand.<ref name="bio" />{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}}{{sfn|Eig|2023|p=43}} In 1934, the church sent King Sr. on a multinational trip; one of the stops being Berlin for the Fifth Congress of the [[Baptist World Alliance]] (BWA).<ref name="deneen">{{cite news|first=DeNeen L.|last=Brown|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=January 20, 2019|title=The story of how Michael King Jr. became Martin Luther King Jr.|date=January 15, 2019|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/01/15/story-how-michael-king-jr-became-martin-luther-king-jr/|archive-date=December 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231120621/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/01/15/story-how-michael-king-jr-became-martin-luther-king-jr/|url-status=live}}</ref> He also visited sites in [[Germany]] that are associated with the [[Reformation]] leader [[Martin Luther]].<ref name="deneen" /> In reaction to the rise of [[Nazism]], the Congress of the BWA adopted, in August 1934, a resolution saying, "This Congress deplores and condemns as a violation of the law of God the Heavenly Father, all racial animosity, and every form of oppression or unfair discrimination toward the Jews, toward colored people, or toward subject races in any part of the world."<ref name="ajc">{{cite news |last1=Nancy Clanton |first1=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |title=Why Martin Luther King Jr.'s father changed their names |url=https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/why-martin-luther-king-father-changed-their-names/5ClNJ60MUtgsAZyCB4A4IN/ |access-date=February 3, 2020 |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |date=January 17, 2020 |language=en |archive-date=January 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200120172044/https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/why-martin-luther-king-father-changed-their-names/5ClNJ60MUtgsAZyCB4A4IN/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After returning home in August 1934, Michael Sr. changed his name to Martin Luther King Sr. and his five-year-old son's name to Martin Luther King Jr.<ref name="deneen" />{{sfn|King|1992|pp=30–31}}{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=12}}{{efn|King Jr's birth certificate was later altered to read "Martin Luther King Jr." on July 23, 1957, when he was 28 years old.<ref name="deneen" /><ref name="ajc" />{{sfn|King|1992|p=31}}}}

=== Early childhood ===
[[File:Martin Luther King's Boyhood Home.jpg|thumb|left|King's childhood home in [[Atlanta]]]]

At his childhood home, Martin King Jr. and his two siblings read aloud the [[Bible]] as instructed by their father.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=5}} After dinners, Martin Jr.'s grandmother Jennie, whom he affectionately referred to as "Mama", told lively stories from the Bible.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=5}} Martin Jr.'s father regularly used [[whipping]]s to discipline his children,{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=8}} sometimes having them whip each other.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=8}} Martin Sr. later remarked, "[Martin Jr.] was the most peculiar child whenever you whipped him. He'd stand there, and the tears would run down, and he'd never cry."{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=14}} Once, when Martin Jr. witnessed his brother A.D. emotionally upset his sister Christine, he took a telephone and knocked A.D. unconscious with it.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=8}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}} When Martin Jr. and his brother were playing at their home, A.D. slid from a banister and hit Jennie, causing her to fall unresponsive.{{sfn|Oates|1983|pp=8–9}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}} Martin Jr., believing her dead, blamed himself and attempted [[suicide]] by jumping from a second-story window,{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=9}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}} but rose from the ground after hearing that she was alive.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=9}}

Martin King Jr. became friends with a white boy whose father owned a business across the street from his home.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}} In September 1935, when the boys were about six years old, they started school.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. |first=Alan |last=Pierce |url=https://archive.org/details/assassinationofm0000pier |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/assassinationofm0000pier/page/14 14] |year=2004 |publisher=Abdo Pub Co |isbn=978-1-59197-727-8 }}</ref> King had to attend a school for black children, Yonge Street Elementary School,{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=13}} while his playmate went to a separate school for white children only.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=13}} Soon afterwards, the parents of the white boy stopped allowing King to play with their son, stating to him, "we are white, and you are colored".{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}}{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=4}} When King relayed this to his parents, they talked with him about the history of [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] and [[racism in America]],{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=14}} which King would later say made him "determined to hate every white person".{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}} His parents instructed him that it was his [[Christians|Christian]] duty to love everyone.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=14}}

Martin King Jr. witnessed his father stand up against [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregation]] and [[Discrimination based on skin color|discrimination]].{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=15}} Once, when stopped by a police officer who referred to Martin Sr. as "boy", Martin Sr. responded sharply that Martin Jr. was a boy but he was a man.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=15}} When Martin Jr's father took him into a shoe store in downtown Atlanta, the clerk told them they needed to sit in the back.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=9}} Martin Sr. refused, asserting "We'll either buy shoes sitting here or we won't buy any shoes at all", before leaving the store with Martin Jr.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=10}} He told Martin Jr. afterward, "I don't care how long I have to live with this system, I will never accept it."{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=10}} In 1936, Martin Sr. led hundreds of African Americans in a [[civil rights]] march to the [[city hall]] in Atlanta to protest [[voting rights]] discrimination.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=8}} Martin Jr. later remarked that Martin Sr. was "a real father" to him.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=12}}

Martin King Jr. memorized [[hymns]] and Bible verses by the time he was five years old.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=9}} Beginning at six years old, he attended church events with his mother and sang hymns while she played piano.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=9}} His favorite hymn was "I Want to Be More and More Like Jesus".{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=9}} King later became a member of the junior choir in his church.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King Jr.: Young Man with a Dream|first=Dharathula H.|last=Millender|pages=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00mill_0/page/45 45–46]|year=1986|isbn=978-0-02-042010-1|publisher=Aladdin|url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00mill_0/page/45}}</ref> He enjoyed opera, and played the piano.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=13}} King garnered a large vocabulary from reading dictionaries.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}} He got into physical altercations with boys in his neighborhood, but oftentimes used his knowledge of words to stop or avoid fights.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}}{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=13}} King showed a lack of interest in grammar and spelling, a trait that persisted throughout his life.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=13}} In 1939, King sang as a member of his church choir dressed as a [[slave]] for the all-white audience at the Atlanta premiere of the film ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]''.<ref name="katznelson">{{cite book| last=Katznelson| first=Ira| page=[https://archive.org/details/whenaffirmativea00katz/page/5 5]| title=When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America| isbn=0-393-05213-3| year=2005| publisher=WW Norton & Co| url=https://archive.org/details/whenaffirmativea00katz/page/5}}</ref>{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=11}} In September 1940, at the age of 11, King was enrolled at the Atlanta University Laboratory School for the [[seventh grade]].{{sfn|Boyd|1996|p=23}}<ref>{{cite web |title=King enters seventh grade at Atlanta University Laboratory School |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-enters-seventh-grade-atlanta-university-laboratory-school |website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=September 17, 2020 |date=June 12, 2017 |archive-date=April 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427032434/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-enters-seventh-grade-atlanta-university-laboratory-school |url-status=live }}</ref> While there, King took [[violin]] and [[piano]] lessons and showed keen interest in history and [[English studies|English]] classes.{{sfn|Boyd|1996|p=23}}

On May 18, 1941, when King had sneaked away from studying at home to watch a parade, he was informed that something had happened to his maternal grandmother.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=12}} After returning home, he learned she had a heart attack and died while being transported to a hospital.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}} He took her death very hard and believed that his deception in going to see the parade may have been responsible for God taking her.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}} King again jumped out of a second-story window at his home but again survived.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}}{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=14}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}} His father instructed him that Martin Jr. should not blame himself and that she had been called home to God as part of God's plan.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=16}} Martin Jr. struggled with this.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}} Shortly thereafter, Martin Sr. decided to move the family to a two-story brick home on a hill overlooking downtown Atlanta.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}}

=== Adolescence ===
[[File:Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta.jpg|thumb|The high school that King attended was named after African-American educator [[Booker T. Washington]].]]

As an adolescent, he initially felt resentment against whites due to the "racial humiliation" that he, his family, and his neighbors often had to endure.<ref>{{cite news|last=Blake|first=John|title=How MLK became an angry black man|date=April 16, 2013|work=[[CNN]]|url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/us/king-birmingham-jail-letter-anniversary/|access-date=May 29, 2020|archive-date=July 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713045959/https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/us/king-birmingham-jail-letter-anniversary/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1942, when King was 13, he became the youngest assistant manager of a newspaper delivery station for the ''[[Atlanta Journal]]''.{{sfn|King|1992|p=82}} In the same year, King skipped the ninth grade and enrolled in [[Booker T. Washington High School (Georgia)|Booker T. Washington High School]], where he maintained a B-plus average.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=16}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} The high school was the only one in the city for African-American students.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}}

Martin Jr. was brought up in a [[Baptist]] home; as he entered adolescence he began to question the [[biblical literalism|literalist]] teachings preached at his father's church.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=16}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=14}} At the age of 13, he denied the [[Resurrection of Jesus|bodily resurrection of Jesus]] during [[Sunday school]].<ref name="Autobiography">{{cite web|url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/kingweb/publications/papers/vol1/501122-An_Autobiography_of_Religious_Development.htm|title=An Autobiography of Religious Development|website=The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute|publisher=Stanford University|archive-url=https://swap.stanford.edu/20141218230444/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/kingweb/publications/papers/vol1/501122-An_Autobiography_of_Religious_Development.htm|archive-date=December 18, 2014|url-status=dead|access-date=November 15, 2018}}</ref>{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=14}} Martin Jr. said that he found himself unable to identify with the emotional displays from congregants who were frequent at his church; he doubted if he would ever attain personal satisfaction from religion.{{sfn|King|1998|p=14}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=14}} He later said of this point in his life, "doubts began to spring forth unrelentingly."{{sfn|King|1998|p=6}}<ref name=Autobiography />{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=14}}

In high school, Martin King Jr. became known for his public-speaking ability, with a voice that had grown into an orotund [[baritone]].{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=8}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} He joined the school's debate team.{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=8}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} King continued to be most drawn to history and [[English studies|English]],{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} and chose English and [[sociology]] as his main subjects.{{sfn|Patterson|1969|p=25}} King maintained an abundant [[vocabulary]].{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} However, he relied on his sister Christine to help him with spelling, while King assisted her with math.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} King also developed an interest in fashion, commonly wearing polished [[patent leather]] shoes and [[tweed]] suits, which gained him the nickname "Tweed" or "Tweedie" among his friends.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=17}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Davis|2005|p=18}}{{sfn|Muse|1978|p=17}} He liked flirting with girls and dancing.{{sfn|Davis|2005|p=18}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Rowland|1990|p=23}} His brother A.D. later remarked, "He kept flitting from chick to chick, and I decided I couldn't keep up with him. Especially since he was crazy about dances, and just about the best jitterbug in town."{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}

On April 13, 1944, in his [[eleventh grade|junior year]], King gave his first public speech during an [[Original Oratory|oratorical contest]].<ref name="Elks" />{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fraser |first1=C. Gerald |title=Thousands of Black Elks in City To Attend Annual Convention |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/11/archives/thousands-of-black-elks-in-city-to-attend-annual-convention.html |access-date=October 12, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=August 11, 1974 |archive-date=March 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316022147/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/11/archives/thousands-of-black-elks-in-city-to-attend-annual-convention.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="crenshaw">{{cite news |last1=Crenshaw |first1=Wayne |title=King's 'journey to the mountain top' started in Dublin |url=https://www.macon.com/news/local/article224559455.html |access-date=October 12, 2020 |work=Macon Telegraph |date=January 18, 2019 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126184221/https://www.macon.com/news/local/article224559455.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In his speech he stated, "black America still wears chains. The finest negro is at the mercy of the meanest white man."{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=17}}<ref name="Elks">{{cite web |title=The Negro and the Constitution |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/negro-and-constitution |website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=October 12, 2020 |language=en |date=December 9, 2014 }}</ref> King was selected as the winner of the contest.<ref name="Elks" />{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}} On the ride home to Atlanta by bus, he and his teacher were ordered by the driver to stand so that white passengers could sit.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=9}} The driver of the bus called King a "black son-of-a-bitch".{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}} King initially refused but complied after his teacher told him that he would be breaking the law if he did not.{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=9}} As all the seats were occupied, he and his teacher were forced to stand the rest of the way to Atlanta.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}} Later King wrote of the incident: "That night will never leave my memory. It was the angriest I have ever been in my life."{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=9}}

=== Morehouse College ===
During King's junior year in high school, [[Morehouse College]]—an all-male [[Historically black colleges and universities|historically black college]] that King's father and maternal grandfather had attended{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=19}}{{sfn|Davis|2005|p=10}}—began accepting high school juniors who passed the [[entrance examination]].{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Schuman|2014|loc=chpt. 2}}{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=9}} As [[World War II]] was underway, many black college students had been enlisted,{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Schuman|2014|loc=chpt. 2}} so the university aimed to increase their enrollment by allowing juniors to apply.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Schuman|2014|loc=chpt. 2}}{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=9}} In 1944, aged 15, King passed the examination and was enrolled at the university that autumn.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

In the summer before King started at Morehouse, he boarded a train with his friend—Emmett "Weasel" Proctor—and a group of other Morehouse College students to work in [[Simsbury, Connecticut]], at the [[tobacco farm]] of Cullman Brothers Tobacco.<ref name="tewa">{{cite news |last1=Tewa |first1=Sophia |title=How picking tobacco in Connecticut influenced MLK's life |url=https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/How-picking-tobacco-in-Connecticut-influenced-12802478.php |access-date=October 18, 2020 |work=Connecticut Post |date=April 3, 2018 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124043013/https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/How-picking-tobacco-in-Connecticut-influenced-12802478.php |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ctnbc">{{cite news |title=MLK Worked Two Summers on Simsbury Tobacco Farm |url=https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/mlk-worked-two-summers-on-simsbury-tobacco-farm/1947510/ |access-date=October 18, 2020 |work=NBC Connecticut |date=January 19, 2015 |archive-date=November 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129041936/https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/mlk-worked-two-summers-on-simsbury-tobacco-farm/1947510/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This was King's first trip into the [[Racial integration|integrated]] north.<ref name="jc" /><ref name="mk">{{cite news |last1=Kochakian |first1=Mary |title=How a Trip To Connecticut Changed Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life |url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2000-01-17-0001181153-story.html |access-date=October 18, 2020 |work=The Hartford Courant |date=January 17, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230030434/https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2000-01-17-0001181153-story.html |archive-date=December 30, 2019}}</ref> In a June 1944 letter to his father, King wrote about the differences that struck him: "On our way here we saw some things I had never anticipated to see. After we passed Washington there was no discrimination at all. The white people here are very nice. We go to any place we want to and sit anywhere we want to."<ref name="jc" /> The farm had partnered with Morehouse College to allot their wages towards the university's tuition, housing, and fees.<ref name="tewa" /><ref name="ctnbc" /> On weekdays King and the other students worked in the fields, picking tobacco from 7:00 am to at least 5:00 pm, enduring temperatures above 100&nbsp;[[Fahrenheit|°F]], to earn roughly USD$4 per day.<ref name="ctnbc" /><ref name="jc">{{cite news |last1=Christoffersen |first1=John |title=MLK Was Inspired by Time in Connecticut |url=https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/mlk-was-inspired-by-time-in-connecticut/1885278/ |access-date=October 18, 2020 |work=NBC Connecticut |date=January 17, 2011 |archive-date=May 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513091409/https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/mlk-was-inspired-by-time-in-connecticut/1885278/ |url-status=live }}</ref> On Friday evenings, the students visited downtown Simsbury to get milkshakes and watch movies, and on Saturdays they would travel to [[Hartford, Connecticut]], to see theatre performances, shop, and eat in restaurants.<ref name="ctnbc" /><ref name="mk" /> On Sundays, they attended church services in Hartford at a church filled with white congregants.<ref name="ctnbc" /> King wrote to his parents about the lack of segregation, relaying how he was amazed they could go to "one of the finest restaurants in Hartford" and that "Negroes and whites go to the same church".<ref name="ctnbc" /><ref name="brindley">{{cite news |last1=Brindley |first1=Emily |title=Martin Luther King Jr.'s time in Connecticut was pivotal, but has never been thoroughly documented; that's about to change |url=https://www.courant.com/community/simsbury/hc-news-simsbury-martin-luther-king-jr-tobacco-20191113-mcp3mzoevbf37io2yixwp4fojq-story.html |access-date=October 19, 2020 |work=courant.com |date=November 13, 2019 |archive-date=July 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724083647/https://www.courant.com/community/simsbury/hc-news-simsbury-martin-luther-king-jr-tobacco-20191113-mcp3mzoevbf37io2yixwp4fojq-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="jc" />

He played freshman football there. The summer before his last year at Morehouse, in 1947, the 18-year-old King chose to enter the [[Christian ministry|ministry]]. He would later credit the college's president, [[Baptists|Baptist]] minister [[Benjamin Mays]], with being his "spiritual mentor".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kelly|first=Jason|date=January 1, 2013|title=Benjamin Mays found a voice for civil rights|url=https://www.uchicago.edu/features/benjamin_mays/|access-date=June 6, 2020|website=The University of Chicago|language=en|archive-date=March 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309041036/https://www.uchicago.edu/features/benjamin_mays/|url-status=dead}}</ref> King had concluded that the church offered the most assuring way to answer "an inner urge to serve humanity", and he made peace with the Baptist Church, as he believed he would be a "rational" minister with sermons that were "a respectful force for ideas, even social protest."{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=18}} King graduated from Morehouse with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] in sociology in 1948, aged nineteen.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Finkelman|first=Paul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UVgKAgAAQBAJ&q=MLK+BA+sociology&pg=PA889|title=Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-94704-0|language=en}}</ref>

== Religious education ==
[[File:OldMainUpland.JPG|alt=A large facade of a building|thumb|King received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from [[Crozer Theological Seminary]] in 1951 (pictured in 2009).]]
{{See also|Martin Luther King Jr. authorship issues}}
King enrolled in [[Crozer Theological Seminary]] in [[Upland, Pennsylvania]],<ref name="mercer">{{cite book| title=To See the Promised Land: The Faith Pilgrimage of Martin Luther King, Jr.| page=[https://archive.org/details/toseepromisedlan0000down/page/150 150]| last=Downing| first=Frederick L.| publisher=Mercer University Press| year=1986| isbn=0-86554-207-4| url=https://archive.org/details/toseepromisedlan0000down/page/150}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Gandhi and King: The Power of Nonviolent Resistance|last=Nojeim|first=Michael J.| page=179|isbn=0-275-96574-0| publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2004}}</ref> and took several courses at the [[University of Pennsylvania]].<ref name="kinginstitute upenn">{{cite web|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-audits-courses-university-pennsylvania|title=King audits courses at University of Pennsylvania|publisher=Stanford University Archives and Records Center|work=The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute|access-date=July 21, 2023|url-access=subscription|archive-date=August 14, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814040507/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-audits-courses-university-pennsylvania|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="kinginstitute edu">{{cite web |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/mlk-topic/martin-luther-king-jr-education?page=2|title= Martin Luther King, Jr. – Education |publisher=Stanford University Archives and Records Center | work =The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612184435/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/mlk-topic/martin-luther-king-jr-education?page=2 |archive-date=June 12, 2018 }}</ref> At Crozer, King was elected president of the student body.{{sfn|Frady|2002|pp=20–22}} At Penn, King took courses with [[William Fontaine]], Penn's first African-American professor, and [[Elizabeth F. Flower]], a professor of philosophy.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/martin-luther-king-jrs-time-studying-penn | title=Martin Luther King Jr.'s time studying at Penn | date=April 4, 2018 | access-date=September 11, 2023 | archive-date=October 6, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231006232419/https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/martin-luther-king-jrs-time-studying-penn | url-status=live }}</ref> King's father supported his decision to continue his education and made arrangements for King to work with [[J. Pius Barbour]], a family friend and Crozer alumnus who pastored at [[Calvary Baptist Church (Chester, Pennsylvania)|Calvary Baptist Church]] in nearby [[Chester, Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baldwin |first1=Lewis V. |title=There is a Balm in Gilead: The Cultural Roots of Martin Luther King, Jr. |date=1991 |publisher=Fortress Publishing|isbn=0-8006-2457-2 |pages=281–282 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_oeMI9gxa2QC |access-date=July 5, 2018}}</ref> King became known as one of the "Sons of Calvary", an honor he shared with [[William Augustus Jones Jr.]] and [[Samuel D. Proctor]], who both went on to become well-known preachers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baldwin |first1=Lewis V. |title=There is a Balm in Gilead: The Cultural Roots of Martin Luther King, Jr. |date=1991 |publisher=Fortress Publishing |isbn=0-8006-2457-2 |page=167 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_oeMI9gxa2QC |access-date=July 5, 2018}}</ref>

King reproved another student for keeping beer in his room once, saying they shared responsibility as African Americans to bear "the burdens of the Negro race". For a time, he was interested in [[Walter Rauschenbusch]]'s "social gospel".{{sfn|Frady|2002|pp=20–22}} In his third year at Crozer, King became romantically involved with Betty Moitz,<ref name="Sanneh">{{cite magazine |last1=Sanneh |first1=Kelefa |title=The Voice |magazine=The New Yorker |date= |issue=May 15, 2023 |pages=62–63}}</ref> the white daughter of an immigrant German woman who worked in the cafeteria. King planned to marry her, but friends, as well as King's father,<ref name="Sanneh" /> advised against it, saying that an interracial marriage would provoke animosity from both blacks and whites, potentially damaging his chances of ever pastoring a church in the South. King tearfully told a friend that he could not endure his mother's pain over the marriage and broke the relationship off six months later. One friend was quoted as saying, "He never recovered."{{sfn|Frady|2002|pp=20–22}} Other friends, including [[Harry Belafonte]], said Betty had been "the love of King's life."<ref name="Sanneh" /> King graduated with a [[Bachelor of Divinity]] in 1951.<ref name="mercer" /> He applied to the [[University of Edinburgh]] for a doctorate in the [[New College, Edinburgh|School of Divinity]] but ultimately chose Boston instead.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 28, 2015|title=To Hugh Watt|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/hugh-watt|access-date=January 21, 2022|website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute|publisher=Stanford University|language=en|archive-date=January 21, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121103429/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/hugh-watt|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1951, King began doctoral studies in [[systematic theology]] at [[Boston University]],<ref name=Radin /> and worked as an assistant minister at Boston's historic [[Twelfth Baptist Church, Boston|Twelfth Baptist Church]] with William Hunter Hester. Hester was an old friend of King's father and was an important influence on King.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Baldwin|first1=Lewis V.|title=The Voice of Conscience: The Church in the Mind of Martin Luther King, Jr.|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-538031-6|url=https://archive.org/details/voiceofconscienc0000bald|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/voiceofconscienc0000bald/page/42 42]}}</ref> In Boston, King befriended a small cadre of local ministers his age, and sometimes guest pastored at their churches, including [[Michael E. Haynes]], associate pastor at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury. The young men often held bull sessions in their apartments, discussing theology, sermon style, and social issues.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

At the age of 25 in 1954, King was [[religious calling|called]] as pastor of the [[Dexter Avenue Baptist Church]] in [[Montgomery, Alabama]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/nationaldaysnati0000unse |url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/nationaldaysnati0000unse/page/314 314] | last=Fuller | first=Linda K. | publisher=Greenwood Publishing| year=2004| isbn=0-275-97270-4 | title=National Days, National Ways: Historical, Political, And Religious Celebrations around the World}}</ref> King received his PhD on June 5, 1955, with a [[dissertation]] (initially supervised by [[Edgar S. Brightman]] and, upon the latter's death, by [[Lotan Harold DeWolf]]) titled ''A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of [[Paul Tillich]] and [[Henry Nelson Wieman]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A comparison of the conceptions of God in the thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman|url=https://buprimo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ALMA_BOSU121651367690001161&vid=BU&search_scope=default_scope&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US&context=L&isFrbr=true|access-date=July 6, 2020|publisher=Boston University Library|archive-date=July 6, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706155623/https://buprimo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=ALMA_BOSU121651367690001161&vid=BU&search_scope=default_scope&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US&context=L&isFrbr=true|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Radin />

An academic inquiry in October 1991 concluded that portions of his doctoral dissertation were [[plagiarism]]s and he had acted improperly. However, {{nowrap|"[d]espite}} its finding, the committee said that 'no thought should be given to the revocation of Dr. King's doctoral degree,' an action that the panel said would serve no purpose."<ref name=Snopes>{{cite web |url=https://www.snopes.com/history/american/mlking.asp |title=Four Things About King |last=Mikkelson |first=David |date=July 19, 2003 |website=Snopes |access-date=March 14, 2011 |archive-date=July 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727202900/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/four-things-about-king/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Radin>{{cite news |title=Panel Confirms Plagiarism by King at BU |first=Charles A. |last=Radin |work=The Boston Globe |date=October 11, 1991 |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/11/us/boston-u-panel-finds-plagiarism-by-dr-king.html |title=Boston U. Panel Finds Plagiarism by Dr. King |date=October 11, 1991 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 13, 2013 |archive-date=November 8, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131108033759/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/11/us/boston-u-panel-finds-plagiarism-by-dr-king.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The committee found that the dissertation still "makes an intelligent contribution to scholarship." A letter is now attached to the copy of King's dissertation in the university library, noting that numerous passages were included without the appropriate quotations and citations of sources.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol2/550415AComparisonOfTheConceptionsOfGod.pdf|title=King's Ph.D. dissertation, with attached note |access-date=November 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107223114/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol2/550415AComparisonOfTheConceptionsOfGod.pdf |archive-date=November 7, 2014}}</ref> Significant debate exists on how to interpret King's plagiarism.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ling |first=Peter |date=October 1996 |title=Plagiarism, preaching and prophecy: the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the persistence of racism [Review] |journal=[[Ethnic and Racial Studies]] |volume=19 |number=4 |pages=912–916 |doi=10.1080/01419870.1996.9993942  | issn = 0141-9870 }}</ref>

== Marriage and family ==
[[File:Martin Luther King Jr. is welcomed with a kiss from his wife, Coretta Scott King, after leaving court in Montgomery, AL, on March 22, 1956.jpg | thumb|King is welcomed with a kiss from his wife, [[Coretta Scott King]], after leaving court in Montgomery, AL, on March 22, 1956]]
[[File:Martin Luther, Coretta Scott and Yolanda Denise King, 1956.png|thumb|King with his wife, Coretta Scott King, and daughter, [[Yolanda Denise King]], in 1956]]

While studying at Boston University, King asked a friend from Atlanta named Mary Powell, a student at the [[New England Conservatory of Music]], if she knew any nice Southern girls. Powell spoke to fellow student [[Coretta Scott King|Coretta Scott]]; Scott was not interested in dating preachers but eventually agreed to allow King to telephone her based on Powell's description and vouching. On their first call, King told Scott, "I am like Napoleon at Waterloo before your charms," to which she replied: "You haven't even met me."{{cite needed|date=December 2025}}

King married Scott on June 18, 1953, on the lawn of her parents' house, in [[Heiberger, Alabama]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1509338/Coretta-Scott-King.html
 |title=Coretta Scott King |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=September 8, 2008 |date=February 1, 2006 |archive-date=November 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113011228/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1509338/Coretta-Scott-King.html |url-status=live}}</ref> They had four children: [[Yolanda King]] (1955–2007), [[Martin Luther King III]] (b. 1957), [[Dexter Scott King]] (1961–2024), and [[Bernice King]] (b. 1963).<ref name=fam>{{cite book |title= King Came Preaching: The Pulpit Power of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. |page= [https://archive.org/details/kingcamepreachin0000warr/page/35 35] |last= Warren |first= Mervyn A. |isbn= 0-8308-2658-0 |year= 2001 |publisher= InterVarsity Press |url= https://archive.org/details/kingcamepreachin0000warr/page/35 }}</ref> King limited Coretta's role in the civil rights movement, expecting her to be a housewife and mother.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gwVbfvfYEZkC&pg=PA408|title=Civil Rights History from the Ground Up: Local Struggles, a National Movement|editor-first=Emilye|editor-last=Crosby|page=410|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=978-0-8203-3865-1|year=2011|access-date=June 17, 2015|archive-date=July 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727202902/https://books.google.com/books?id=gwVbfvfYEZkC&pg=PA408|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Activism and organizational leadership ==
=== Mary's Cafe Sit-In, 1950 ===
On Sunday, June 11, 1950, King, classmate at Crozer Seminary and housemate Walter McCall, and their dates Doris Wilson and Pearl Smith attended church services in Merchantville. Afterwards they stopped at tavern Mary's Cafe in Maple Shade for beers. The foursome were left waiting without anyone approaching them for service, not unexpectedly. A friend's father and King and McCall's landlord Jesthroe Hunt had warned them Black people were not welcome at Mary's. King replied to the effect of maybe they needed to go, so they could start to go anywhere they wanted.<ref>{{cite news |last=Saul|first=April |date=2021-06-13 |title='A place that can inspire the world': A deal is struck to save Camden's MLK house |url=https://whyy.org/articles/a-place-that-can-inspire-the-world-a-deal-is-struck-to-save-camdens-mlk-house/ |location=Maple Shade, NJ |publisher=WHYY |access-date=2025-06-11}}</ref> The seminarians had opted for Mary's Cafe with full knowledge of its reputation.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hendrickson |first=Beccah |date=2020-02-04 |title=New Jersey Denies Historical Designation for House With Ties to Martin Luther King Jr. |url=https://6abc.com/martin-luther-king-jr-house-mlk-camden/5903615/ |location=Camden, NJ |publisher=6ABC |access-date=2025-06-11}}</ref>  After waiting without service, McCall approached the bar.

McCall asked bartender and Mary's Cafe owner Ernest Nichols for packaged goods (beer for takeaway). Nichols refused, explaining he could not sell packaged goods on Sundays or any day after 10pm, by law. McCall then requested 4 glasses of beer to which Nichols answered "no beer, Mr! Today is Sunday”.<ref name="McGannStatement">{{Citation
| last1 = McGann| first1 = W. Thomas
| title = Statement on Behalf of Ernest Nichols, State of New Jersey vs. Ernest Nichols, by W. Thomas McGann
| publisher = [[The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute]]
| date = 1950-07-20
| url = https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/statement-behalf-ernest-nichols-state-new-jersey-vs-ernest-nichols-w-thomas
| access-date = 2025-06-11}}</ref> Nichols would claim they sought him to violate New Jersey's [[blue law]] (a restriction common in South Jersey and Pennsylvania as a remnant of the influence of their [[Quakers]] roots).<ref name="McGannStatement" /> McCall requested ginger ales as non-alcoholic beverages were not subject to the blue law. Nichols refused the group even ginger ales and reportedly stated "the best thing would be for you to leave".<ref name ="ModestCafe">{{cite news |last=Leap|first=Barbara |date=2023-01-16 |title=Martin Luther King Jr.'s Civil Rights Career Began at a Modest NJ Café |url=https://njmonthly.com/articles/towns-schools/history/martin-luther-king-jr-new-jersey-maple-shade/ |location=Maple Shade, NJ |publisher=NJ Monthly |access-date=2025-06-11}}</ref> King and company met refusal with refusal, and remained in their seats as was their right per New Jersey's 1945 anti-discrimination law, which guaranteed non-discrimination by race in public accommodations. Nichols stomped out and returned with a gun standing outside firing into the air reportedly shouting "I'd kill for less".<ref name="ModestCafe" />  Fearing for their lives, the four activists ran from the tavern. The group went to the Maple Shade Police Department where officers refused to file their complaint. King and McCall contacted [[Ulysses Simpson Wiggins]] then President of the Camden County Branch [[NAACP]], who helped them successfully file a police report. The ''[[New York Times]]'' confirms "The complaint was against Ernest Nichols, a white tavern owner in Maple Shade, N.J., and said that he had refused to serve the black students and their dates in June 1950, and had threatened them by firing a gun in the air. The complaint was signed by the two students. One of the signatures, in a loopy, slanted cursive, reads 'M. L. King Jr.'" <ref name="NYT2017">{{cite news |last=Ross |first=Ashley |date=2017-01-15 |title=A Camden Address With a Link to Martin Luther King Jr. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/15/nyregion/martin-luther-king-jr-camden-new-jersey.html  |work=The New York Times |access-date=2025-06-11}}</ref>

Nichols was charged with disorderly conduct and violation of the anti-discrimination law. He was found guilty and fined $50, however the racial discrimination count was dismissed. In a statement submitted "in the spirit of assisting the Prosecutor"<ref name="McGannStatement" /> Nichol's attorney noted: {{Blockquote |text=Mr. Nichols claims that this act was not intended as a threat to his colored patrons. The colored patrons, on the other hand, while they admit that the gun was not pointed at them or any of them, seemed to think that it was a threat. Mr. Nichols on the other hand states that he has been held up before and he wanted to alert his watchdog who was somewhere outside on the tavern grounds. |author=Statement on Behalf of Ernest Nichols, State of New Jersey vs. Ernest Nichols, by W. Thomas McGann<ref name="McGannStatement" />}}

King cited the incident saying it was “a formative step” in his “commitment to a more just society.”<ref name="ModestCafe" /> The Mary's Cafe [[sit-in]] demonstrated the power of [[non-violent]] [[civil disobedience]]. Nichols' reaction in retrieving a weapon and discharging it to scare the group, or summon his guard dog, to young people's refusal to leave unserved, showed King the potency of such tactics. This sit-in is believed to be the first deployment of the non-violence and civil disobedience tactics which would distinguish King's activism and legacy.

The Mary's Cafe sit-in occurred six months prior to [[Mordecai Johnson's Lecture on Gandi]] at the [[First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia]] on November 19, 1950 where King would be formally exposed to these tactics. At that lecture and in discussions with Dr. Johnson at the Fellowship House, Dr. King would be inspired and galvanized by how [[Mahatma Gandhi]] integrated [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s theory of [[Nonviolent resistance]] and civil disobedience tactics.<ref>{{cite news |last=Shepelavy |first=Roxanne |date=2022-01-14 |title=MLK's Philly: How the City of Brotherly Love helped shape the great Civil Rights leader we honor on January 17 |url=https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/mlk-philadelphia-connection/ |location=Philadelphia, PA |publisher=The Philadelphia Citizen |access-date=2025-06-11}}</ref> Patrick Duff, a South Jersey resident, discovered the police report detailing the events at Mary's after searching the archive at [[The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute]].<ref name="NYT2017" />

=== Montgomery bus boycott, 1955 ===
{{Main|Montgomery bus boycott|Jim Crow laws#Public arena}}

The [[Dexter Avenue Baptist Church]] was influential in the Montgomery African-American community. As the church's pastor, King became known for his oratorical preaching in Montgomery and surrounding region.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Martin Luther King Jr. |url=http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1426 |access-date=January 23, 2022 |website=Encyclopedia of Alabama |language=en |archive-date=January 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123161105/http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1426 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In March 1955, [[Claudette Colvin]]—a black schoolgirl in Montgomery—refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in violation of [[Jim Crow laws]], local laws in the Southern US that enforced [[racial segregation]].{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=103}} On December 1, 1955, [[Rosa Parks]] was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus.<ref>{{cite news |title=December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks arrested |date=March 11, 2003 |work=CNN |access-date=June 8, 2008 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/10/sprj.80.1955.parks/ |archive-date=September 18, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070918150509/http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/10/sprj.80.1955.parks/ |url-status=live }}</ref> These incidents led to the [[Montgomery bus boycott]], which was urged and planned by [[Edgar Nixon]] and led by King.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Montgomery Bus Boycott|page=[https://archive.org/details/montgomerybusboy0000wals/page/24 24]|last=Walsh|first=Frank|publisher=Gareth Stevens|year= 2003|isbn= 0-8368-5375-X|url=https://archive.org/details/montgomerybusboy0000wals/page/24}}</ref> The other ministers asked him to take a leadership role because his relative newness to community leadership made it easier for him to speak out. King was hesitant but decided to do so if no one else wanted it.<ref name="Prize 1">Interview with Coretta Scott King, Episode 1, PBS TV series [[Eyes on the Prize]].</ref>

The boycott lasted for 385 days,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bA1azdRdD18C&pg=PA25|title=Ethical Leadership Through Transforming Justice|last=McMahon|first=Thomas F.|page=25|isbn=0-7618-2908-3|publisher=University Press of America|year=2004|access-date=May 29, 2020|archive-date=January 23, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124315/https://books.google.com/books?id=bA1azdRdD18C&pg=PA25#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> and the situation became so tense that King's house was bombed.<ref>{{cite book|title=Patterns of Conflict, Paths to Peace|last1=Fisk|first1=Larry J.|page=[https://archive.org/details/patternsofconfli0000unse/page/115 115]|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=1-55111-154-3|first2=John|last2=Schellenberg|year=1999|url=https://archive.org/details/patternsofconfli0000unse/page/115}}</ref> King was arrested for traveling 30&nbsp;mph in a 25&nbsp;mph zone<ref>{{cite web |title=King arrested for speeding; MIA holds seven mass meetings |date=June 22, 2017 |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-arrested-speeding-mia-holds-seven-mass-meetings |publisher=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, Stanford University |access-date=November 10, 2022 |archive-date=November 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221110144232/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-arrested-speeding-mia-holds-seven-mass-meetings |url-status=live }}</ref> and jailed, which drew the attention of national media, and increased King's public stature. The controversy ended when the US District Court issued a ruling in ''[[Browder v. Gayle]]'' that prohibited racial segregation on Montgomery public buses.{{sfn|King|1992|p=9}}{{sfn|Jackson|2006|p=53}}<ref name="Prize 1" />
[[File:Dexter Avenue Baptist.jpg|alt=|thumb|upright=.7|King first rose to prominence in the civil rights movement while minister of [[Dexter Avenue Baptist Church]] in Montgomery, Alabama.]]

King's role in the bus boycott transformed him into a national figure and the best-known spokesman of the civil rights movement.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=52}}

=== Southern Christian Leadership Conference ===

In 1957, King, [[Ralph Abernathy]], [[Fred Shuttlesworth]], [[Joseph Lowery]], and other activists founded the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] (SCLC). The group was created to harness the [[moral authority]] and organizing power of black churches to conduct nonviolent protests in the service of civil rights reform. The group was inspired by the crusades of evangelist [[Billy Graham]], who befriended King,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/billygrahamriseo0000mill/page/92|title=Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South|page=[https://archive.org/details/billygrahamriseo0000mill/page/92 92]|first=Steven P.|last=Miller|year=2009|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-4151-8|access-date=April 8, 2015}}</ref> as well as the national organizing of the group In Friendship, founded by King allies [[Stanley Levison]] and [[Ella Baker]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/levison-stanley-david|title=Levison, Stanley David|date=May 17, 2017|website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute|language=en|access-date=January 30, 2020|last3=California 94305|archive-date=January 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115075615/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/levison-stanley-david|url-status=live}}</ref> King led the SCLC until his death.<ref>{{cite book|title=Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal: an African American Anthology|url=https://archive.org/details/letnobodyturnusa00mann|url-access=registration|last1= Marable| first1= Manning | first2=Leith|last2=Mullings|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=0-8476-8346-X|year=2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/letnobodyturnusa00mann/page/391 391–392]}}</ref> The SCLC's 1957 [[Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom]] was the first time King addressed a national audience.<ref>{{cite web|title=Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom|url=http://crdl.usg.edu/events/prayer_pilgrimage/?Welcome|publisher=Civil Rights Digital Library|access-date=October 25, 2013|archive-date=October 29, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193659/http://crdl.usg.edu/events/prayer_pilgrimage/?Welcome|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Harry H. Wachtel|Harry Wachtel]] joined King's legal advisor [[Clarence B. Jones]] in defending four ministers of the SCLC in the libel case ''[[Abernathy et al. v. Sullivan]]''; the case was litigated about the newspaper advertisement "[[Heed Their Rising Voices]]". Wachtel founded a tax-exempt fund to cover the suit's expenses and assist the civil rights movement through more effective fundraising. King served as honorary president of this organization, named the "Gandhi Society for Human Rights". In 1962, King and the Gandhi Society produced a document that called on [[President Kennedy]] to issue an executive order to deliver a blow for civil rights as a kind of [[Second Emancipation Proclamation]]. Kennedy did not execute the order.<ref name="Stanford University">{{cite web|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/gandhi-society-human-rights|title=Martin Luther King Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle: Gandhi Society for Human Rights|publisher=Stanford University|access-date=August 30, 2013|archive-date=June 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612015745/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/gandhi-society-human-rights|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], under written directive from Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]], began [[telephone tapping|tapping]] King's telephone line in the fall of 1963.<ref>{{cite book|title=The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide|last1=Theoharis|first1=Athan G.|first2=Tony G.|last2=Poveda|first3=Richard Gid|last3=Powers|first4=Susan|last4=Rosenfeld|page=[https://archive.org/details/fbicomprehensive0000theo/page/148 148]|isbn=0-89774-991-X|publisher=Greenwood Publishing|year=1999|url=https://archive.org/details/fbicomprehensive0000theo/page/148}}</ref> Kennedy was concerned that public allegations of communists in the SCLC would derail the administration's civil rights initiatives. He warned King to discontinue these associations and felt compelled to issue the directive that authorized the FBI to wiretap King and other SCLC leaders.{{sfn|Herst|2007|pp=372–74}} FBI Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] feared the civil rights movement and investigated the allegations of communist infiltration. When no evidence emerged to support this, the FBI used the incidental details caught on tape over the next five years, as part of its [[COINTELPRO]] program, in attempts to force King out of his leadership position.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite book|title=The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide|last1=Theoharis|first1=Athan G.|first2=Tony G.|last2=Poveda|first3=Richard Gid|last3=Powers|first4=Susan|last4=Rosenfeld|page=[https://archive.org/details/fbicomprehensive0000theo/page/123 123]|isbn=0-89774-991-X|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=1999|url=https://archive.org/details/fbicomprehensive0000theo/page/123}}</ref>

King believed that organized, nonviolent protest against the system of southern segregation known as [[Jim Crow laws]] would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality. Journalistic accounts and televised footage of the daily indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment, produced a wave of sympathetic public opinion that convinced most Americans that the civil rights movement was the most important political issue in the early 1960s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Race and Labor Matters in the New U.S. Economy|last1=Wilson|first1=Joseph|first2=Manning|last2=Marable|first3=Immanuel|last3=Ness|page=[https://archive.org/details/racelabormatters0000unse/page/47 47]|isbn=0-7425-4691-8|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2006|url=https://archive.org/details/racelabormatters0000unse/page/47}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= Architects of Political Change: Constitutional Quandaries and Social Choice Theory|last= Schofield|first= Norman|isbn= 0-521-83202-0|publisher= Cambridge University Press|year= 2006|page= [https://archive.org/details/architectsofpoli00norm/page/189 189]|url= https://archive.org/details/architectsofpoli00norm/page/189}}</ref>

King organized and led marches for blacks' right to [[Voting|vote]], [[Desegregation in the United States|desegregation]], [[labor rights]], and other basic civil rights.{{sfn|Jackson|2006|p=53}} Most of these rights were successfully enacted into law with the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the 1965 [[Voting Rights Act]].<ref>{{cite book| title= International Encyclopedia of Public Policy and Administration|last=Shafritz|first= Jay M.|page= 1242|year= 1998| isbn=0-8133-9974-2| publisher= Westview Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title= The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Passage of the Law that Ended Racial Segregation| last1=Loevy | first1=Robert D.|author1-link=Robert D. Loevy|first2=Hubert H.|last2=Humphrey|first3=John G.|last3=Stewart|isbn= 0-7914-3361-7 |publisher=SUNY Press|year= 1997| page=337}}</ref> The SCLC used tactics of nonviolent protest with success, by strategically choosing the methods and places in which protests were carried out. There were often dramatic stand-offs with segregationist authorities, who sometimes turned violent.{{sfn|Glisson|2006|p=190}}

=== Survived knife attack, 1958 ===

On September 20, 1958, King was signing copies of his book ''[[Stride Toward Freedom]]'' in Blumstein's department store in Harlem<ref>{{cite book |last=Pearson |first=Hugh |year=2002 |title=When Harlem Nearly Killed King: The 1958 Stabbing of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. |publisher=Seven Stories Press |page=37 |isbn=978-1-58322-614-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RyVQUJHo55IC&pg=PA37 |access-date=June 3, 2020 |archive-date=January 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124428/https://books.google.com/books?id=RyVQUJHo55IC&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> when [[Izola Curry]]—a mentally ill black woman who thought King was conspiring against her with communists—stabbed him in the chest with a letter opener, which nearly impinged on the aorta. King received first aid by police officers [[Al Howard]] and Philip Romano.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=Michael |title=Before 'I Have a Dream,' Martin Luther King Almost Died. This Man Saved Him |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/nyregion/martin-luther-king-stabbed-harlem.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113101051/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/nyregion/martin-luther-king-stabbed-harlem.html |archive-date=November 13, 2020 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 13, 2020 |access-date=November 13, 2020}}</ref> King underwent surgery by [[Aubre de Lambert Maynard]], [[Emil Naclerio]] and [[John W. V. Cordice]]; he remained hospitalized for weeks. Curry was later found mentally incompetent to stand trial.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-7694472.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514044835/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-7694472.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 14, 2013 |title='King' is a Deft Exploration of the Civil Rights Leader's Stabbing |date=February 4, 2002 |author=Graham, Renee |work=The Boston Globe |access-date=January 20, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A1-51d3eceac5094ac7a08d8dd326287c79.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514060644/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1A1-51d3eceac5094ac7a08d8dd326287c79.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 14, 2013 |title=Today in History, September 20 |agency=Associated Press |date=September 19, 2012|access-date=January 20, 2013}}</ref>

=== Atlanta sit-ins, prison sentence, and the 1960 elections ===
[[File:Ebenezer-Baptist-from-pulpit.jpg|thumb|King led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and later became co-pastor with his father at [[Ebenezer Baptist Church]] in Atlanta (pulpit and sanctuary pictured).]]
In December 1959, after being based in Montgomery for five years, King announced his return to Atlanta at the request of the SCLC.<ref>{{cite web |title=SCLC Press Release |date=January 28, 2015 |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/sclc-press-release-dr-king-leaves-montgomery-atlanta |access-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-date=November 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116161217/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/sclc-press-release-dr-king-leaves-montgomery-atlanta |url-status=live }}</ref> In Atlanta, King served until his death as co-pastor with his father at the [[Ebenezer Baptist Church]]. Georgia governor [[Ernest Vandiver]] expressed open hostility towards King's return. He claimed that "wherever M. L. King Jr., has been there has followed in his wake a wave of crimes", and vowed to keep King under surveillance.<ref>{{cite web |title=Samuel Vandiver, in the MLK Encyclopedia |date=July 6, 2017 |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/vandiver-samuel-ernest-jr |access-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225180318/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/vandiver-samuel-ernest-jr |url-status=live }}</ref> On May 4, 1960, King drove writer [[Lillian Smith (author)|Lillian Smith]] to [[Emory University]] when police stopped them. King was cited for "driving without a license" because he had not yet been issued a Georgia license. King's Alabama license was still valid, and Georgia law did not mandate any time limit for issuing a local license.<ref>{{cite news |title=Traffic stop 60 years ago spurred Martin Luther King Jr. into greater action |url=https://romesentinel.com/stories/traffic-stop-60-years-ago-spurred-martin-luther-king-jr-into-greater-action,97644 |work=The Rome Sentinel |date=May 4, 2020 |access-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-date=November 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116021726/https://romesentinel.com/stories/traffic-stop-60-years-ago-spurred-martin-luther-king-jr-into-greater-action,97644 |url-status=dead }}</ref> King paid a fine but was unaware his lawyer agreed to a plea deal that included [[probation]].

Meanwhile, the [[Atlanta Student Movement]] had been acting to desegregate businesses and public spaces, organizing the [[Atlanta sit-ins]] from March 1960 onwards. In August the movement asked King to participate in a mass October sit-in, timed to highlight how [[1960 United States presidential election|1960's Presidential election]] campaigns had ignored civil rights. The coordinated day of action took place on October 19. King participated in a sit-in at the restaurant inside [[Rich's (department store)|Rich's]], Atlanta's largest department store, and was among the many arrested. The authorities released everyone over the next few days, except King. Invoking his probationary plea deal, [[Judge J. Oscar Mitchell]] sentenced King on October 25 to four months of hard labor. Before dawn the next day, King was transported to [[Georgia State Prison]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Negro Integration Leader Sentenced to Four Months |url=https://accesswdun.com/article/2020/5/900021 |agency=Associated Press |date=October 25, 1960 |access-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-date=November 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120082602/https://accesswdun.com/article/2020/5/900021 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The arrest and harsh sentence drew nationwide attention. Many feared for King's safety, as he started a sentence with people convicted of violent crimes, many white and hostile to his activism.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Levingston |first1=Steven |title=John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Phone Call That Changed History |url=https://time.com/4817240/martin-luther-king-john-kennedy-phone-call/ |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=June 20, 2017 |access-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-date=November 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109043524/https://time.com/4817240/martin-luther-king-john-kennedy-phone-call/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Presidential candidates were asked to weigh in, at a time when parties were courting the support of Southern Whites and their political leadership including Governor Vandiver. Nixon, with whom King had a closer relationship before, declined to make a statement despite a visit from [[Jackie Robinson]] requesting his intervention. Nixon's opponent [[John F. Kennedy]] called the governor, enlisted his brother [[Robert F. Kennedy|Robert]] to exert more pressure on state authorities, and, at the request of [[Sargent Shriver]], called King's wife to offer his help. The pressure from Kennedy and others proved effective, and King was released two days later. King's father decided to openly endorse Kennedy's candidacy for the November 8 election which he narrowly won.<ref>{{cite book |last=King |first=Martin Luther Jr. |title=The Autobiography Of Martin Luther King, Jr. |publisher=Hatchette |chapter=Chapter 15: Atlanta Arrest and Presidential Politics}}</ref>

After the October 19 sit-ins and following unrest, a 30-day truce was declared in Atlanta for desegregation negotiations. However, negotiations failed and sit-ins and boycotts resumed for several months. On March 7, 1961, a group of Black elders including King notified student leaders that a deal had been reached: the city's lunch counters would desegregate in fall 1961, in conjunction with the court-mandated desegregation of schools.<ref>{{cite news |title=Photos: How Atlanta Public Schools integrated in 1961 |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/local/photos-how-atlanta-public-schools-integrated-1961/c4isBuwZmZxJsdU2u9FBpJ/ |work=Atlanta Journal-Constitution |access-date=November 15, 2020 |archive-date=October 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019235659/https://www.ajc.com/news/local/photos-how-atlanta-public-schools-integrated-1961/c4isBuwZmZxJsdU2u9FBpJ/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Burns |first1=Rebecca |title=The integration of Atlanta Public Schools |url=https://www.atlantamagazine.com/civilrights/the-integration-of-atlanta-public-schools/ |work=Atlanta Magazine |date=August 1, 2011 |access-date=November 15, 2020 |archive-date=November 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117022606/https://www.atlantamagazine.com/civilrights/the-integration-of-atlanta-public-schools/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Many students were disappointed at the compromise. In a meeting on March 10 at Warren Memorial Methodist Church, the audience was hostile and frustrated. King gave an impassioned speech calling participants to resist the "cancerous disease of disunity", helping to calm tensions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hatfield |first1=Edward A. |title=Atlanta Sit-ins |url=https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/atlanta-sit-ins |website=New Georgia Encyclopedia|date=July 15, 2020 |access-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223194432/https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/atlanta-sit-ins |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Albany Movement, 1961 ===
{{Main|Albany Movement}}

The Albany Movement was a desegregation coalition formed in [[Albany, Georgia]], in November 1961. In December, King and the SCLC became involved. The movement mobilized thousands of citizens for a nonviolent attack on segregation in the city and attracted nationwide attention. When King first visited on December 15, 1961, he "had planned to stay a day or so and return home after giving counsel."<ref name=Hatchette>{{cite book |last=King |first=Martin Luther Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pynSnGuC964C&pg=PT147 |title=The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. |publisher=Hatchette Digital |year=2001 |page=147 |isbn=978-0-7595-2037-0 |access-date=January 4, 2013 |archive-date=July 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727202925/https://books.google.com/books?id=pynSnGuC964C&pg=PT147 |url-status=live }}</ref> The following day he was swept up in a [[mass arrest]] of peaceful demonstrators, and he declined bail until the city made concessions. According to King, "that agreement was dishonored and violated by the city" after he left.<ref name=Hatchette />

King returned in July 1962 and was given the option of 45 days in jail or a $178 fine ({{Inflation|US|178|1962|r=-2|fmt=eq}}); he chose jail. Three days into his sentence, Police Chief Laurie Pritchett discreetly arranged for King's fine to be paid and ordered his release. "We had witnessed persons being kicked off lunch counter stools&nbsp;... ejected from churches&nbsp;... and thrown into jail&nbsp;... But for the first time, we witnessed being kicked out of jail."<ref>{{cite book|title=A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. |last=King |first=Martin Luther Jr. |year=1990 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-06-064691-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/testamentofhope00mart/page/105 105] |url=https://archive.org/details/testamentofhope00mart/page/105 }}</ref> It was later acknowledged by the King Center that [[Billy Graham]] was the one who bailed King out.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Graham, Billy |url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/theme/2179 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914204843/http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/theme/2179 |archive-date=September 14, 2018 |access-date=14 September 2018 |website=www.thekingcenter.org |language=en |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After nearly a year of intense activism with few tangible results, the movement began to deteriorate. King requested a halt to all demonstrations and a "Day of Penance" to promote nonviolence and maintain the moral high ground. Divisions within the black community and the canny, low-key response by local government defeated efforts.{{sfn|Glisson|2006|pp=190–193}} Though the Albany effort proved a key lesson in tactics for King and the civil rights movement,<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis61.htm#1961albany| title= Albany, GA Movement| publisher= Civil Rights Movement Archive| access-date= September 8, 2008| archive-date= July 7, 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100707051408/http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis61.htm#1961albany| url-status= live}}</ref> the national media was highly critical of King's role in the defeat, and the SCLC's lack of results contributed to a growing gulf between the organization and the more radical [[SNCC]]. After Albany, King sought to choose engagements for the SCLC in which he could control the circumstances, rather than entering into pre-existing situations.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=96}}

=== Birmingham campaign, 1963 ===
{{Main|Birmingham campaign}}

[[File:MLK mugshot birmingham.jpg| thumb| right | King was arrested in 1963 for protesting the treatment of black people in Birmingham.<ref>{{cite news |title=Martin Luther King mugshot April 12 1963 |date=April 16, 2013 |newspaper=[[The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate]] |url=http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2013/04/martin_luther_king_mugshot_apr.html |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130617203216/http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2013/04/martin_luther_king_mugshot_apr.html |archive-date=June 17, 2013}}</ref>]]
[[File:Photograph of White House Meeting with Civil Rights Leaders. June 22, 1963 - NARA - 194190 (no border).tif|thumb|Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] and Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]] with King, [[Benjamin Mays]], and other civil rights leaders, June 22, 1963]]
In April 1963, the SCLC began a campaign against racial segregation and economic injustice in [[Birmingham, Alabama]]. The campaign used nonviolent but intentionally confrontational tactics, developed in part by [[Wyatt Tee Walker]]. Black people in Birmingham, organizing with the SCLC, occupied public spaces with marches and sit-ins, openly violating laws that they considered unjust.

King's intent was to provoke mass arrests and "create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation."{{sfn|Garrow|1986|p=246}} The campaign's early volunteers did not succeed in shutting down the city, or in drawing media attention to the police's actions. Over the concerns of an uncertain King, SCLC strategist [[James Bevel]] changed the course of the campaign by recruiting children and young adults to join the demonstrations.<ref name="McWhorter 2001">{{cite book|last=McWhorter|first=Diane|title=Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution|year=2001|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-2648-6|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780743217729|url-access=registration|chapter=Two Mayors and a King}}</ref> ''[[Newsweek]]'' called this strategy a [[Children's Crusade]].<ref name="Harrell 2005 1055">{{cite book|title=Unto a Good Land: A History of the American People, Volume 2|page=1055|first2=Edwin S.|last2=Gaustad|first3=Randall M.|last3=Miller|first4=John B.|last4=Boles|first5=Randall Bennett|last5=Woods|first6=Sally Foreman|last6=Griffith|last1=Harrell|first1=David Edwin|isbn= 0-8028-2945-7 |publisher=Wm B Eerdmans Publishing|year=2005}}</ref><ref name="newsweek5-13">{{cite journal|title=Birmingham USA: Look at Them Run|journal=[[Newsweek]]|date=May 13, 1963|page=27}}</ref>

The Birmingham Police Department, led by [[Eugene "Bull" Connor]], used high-pressure water jets and police dogs against protesters, including children. Footage of the police response was broadcast on national television, shocking many white Americans and consolidating black Americans behind the movement.{{sfn|Frady|2002|pp=113–114}} Not all demonstrators were peaceful, despite the avowed intentions of the SCLC. In some cases, bystanders attacked the police, who responded with force. King and the SCLC were criticized for putting children in harm's way. But the campaign was a success: Connor lost his job, the "Jim Crow" signs came down, and public places became more open to blacks. King's reputation improved immensely.<ref name="Harrell 2005 1055" />

King was arrested and jailed early in the campaign—his 13th arrest<ref name="newsweek4-22">{{cite journal|title=Integration: Connor and King|journal=[[Newsweek]]|date=April 22, 1963|pages=28,&nbsp;33}}</ref> out of 29.<ref name="holiday">{{cite web|last=King |first=Coretta Scott |title=The Meaning of The King Holiday |url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/meaning-king-holiday |publisher=The King Center |access-date=August 22, 2012 |archive-date=May 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514204850/http://www.thekingcenter.org/meaning-king-holiday |url-status=dead }}</ref> From his cell, he composed the now-famous "[[Letter from Birmingham Jail]]" that responds to [[A Call for Unity|calls to pursue legal channels for social change]]. The letter has been described as "one of the most important historical documents penned by a modern [[political prisoner]]".<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last1=Greene|first1=Helen Taylor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_9yAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Political+prisoner%22|title=Encyclopedia of Race and Crime|last2=Gabbidon|first2=Shaun L.|year=2009|publisher=Sage Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-6609-1|pages=636–639|language=en|chapter=Political Prisoners|access-date=June 7, 2022|archive-date=January 23, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124418/https://books.google.com/books?id=v_9yAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Political+prisoner%22#v=snippet&q=%22Political%20prisoner%22&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> King argues that the crisis of racism is too urgent, and the current system too entrenched: "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."<ref name=LetterFromBirmJail /> He points out that the [[Boston Tea Party]], a celebrated act of rebellion in the American colonies, was illegal civil disobedience, and that, conversely, "everything [[Adolf Hitler]] did in Germany was 'legal'."<ref name=LetterFromBirmJail /> [[Walter Reuther]], president of the [[United Auto Workers]], arranged for $160,000 to bail out King and his fellow protestors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hoover.org/research/great-society-new-history-amity-shlaes-0|title=The Great Society: A New History with Amity Shlaes|website=Hoover Institution|language=en|access-date=April 28, 2020|archive-date=July 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701062533/https://www.hoover.org/research/great-society-new-history-amity-shlaes-0|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{quote box|width=23em|"I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."|salign=right|source=—Martin Luther King Jr.<ref name=LetterFromBirmJail>{{cite web|last=King |first=Martin Luther Jr. |title=Letter from Birmingham Jail|publisher=The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute |url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/resources/article/annotated_letter_from_birmingham/ |access-date=August 22, 2012 |archive-date=January 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130107002405/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/resources/article/annotated_letter_from_birmingham/ |url-status=live }} King began writing the letter on newspaper margins and continued on bits of paper brought by friends.</ref>}}

=== March on Washington, 1963 ===
{{Main|March on Washington}}

[[File:Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Leaders of the march posing in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln... - NARA - 542063 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Leaders of the March on Washington posing in front of the Lincoln Memorial]]
[[File:March on Washington edit.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963)]]

King, representing the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference|SCLC]], was among the leaders of the "[[Big Six (activists)|Big Six]]" civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the ''March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom'', which took place on August 28, 1963. The other leaders and organizations comprising the Big Six were [[Roy Wilkins]] from the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]]; [[Whitney Young]], [[National Urban League]]; [[A. Philip Randolph]], [[Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters]]; [[John Lewis]], [[SNCC]]; and [[James L. Farmer Jr.]], [[Congress of Racial Equality]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience|last1=Gates|first1=Henry Louis|first2=Anthony|last2=Appiah|publisher=Basic Civitas Books|isbn=0-465-00071-1|year=1999|page=[https://archive.org/details/africanaencyclop00appi/page/1251 1251]|url=https://archive.org/details/africanaencyclop00appi/page/1251}}</ref>

[[Bayard Rustin]]'s open homosexuality, support of [[socialism]], and former ties to the [[Communist Party USA]] caused many white and African-American leaders to demand King distance himself,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/freedomriders1960000arse |url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/freedomriders1960000arse/page/62 62] | last=Arsenault|first=Raymond|title=Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice|isbn= 0-19-513674-8| publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006}}</ref> which King agreed to do.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=42}} However, he did collaborate in the 1963 March on Washington, for which Rustin was the primary organizer.<ref>{{cite book|pages= [https://archive.org/details/leadersfrom1960s0000unse/page/138 138]–43|first= David|last= De Leon|title= Leaders from the 1960s: A biographical sourcebook of American activism|year=1994|publisher=Greenwood Publishing |isbn= 0-313-27414-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/leadersfrom1960s0000unse|url-access= registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title= African-Americans and the Quest for Civil Rights, 1900–1990| url= https://archive.org/details/africanamericans00cash| url-access= registration| last= Cashman| first= Sean Dennis| page=[https://archive.org/details/africanamericans00cash/page/162 162] | isbn=0-8147-1441-2|publisher=NYU Press|year=1991}}</ref> For King, this role was another which courted controversy, since he was a key figure who acceded to the wishes of President Kennedy in changing the focus of the march.<ref>{{cite book|title=Robert Kennedy and His Times|last=Schlesinger |first= Arthur M. Jr. |page= [https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyhis00arth/page/351 351]| isbn=0-345-28344-9|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books|orig-year=1978 | year=2002|url=https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyhis00arth/page/351}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/racereformrebell00mara_0/page/74 74]|last=Marable|first=Manning|isbn=0-87805-493-6|year=1991|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|title=Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945–1990|url=https://archive.org/details/racereformrebell00mara_0/page/74}}</ref> Kennedy initially opposed the march outright, because he was concerned it would negatively impact the drive for passage of [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|civil rights legislation]]. However, the organizers were firm the march would proceed.<ref>{{cite book| title= Kennedy, Johnson, and the Quest for Justice: The Civil Rights Tapes| last1= Rosenberg| first1= Jonathan| first2= Zachary| last2= Karabell| page= [https://archive.org/details/kennedyjohnsonth00rose/page/130 130]| isbn= 0-393-05122-6| year= 2003| publisher= WW Norton & Co| url= https://archive.org/details/kennedyjohnsonth00rose/page/130}}</ref> With the march going forward, the Kennedys decided it was important to ensure its success. President Kennedy was concerned the turnout would be less than 100,000 and enlisted the aid of additional church leaders and [[Walter Reuther]], president of the [[United Automobile Workers]], to help mobilize demonstrators.<ref>{{cite book|title=Robert Kennedy and His Times|last=Schlesinger |first= Arthur M. Jr. |pages= [https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyhis00arth/page/376 376]| isbn=0-345-28344-9|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books|orig-year=1978 | year=2002|url=https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyhis00arth/page/376}}</ref>

[[File:The March (1964 film).webm|thumb|''[[The March (1964 film)|The March]]'', a 1964 documentary film produced by the [[United States Information Agency]]. King's speech has been redacted from this video because of the [[I Have a Dream#Copyright dispute|copyright held by King's estate]].]]
The march originally was planned to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in the southern US and place organizers' concerns and grievances squarely before the seat of power in the capital. Organizers intended to denounce the federal government for its failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks. The group acquiesced to presidential pressure, and the event ultimately took on a less strident tone.<ref name=farce>{{cite book | title=Living for Change: An Autobiography| url=https://archive.org/details/livingforchangea00bogg| url-access=limited|last=Boggs|first=Grace Lee|page= [https://archive.org/details/livingforchangea00bogg/page/n145 127]|publisher= U of Minnesota Press|year= 1998 | isbn=0-8166-2955-2}}</ref> As a result, some civil rights activists felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony; Malcolm X called it the "Farce on Washington", and the Nation of Islam forbade its members from attending.<ref name=farce /><ref>{{cite book|title=Mysteries in History: From Prehistory to the Present|last=Aron|first=Paul|pages=398–399|isbn=1-85109-899-2|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=82zu_Aw5VFgC&pg=PA398|access-date=May 29, 2020|archive-date=January 23, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124426/https://books.google.com/books?id=82zu_Aw5VFgC&pg=PA398|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site (36233249121).jpg|thumb|King gave his most famous speech, "I Have a Dream", before the [[Lincoln Memorial]] during the 1963 [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]].]]
{{listen
| filename     = I Have A Dream sample.ogg
| title        = I Have a Dream
| description  = 30-second sample from "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech by Martin Luther King Jr. at the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]] on August 28, 1963
| filetype     = [[Ogg]]
| image        = none
}}

The march made specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public schools; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality; a $2 [[minimum wage]] for all workers ({{Inflation|US|2|1963|r=0|fmt=eq}}); and self-government for Washington, D.C., then governed by congressional committee.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Sixties in America|last1=Singleton|first1=Carl|first2=Rowena|last2=Wildin|page= [https://archive.org/details/sixtiesinamerica03sing/page/454 454]|isbn= 0-89356-982-8 |publisher=Salem Press|year=1999|url=https://archive.org/details/sixtiesinamerica03sing/page/454}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bennett|first=Scott H.|page= 225|year= 2003| publisher =Syracuse University Press|isbn=0-8156-3003-4|title=Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915–1963}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title= Celebrating the Birthday and Public Holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr|last= Davis|first= Danny|author-link= Danny K. Davis|publisher= Library of Congress|url= http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r110:H16JA7-0046:|journal= Congressional Record|access-date= July 11, 2011|date= January 16, 2007|archive-date = July 28, 2013|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130728081414/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r110:H16JA7-0046:|url-status= live}}</ref> Despite tensions, the march was a resounding success.<ref name="Powers 1997 313">{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/protestpowerchan00roge/page/313 313]|last1=Powers|first1=Roger S.|first2=William B.|last2=Vogele|first3=Christopher |last3=Kruegler|first4=Ronald M.|last4=McCarthy|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1997|isbn=0-8153-0913-9|title=Protest, power, and change: an encyclopedia of nonviolent action from ACT-UP to Women's Suffrage|url=https://archive.org/details/protestpowerchan00roge/page/313}}</ref> More than a quarter of a million people of diverse ethnicities attended, sprawling from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial onto the [[National Mall]]. At the time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington, D.C.'s history.<ref name="Powers 1997 313" />

King delivered a 17-minute speech, later known as "[[I Have a Dream]]". In the speech's most famous passage{{snd}}in which he departed from his prepared text, possibly at the prompting of [[Mahalia Jackson]], who shouted, "Tell them about the dream!"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/aug/21/usa.comment|title=I have a dream|last=Younge|first=Gary|author-link=Gary Younge|date=August 21, 2003|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=January 9, 2013|archive-date=August 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827063459/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/aug/21/usa.comment|url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Dream: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation |last=Hansen |first=Drew |year=2005 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-008477-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dreammartinluthe00hans/page/98 98] |url=https://archive.org/details/dreammartinluthe00hans/page/98}}</ref>{{snd}}King said:<ref>{{cite book |title=The Words of Martin Luther King Jr. |edition=Second |last=King |first=Martin Luther Jr. |author2=King, Coretta Scott |year=2008 |publisher=Newmarket Press |isbn=978-1-55704-815-8 |page=95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=irMxJS36904C&pg=PA95 |access-date=May 29, 2020 |archive-date=January 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124316/https://books.google.com/books?id=irMxJS36904C&pg=PA95 |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{poemquote|I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: [[United States Declaration of Independence|"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."]]

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of [[Mississippi]], a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

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.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with [[George Wallace|its governor]] having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.}}

"I Have a Dream" came to be regarded as one of the finest speeches in the history of oratory.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dream Assignment |work=Smithsonian |date=August 1, 2003 |access-date=August 27, 2008 |last=Moore |first=Lucinda |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/dream-speech.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130105000547/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/dream-speech.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 5, 2013 }}</ref> The March, and especially King's speech, helped put civil rights at the top of the agenda of reformers and facilitated passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.<ref>{{cite book|first=James T.|last=Patterson|author-link=James T. Patterson (historian)|title=Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=1996|pages=482–85, 542–46<}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Harvard|last=Sitkoff|author-link=Harvard Sitkoff|title=The Struggle for Black Equality|publisher=Hill and Wang|date=2008|pages=152–53}}</ref>
{{clear|left}}

=== St. Augustine, Florida, 1964 ===
{{Main|St. Augustine movement}}

In March 1964, King and the SCLC joined forces with Robert Hayling's then-controversial movement in St. Augustine, Florida. Hayling's group had been affiliated with the NAACP but was forced out of the organization for advocating armed self-defense alongside nonviolent tactics. However, the pacifist SCLC accepted them.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.visitstaugustine.com/history/black_history/dr_robert_hayling/ |website=Augustine.com |title=Black History: Dr. Robert B. Hayling |first=David J. |last=Garrow |access-date=June 3, 2020 |archive-date=June 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610042317/https://www.visitstaugustine.com/history/black_history/dr_robert_hayling/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>''Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference'' (HarperCollins, 1987) pp.&nbsp;316–18</ref> King and the SCLC worked to bring white Northern activists to [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]], including a delegation of rabbis and the 72-year-old mother of the governor of Massachusetts, all of whom were arrested.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/civilrights/f1.htm|title=We Shall Overcome – Lincolnville Historic District|work=nps.gov|access-date=January 17, 2014|archive-date=November 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103084850/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/civilrights/f1.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title= African Americans in Florida: An Illustrated History| pages= [https://archive.org/details/africanamericans0000jone/page/113 113–115]| last1= Jones| first1= Maxine D.| first2= Kevin M.| last2= McCarthy| isbn= 1-56164-031-X| publisher= Pineapple Press| year= 1993| url= https://archive.org/details/africanamericans0000jone/page/113}}</ref> During June, the movement marched nightly through the city, "often facing counter demonstrations by the Klan, and provoking violence that garnered national media attention." Hundreds of the marchers were arrested and jailed. During this movement, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/st-augustine-florida |title=St. Augustine, Florida |encyclopedia=King Encyclopedia |publisher=[[Stanford University#Research centers and institutes|Stanford University {{!}} Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute]] |date=July 7, 2017 |access-date=December 18, 2018 |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706074301/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/st-augustine-florida |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Biddeford, Maine, 1964 ===
On May 7, 1964, King spoke at [[University of New England (United States)|Saint Francis College]]'s "The Negro and the Quest for Identity", in [[Biddeford, Maine]]. This was a symposium that brought together many civil rights leaders.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Koenig |first=Seth |date=December 24, 2013 |title=UNE prepares to mark 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech in Biddeford |url=https://bangordailynews.com/2013/12/24/news/une-prepares-to-mark-50th-anniversary-of-martin-luther-king-jr-s-speech-in-biddeford/ |access-date=April 17, 2021 |website=Bangor Daily News |language=en-US |archive-date=April 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417042220/https://bangordailynews.com/2013/12/24/news/une-prepares-to-mark-50th-anniversary-of-martin-luther-king-jr-s-speech-in-biddeford/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=St. Francis College History Collection {{!}} University of New England Research {{!}} DUNE: DigitalUNE|url=https://dune.une.edu/sfchc/|access-date=April 17, 2021|website=dune.une.edu|archive-date=April 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417041657/https://dune.une.edu/sfchc/|url-status=live}}</ref> King spoke about how "We must get rid of the idea of superior and inferior races," through nonviolent tactics.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 16, 2021 |title=Rev. Dr. King in Biddeford |url=https://mcarthurarchives.org/2021/01/16/mlk-biddeford/ |access-date=April 17, 2021 |website=McArthur Library's: The Backlog |publisher=Biddeford-Saco Journal |language=en |archive-date=April 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417041654/https://mcarthurarchives.org/2021/01/16/mlk-biddeford/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== New York City, 1964 ===
[[File:Martin Luther King press conference 01269u edit.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|King at a press conference in March 1964]]
On February 6, 1964, King delivered the inaugural speech<ref>{{Cite web|last=King|first=Martin Luther|title=Lecture: The Summer of Our Discontent|url=https://digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS070204_ARC_King_speech|access-date=January 14, 2022|website=The New School Archives And Special Collections|archive-date=January 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114172227/https://digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS070204_ARC_King_speech|url-status=live}}</ref> of a lecture series initiated at the [[New School]] called "The American Race Crisis". In his remarks, King referred to a conversation he had recently had with [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] in which he compared the sad condition of many African Americans to that of India's [[Dalit|untouchables]].<ref name="El Naggar">{{cite news|last=El Naggar|first=Mona|title=Found After Decades, a Forgotten Tape of King 'Thinking on His Feet{{'-}}|url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/found-after-decades-a-forgotten-tape-of-king-thinking-on-his-feet/|access-date=August 31, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 22, 2013|archive-date=November 5, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105213505/http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/found-after-decades-a-forgotten-tape-of-king-thinking-on-his-feet/|url-status=live}}</ref> In his March 18, 1964, interview with [[Robert Penn Warren]], King compared his activism to his father's, citing his training in non-violence as a key difference. He also discusses the next phase of the civil rights movement and integration.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Martin Luther King Jr. {{!}} Who Speaks for the Negro?|url=https://whospeaks.library.vanderbilt.edu/interview/martin-luther-king-jr|access-date=January 18, 2021|website=whospeaks.library.vanderbilt.edu|archive-date=January 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116121126/https://whospeaks.library.vanderbilt.edu/interview/martin-luther-king-jr|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Scripto strike in Atlanta, 1964 ===
{{Main|1964–1965 Scripto strike}}

Starting in November 1964, King supported a [[labor strike]] by several hundred workers at the [[Scripto]] factory in Atlanta, just a few blocks from Ebenezer Baptist.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last1=Hooper |first1=Hartwell |last2=Hooper |first2=Susan |date=Fall 1999 |title=The Scripto Strike: Martin Luther King's 'Valley of Problems': Atlanta, 1964–1965 |url=https://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/digital/collection/AHBull/id/16887/ |journal=[[Atlanta History: A Journal of Georgia and the South]] |publisher=[[Atlanta Historical Society]] |volume=XLIII |issue=3 |pages=5–34 |access-date=September 26, 2022 |archive-date=September 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220921211150/https://album.atlantahistorycenter.com/digital/collection/AHBull/id/16887/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Many of the strikers were congregants of his church, and the strike was supported by other civil rights leaders.<ref name=":5" /> King helped elevate the labor dispute from a local to nationally known event and led the SCLC to organize a nationwide boycott of Scripto products.<ref name=":5" /> However, as the strike stretched into December, King, who was wanting to focus more on a civil rights campaign in [[Selma, Alabama]], began to negotiate in secret with Scripto's president [[Carl Singer]] and eventually brokered a deal where the SCLC would call off their boycott in exchange for the company giving the striking employees their Christmas bonuses.<ref name=":5" /> King's involvement in the strike ended on December 24 and a contract between the company and union was signed on January 9.<ref name=":5" />

=== Selma voting rights movement and "Bloody Sunday", 1965 ===
{{Main|Selma to Montgomery marches}}

[[File:Selma to Montgomery Marches protesters.jpg|thumb|The civil rights [[Selma to Montgomery marches|march from Selma to Montgomery]], Alabama, in 1965]]

In December 1964, King and the SCLC joined forces with the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC) in Selma, Alabama, where the SNCC had been working on voter registration for several months.<ref>{{cite news|last= Haley|first= Alex|title= Martin Luther King|work= Interview|author-link= Alex Haley|publisher= [[Playboy]]|date= January 1965|url= http://www.alex-haley.com/alex_haley_martin_luther_king_interview.htm|access-date= June 10, 2012|archive-date = May 5, 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120505054207/http://www.alex-haley.com/alex_haley_martin_luther_king_interview.htm|url-status= dead}}</ref> A local judge issued an injunction that barred any gathering of three or more people affiliated with the SNCC, SCLC, DCVL, or any of 41 named civil rights leaders. This injunction temporarily halted civil rights activity until King defied it by speaking at [[Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church (Selma, Alabama)|Brown Chapel]] on January 2, 1965.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crmvet.org/tim/timhis64.htm#1964selmainj |title=The Selma Injunction |publisher=Civil Rights Movement Archive |access-date=September 8, 2008 |archive-date=December 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121225052448/http://www.crmvet.org/tim/tim64c.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> During the 1965 march to [[Montgomery, Alabama]], violence by state police and others against the peaceful marchers resulted in much publicity, which made racism in Alabama visible nationwide.

Acting on [[James Bevel]]'s call for a march from Selma to Montgomery, Bevel and other SCLC members, in partial collaboration with SNCC, attempted to organize a march to the state's capital. The first attempt to march on March 7, 1965, at which King was not present, was aborted because of mob and police violence against the demonstrators. This day has become known as [[Selma to Montgomery marches|Bloody Sunday]] and was a turning point in the effort to gain public support for the civil rights movement. It was the clearest demonstration up to that time of the dramatic potential of King and Bevel's nonviolence strategy.{{sfn|King|1998|p=6}}

On March 5, King met with officials in the [[Lyndon B. Johnson Administration|Johnson Administration]] to request an [[injunction]] against any prosecution of the demonstrators. He did not attend the march due to church duties, but later wrote, "If I had any idea that the state troopers would use the kind of brutality they did, I would have felt compelled to give up my church duties altogether to lead the line."{{sfn|King|1998|pp=276–79}} Footage of [[police brutality]] against the protesters was broadcast extensively and aroused public outrage.{{sfn|Jackson|2006|pp=222–23}}

King next attempted to organize a march for March 9. The SCLC petitioned for an injunction in federal court against Alabama; this was denied and the judge issued an order blocking the march until after a hearing. Nonetheless, King led marchers on March 9 to the [[Edmund Pettus Bridge]] in Selma, then held a prayer session before turning the marchers around and asking them to disperse so as not to violate the court order. The unexpected ending of this second march aroused the surprise and anger of many within the local movement.{{sfn|Jackson|2006|p=223}} The march finally went ahead fully on March 25, 1965.<ref>{{cite book|last1= Isserman|first1= Maurice|title= America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s|first2= Michael|last2= Kazin|page= [https://archive.org/details/americadividedci0000isse/page/175 175]|publisher= Oxford University Pressk|year= 2000|isbn= 0-19-509190-6|url= https://archive.org/details/americadividedci0000isse/page/175}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Riotmakers|last=Azbell|first=Joe|publisher= Oak Tree Books|year= 1968|page= 176}}</ref> At the conclusion of the march on the steps of the [[Alabama State Capitol|state capitol]], King delivered a speech that became known as "[[How Long, Not Long]]". King stated that equal rights for African Americans could not be far away, "because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice" and "you shall reap what you sow".{{efn|Though commonly attributed to King, this expression originated with 19th-century abolitionist [[Theodore Parker]].<ref name=NPR />}}<ref name=NPR>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129609461 |title=Theodore Parker And The 'Moral Universe' |newspaper=NPR |date=September 2, 2010 |publisher=National Public Radio |access-date=January 24, 2013 |archive-date=June 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120627091901/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129609461 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Leeman|first=Richard W.|title=African-American Orators: A Bio-critical Sourcebook|page=[https://archive.org/details/africanamericano00leem_0/page/220 220]|isbn=0-313-29014-8|publisher=Greenwood Publishing|year=1996|url=https://archive.org/details/africanamericano00leem_0/page/220}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media| people = Democracy Now!| title = Rare Video Footage of Historic Alabama 1965 Civil Rights Marches, MLK's Famous Montgomery Speech| access-date = May 5, 2018| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBm48Scju9E| archive-date = April 20, 2022| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220420080513/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBm48Scju9E| url-status = live}}</ref>

=== Chicago open housing movement, 1966 ===
{{Main|Chicago Freedom Movement}}

[[File:Lyndon Johnson signing Civil Rights Act, July 2, 1964.jpg|thumb|King standing behind President Johnson as he signs the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]]]

In 1966, after several successes in the south, King, Bevel, and others in the civil rights organizations took the movement to the North. King and Ralph Abernathy, both from the middle class, moved into a building at 1550 S. Hamlin Avenue, in the slums of [[North Lawndale]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/901.html|title=North Lawndale|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia|publisher=Chicago History|access-date=September 8, 2008|archive-date=January 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130063532/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/901.html|url-status=live }}</ref> on Chicago's West Side, as an educational experience and to demonstrate their support and empathy for the poor.{{sfn|Cohen|Taylor|2000|pp=360–62}}

The SCLC formed a coalition with Coordinating Council of Community Organizations (CCCO), an organization founded by [[Albert Raby]], and the combined organizations' efforts were fostered under the aegis of the [[Chicago Freedom Movement]].<ref name=Ralph>{{cite book| last=Ralph| first=James| isbn=0-674-62687-7| publisher=Harvard University Press| year=1993| title=Northern Protest: Martin Luther King Jr., Chicago, and the Civil Rights Movement| page=[https://archive.org/details/northernprotestm00ralp/page/1 1]| url=https://archive.org/details/northernprotestm00ralp/page/1}}</ref>
During that spring, several white couple/black couple tests of real estate offices uncovered [[racial steering]], discriminatory processing of housing requests by couples who were exact matches in income and background.{{sfn|Cohen|Taylor|2000|p=347}} Larger marches were planned and executed: in Bogan, [[Belmont Cragin, Chicago|Belmont Cragin]], [[Jefferson Park, Chicago|Jefferson Park]], [[Evergreen Park, Illinois|Evergreen Park]], [[Gage Park, Chicago|Gage Park]], [[Marquette Park (Chicago)|Marquette Park]], and others.<ref name=Ralph />{{sfn|Cohen|Taylor|2000|p=416}}<ref>{{cite book | last= Fairclough|first= Adam|page=[https://archive.org/details/toredeemsoulofam00fair/page/299 299]| title= To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference & Martin Luther King Jr.| year= 1987| publisher=University of Georgia Press | isbn=0-8203-2346-2| url=https://archive.org/details/toredeemsoulofam00fair/page/299}}</ref>

[[File:Martin Luther King, Jr. and Lyndon Johnson 2.jpg|thumb|President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] meeting with King in the [[Cabinet Room (White House)|White House Cabinet Room]] in 1966]]

King later stated and Abernathy wrote that the movement received a worse reception in Chicago than in the South. Marches, especially the one through Marquette Park on August 5, 1966, were met by thrown bottles and screaming throngs. Rioting seemed very possible.<ref>{{cite book| title=Chicago: City Guide| last=Baty| first=Chris| page=[https://archive.org/details/chicago00baty/page/52 52]| publisher=Lonely Planet| isbn=1-74104-032-9| year=2004| url=https://archive.org/details/chicago00baty/page/52}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title=Jesse Jackson| last=Stone| first=Eddie| pages=[https://archive.org/details/jessejackson0000ston/page/59 59–60]| isbn=0-87067-840-X| publisher=Holloway House Publishing| year=1988| url=https://archive.org/details/jessejackson0000ston/page/59}}</ref> King's beliefs militated against his staging a violent event, and he negotiated an agreement with Mayor [[Richard J. Daley]] to cancel a march to avoid the violence he feared would result.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lentz|first=Richard|title=Symbols, the News Magazines, and Martin Luther King|page=230|publisher=LSU Press|year=1990|isbn=0-8071-2524-5}}</ref> King was hit by a brick during one march, but continued to lead marches in the face of personal danger.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Isserman|first1=Maurice|title=America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s|first2=Michael|last2=Kazin|page=[https://archive.org/details/americadividedci0000isse/page/200 200]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2000|isbn=0-19-509190-6|url=https://archive.org/details/americadividedci0000isse/page/200}} See also: {{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/voiceofdeliveran00mill/page/139 139]|last=Miller|first=Keith D.|title=Voice of Deliverance: The Language of Martin Luther King Jr. and Its Sources|isbn=0-8203-2013-7|publisher=University of Georgia Press|year=1998|url=https://archive.org/details/voiceofdeliveran00mill/page/139}}</ref>

When King and his allies returned to the South, they left [[Jesse Jackson]], a seminary student who had previously joined the movement in the South, in charge of their organization.<ref>{{cite book|title=Meet Martin Luther King, Jr|page=[https://archive.org/details/meetmartinluther0000mism/page/20 20]|last=Mis|isbn=978-1-4042-4209-8|publisher=Rosen Publishing Group|year=2008|first=Melody S.|url=https://archive.org/details/meetmartinluther0000mism/page/20}}</ref> Jackson continued their struggle for civil rights by organizing the [[Operation Breadbasket]] movement that targeted chain stores that did not deal fairly with blacks.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Betrayal of the Urban Poor|last=Slessarev|first=Helene|page=[https://archive.org/details/betrayalofurbanp0000sles/page/140 140]|publisher=Temple University Press|year=1997|isbn=1-56639-543-7|url=https://archive.org/details/betrayalofurbanp0000sles/page/140}}</ref> A 1967 [[CIA]] document declassified in 2017 downplayed King's role in the "black militant situation" in Chicago, with a source stating that King "sought at least constructive, positive projects."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32397511.pdf |title=Views on Black Militant Situation in Chicago |author=CIA |date=October 5, 1967 |access-date=February 13, 2018 |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917225428/https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32397511.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Opposition to the Vietnam War ===
{{See also|Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War}}
{{quote box
| width = 23em|The black revolution is much more than a struggle for the rights of Negroes. It is forcing America to face all its interrelated flaws—racism, poverty, militarism, and materialism. It is exposing evils that are rooted deeply in the whole structure of our society. It reveals systemic rather than superficial flaws and suggests that radical reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced
| salign = right
| source = –Martin Luther King Jr.<ref name=liberal>{{cite news|last1=King|first1=Martin Luther Jr.|title=MLK An American Legacy.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g4FRDAAAQBAJ&q=The+black+revolution+is+much+more+than+a+struggle+for+the+rights+of+Negroes.+It+is+forcing+America+to+face+all+its+interrelated+flaws%E2%80%94racism,+poverty,+militarism,+and+materialism.+It+is+exposing+evils+that+are+rooted+deeply+in+the+whole+structure+of+our+society.+It+reveals+systemic+rather+than+superficial+flaws+and+suggests+that+radical+reconstruction+of+society+itself+is+the+real+issue+to+be+faced%3D21+Jan+2013&pg=PT1078|newspaper=MLK An American Legacy|year=2013|isbn=978-1-5040-3892-8|access-date=August 15, 2021|archive-date=January 23, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124317/https://books.google.com/books?id=g4FRDAAAQBAJ&q=The+black+revolution+is+much+more+than+a+struggle+for+the+rights+of+Negroes.+It+is+forcing+America+to+face+all+its+interrelated+flaws%E2%80%94racism,+poverty,+militarism,+and+materialism.+It+is+exposing+evils+that+are+rooted+deeply+in+the+whole+structure+of+our+society.+It+reveals+systemic+rather+than+superficial+flaws+and+suggests+that+radical+reconstruction+of+society+itself+is+the+real+issue+to+be+faced%3D21+Jan+2013&pg=PT1078#v=onepage&q=The%20black%20revolution%20is%20much%20more%20than%20a%20struggle%20for%20the%20rights%20of%20Negroes.%20It%20is%20forcing%20America%20to%20face%20all%20its%20interrelated%20flaws%E2%80%94racism%2C%20poverty%2C%20militarism%2C%20and%20materialism.%20It%20is%20exposing%20evils%20that%20are%20rooted%20deeply%20in%20the%20whole%20structure%20of%20our%20society.%20It%20reveals%20systemic%20rather%20than%20superficial%20flaws%20and%20suggests%20that%20radical%20reconstruction%20of%20society%20itself%20is%20the%20real%20issue%20to%20be%20faced%3D21%20Jan%202013&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
{{quote box
| width = 23em|We must recognize that we can't solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power... this means a revolution of values and other things. We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism are all tied together… you can't really get rid of one without getting rid of the others… the whole structure of American life must be changed. America is a hypocritical nation and [we] must put [our] own house in order.
| salign = right
| source = —Martin Luther King Jr.<ref name=capitalism>{{cite web|last1=King|first1=Martin Luther Jr.|title=The 11 Most Anti-Capitalist Quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.|url=https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/01/21/11-most-anti-capitalist-quotes-martin-luther-king-jr|access-date=21 Jan 2019|archive-date=April 15, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415181804/https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/01/21/11-most-anti-capitalist-quotes-martin-luther-king-jr|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}

King was long opposed to [[American involvement in the Vietnam War]],<ref name=kingandvietnam1 /> but at first avoided the topic in speeches to avoid interference with civil rights goals that criticism of President Johnson's policies might have created.<ref name=kingandvietnam1>{{cite book|title=The Sixties Chronicle|first=Peter|last=Braunstein|publisher=Legacy Publishing|page=[https://archive.org/details/sixtieschronicle0000unse/page/311 311]|year=2004|isbn=1-4127-1009-X|url=https://archive.org/details/sixtieschronicle0000unse}}</ref> At the urging of SCLC's former Director of Direct Action and now the head of the [[Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam]], James Bevel, and inspired by the outspokenness of [[Muhammad Ali]],<ref name=kingandvietnam2>{{cite news|url=https://latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-bevel25-2008dec25-story.html|title=The Rev. James L. Bevel dies at 72; civil rights activist and top lieutenant to King|first=Alexander|last=Remington|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=December 24, 2008|access-date=September 15, 2014|archive-date=September 16, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140916034118/http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-bevel25-2008dec25-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> King eventually agreed to publicly oppose the war, as opposition was growing among the public.<ref name=kingandvietnam1 />

During an April 1967 appearance at the New York City [[Riverside Church]], King delivered a speech titled "[[Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence]]".<ref name=vwar29>{{cite book|title= The African American Voice in U.S. Foreign Policy Since World War II| last=Krenn|first=Michael L.|page=29|isbn=0-8153-3418-4|publisher= Taylor & Francis|year= 1998}}</ref> He spoke against America's role in the war, arguing the US was in Vietnam "to occupy it as an American colony"{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=107}} and calling the US government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today".{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=102}} He connected the war with economic injustice, arguing that the country needed serious moral change:
{{blockquote|A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just."{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=109}} }}

King opposed the war because it took resources away [[Social programs in the United States|from social welfare at home]]: "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=109}} He stated that [[North Vietnam]] "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands",{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=106}} and accused the U.S. of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children".<ref>{{cite book|last=Baldwin|first= Lewis V.|page=273|title= To Make the Wounded Whole: The Cultural Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. |isbn= 0-8006-2543-9| publisher=Fortress Press|year=1992}}</ref> King also criticized American opposition to North Vietnam's land reforms.<ref>{{cite book | title=Against Us, But for Us: Martin Luther King Jr. and the State|page=199|last=Long|first=Michael G.|isbn=0-86554-768-8|publisher=Mercer University Press|year= 2002}}</ref>

King's opposition cost him significant support among white allies including Johnson, [[Billy Graham]], union leaders, and powerful publishers.<ref name=MED08>{{cite book|last=Dyson|first=Michael Eric|title=April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.'s death and how it changed America|year=2008|publisher=Basic Civitas Books|isbn=978-0-465-00212-2|chapter=Facing Death|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/april41968martin00dyso|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/april41968martin00dyso}}</ref><ref name="Shellnutt 2018">{{cite web | last=Shellnutt | first=Kate | title=What Is Billy Graham's Friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. Worth? | website=News & Reporting | date=February 23, 2018 | url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/february/billy-graham-martin-luther-king-jr-friendship-civil-rights.html | access-date=October 11, 2021 | archive-date=October 11, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011101448/https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/february/billy-graham-martin-luther-king-jr-friendship-civil-rights.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Blake 2018">{{cite web | last=Blake | first=John | title=Where Billy Graham 'missed the mark' | website=CNN | date=February 22, 2018 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/us/billy-graham-mlk-civil-rights/index.html | access-date=October 11, 2021 | archive-date=March 20, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320230948/https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/us/billy-graham-mlk-civil-rights/index.html | url-status=live }}</ref> "The press is being stacked against me", King said,<ref>David J. Garrow, ''Bearing the Cross'' (1986), pp. 440, 445.</ref> complaining of what he described as a double standard that applauded his nonviolence at home, but deplored it when applied "toward little brown Vietnamese children".<ref name=Pierre2011>{{cite news|last=Pierre|first=Robert E.|title=Martin Luther King Jr. made our nation uncomfortable|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/martin-luther-king-jr-made-our-nation-uncomfortable/2011/10/16/gIQA78NPoL_blog.html|access-date=August 17, 2012|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=October 16, 2011|archive-date=November 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211109183117/https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/martin-luther-king-jr-made-our-nation-uncomfortable/2011/10/16/gIQA78NPoL_blog.html|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for [[Radio Hanoi]]",{{sfn|Robbins|2007|p=109}} and ''[[The Washington Post]]'' declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."<ref name=Pierre2011 />{{sfn|Lawson|Payne|Patterson|2006|p=148}}

[[File:Martin Luther King Jr St Paul Campus U MN.jpg|thumb|King speaking to an anti-Vietnam war rally at the [[University of Minnesota]] in St. Paul on April 27, 1967]]
The "Beyond Vietnam" speech reflected King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive [[Highlander Research and Education Center]], with which he was affiliated.<ref>{{cite book|title= Restaging the Sixties: Radical Theaters and Their Legacies|page=297|last1=Harding|first2=Cindy|last2=Rosenthal|isbn= 0-472-06954-3| publisher =University of Michigan Press|year=2006|first1= James M.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title= Symbols, the News Magazines, and Martin Luther King|last=Lentz|first=Richard|page=64|publisher=LSU Press|year=1990|isbn=0-8071-2524-5}}</ref> King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the American political and economic situation, and more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct injustice.<ref>{{cite book| title= Martin Luther King, Jr. | url= https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00ling | url-access= registration | last= Ling| first= Peter J. |page=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00ling/page/277 277]|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=0-415-21664-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-university-of-impossible-to-get-into/|website=freakonomics.com|first=Stephen|last=Dubner|year=2022|title=Episode 501: The University of Impossible-to-Get-Into|quote=education is preparation for citizenship ... citizenship has to do with contributing to your own economic well-being, as well as contributing to the economic well-being of the broader society|access-date=May 2, 2022|archive-date=April 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428031323/https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-university-of-impossible-to-get-into/|url-status=live}}</ref> He guarded his language in public to avoid being linked to [[communism]], but in private sometimes spoke of his support for [[democratic socialism]].<ref name="Sturm1990">{{Cite journal|last=Sturm|first=Douglas|date=1990|title=Martin Luther King, Jr., as Democratic Socialist|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40015109|journal=The Journal of Religious Ethics|volume=18|issue=2|pages=79–105|jstor=40015109|issn=0384-9694|access-date=September 4, 2017|archive-date=March 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316162437/http://www.jstor.org/stable/40015109|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Martin Luther Jr. |last=King |editor-first=Cornel |editor-last=West |editor-link=Cornel West |title=The Radical King |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHAOBAAAQBAJ |year=2015 |publisher=[[Beacon Press]] |isbn=978-0-8070-1282-6 |access-date=June 17, 2015 |archive-date=January 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124044/https://books.google.com/books?id=PHAOBAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>

King stated in "Beyond Vietnam" that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar&nbsp;... it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring."<ref name="Zinn 2002">{{cite book|title=The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace|last=Zinn|first=Howard|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=0-8070-1407-9|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/powerofnonviolen0000unse_y5s7/page/122 122–23]|url=https://archive.org/details/powerofnonviolen0000unse_y5s7/page/122}}</ref> King quoted a US official who said that from Vietnam to Latin America, the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution."<ref name="Zinn 2002" /> King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America", and said the US should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the [[Third World]] rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution.<ref name="Zinn 2002" />

King's stance on Vietnam encouraged [[Allard K. Lowenstein]], [[William Sloane Coffin]] and [[Norman Thomas]], with the support of anti-war Democrats, to attempt to persuade King to run against President Johnson in the [[1968 United States presidential election|1968 presidential election]]. King contemplated but decided against this as he felt uneasy with politics and considered himself better suited to activism.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Engler|first1=Mark|last2=Engler|first2=Paul|title=Why Martin Luther King Didn't Run for President|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-martin-luther-king-didnt-run-for-president-20160118|access-date=March 16, 2017|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=January 18, 2016|archive-date=January 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113150449/https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-martin-luther-king-didnt-run-for-president-20160118|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On April 15, 1967, King spoke at an anti-war march from Manhattan's Central Park to the UN. The march was organized by the [[Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam]] under chairman James Bevel. At the UN King brought up issues of civil rights and the draft:

{{blockquote|I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. There are people who have come to see the moral imperative of equality, but who cannot yet see the moral imperative of world brotherhood. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. And I believe everyone has a duty to be in both the civil-rights and peace movements. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1967/Protests/12303074818188-15/ |title=1967 Year In Review |work=United Press International |access-date=November 30, 2010 |archive-date=January 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103142011/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1967/Protests/12303074818188-15/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Seeing an opportunity to unite civil rights and anti-war activists,<ref name=kingandvietnam2 /> Bevel convinced King to become even more active in the anti-war effort.<ref name=kingandvietnam2 /> Despite his growing public opposition to the war, King was not fond of the [[counterculture movement|hippie culture]] developed from the anti-war movement.<ref name=kingandvietnam3>{{Cite web|last=Theophrastus|date=January 17, 2013|title=Martin L. King on hippies|url=https://bltnotjustasandwich.com/2013/01/17/martin-l-king-on-hippies/|access-date=March 18, 2022|website=BLT|language=en|archive-date=July 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706162922/https://bltnotjustasandwich.com/2013/01/17/martin-l-king-on-hippies/|url-status=live}}</ref> In his 1967 [[Massey Lectures|Massey Lecture]], King stated:
{{blockquote|The importance of the hippies is not in their unconventional behavior, but in the fact that hundreds of thousands of young people, in turning to a flight from reality, are expressing a profoundly discrediting view on the society they emerge from.<ref name=kingandvietnam3 />}}

On January 13, 1968, King called for a large march on Washington against "one of history's most cruel and senseless wars":<ref name="kurlansky2004">{{cite book| title= 1968: The Year That Rocked the World| last =Kurlansky|first=Mark|author-link=Mark Kurlansky|page=[https://archive.org/details/196800mark/page/46 46]|year=2004|publisher=[[Jonathan Cape]] ([[Random House]])|isbn=978-0-345-45582-6|url=https://archive.org/details/196800mark/page/46}}</ref><ref name="nyt-13jan1968">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B1EFD3C5E1A7B93C1A8178AD85F4C8685F9|title=Dr. King Calls for Antiwar Rally in Capital February 5–6|last=Robinson|first=Douglas|page=4|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=January 13, 1968|access-date=April 22, 2010|archive-date=November 5, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105214612/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B1EFD3C5E1A7B93C1A8178AD85F4C8685F9|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{blockquote|We need to make clear in this political year, to congressmen on both sides of the aisle and to the president of the United States, that we will no longer tolerate, we will no longer vote for men who continue to see the killings of Vietnamese and Americans as the best way of advancing the goals of freedom and self-determination in Southeast Asia.<ref name="kurlansky2004" /><ref name="nyt-13jan1968" />}}

==== Correspondence with Thích Nhất Hạnh ====
[[Thích Nhất Hạnh]] was an influential Vietnamese [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] who wrote a letter to King in 1965 entitled: "In Search of the Enemy of Man". It was during his 1966 stay in the US that Nhất Hạnh met with King and urged him to publicly denounce the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aavw.org/protest/king_journey_abstract09.html|title=Searching for the Enemy of Man" in Nhat Nanh, Ho Huu Tuong, Tam Ich, Bui Giang, Pham Cong Thien|date=1965|work=Dialogue|publisher=Saigon: La Boi|pages=11–20|access-date=September 13, 2010|archive-date=October 27, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061027112237/http://www.aavw.org/protest/king_journey_abstract09.html|url-status=live}}, Archived on the African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War website</ref> On 4 April 1967, King gave a speech in New York City, his first to publicly question U.S. involvement in Vietnam.<ref>{{cite speech|url=http://www.aavw.org/special_features/speeches_speech_king01.html|title=Beyond Vietnam|first=Martin Luther Jr.|last=King|location=Riverside Church, NYC|date=April 4, 1967|publisher=Archived on the African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War website|access-date=September 13, 2010|archive-date=August 20, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820044643/http://www.aavw.org/special_features/speeches_speech_king01.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Later that year, King nominated Nhất Hạnh for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]]. In his nomination, King said, "I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of [this prize] than this gentle monk from Vietnam. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to [[ecumenism]], to world brotherhood, to humanity".<ref name="nomination">{{cite letter|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/025.html|subject=Nomination of Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize |first=Martin Luther Jr. |last=King |recipient=The Nobel Institute |date=January 25, 1967 |access-date=September 13, 2010}}</ref>

=== Poor People's Campaign, 1968 ===
{{Main|Poor People's Campaign}}

[[File:Resurrection City Washington D.C. 1968.jpg|alt=Rows of tents|thumb|A shantytown established in Washington, D.C. to protest economic conditions as a part of the [[Poor People's Campaign]]]]
In 1968, King and the SCLC organized the "[[Poor People's Campaign]]" to address economic justice. King traveled the country to assemble "a multiracial army of the poor" that would march on Washington to engage in nonviolent [[civil disobedience]] at the Capitol until Congress created an "economic bill of rights".<ref>{{cite book| first= Ernesto B.|last=Vigil|title=The Crusade for Justice: Chicano Militancy and the Government's War on Dissent|page= 54| publisher =University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=0-299-16224-9|year=1999}}</ref><ref name=lied>{{cite book|last= Kick|first= Russell |page=[https://archive.org/details/You_Are_Being_Lied_To_-_The_Disinformation_Guide_to_Media_Distortion_Historical_/page/1991 1991]|isbn=0-9664100-7-6 |publisher=The Disinformation Campaign|year=2001|title=You are Being Lied to: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths|url=https://archive.org/details/You_Are_Being_Lied_To_-_The_Disinformation_Guide_to_Media_Distortion_Historical_/page/1991}}</ref>

The campaign was preceded by King's final book, ''[[Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?]]'' which laid out his view of how to address social issues and poverty. King quoted from [[Henry George]]'s book ''[[Progress and Poverty]]'', particularly in support of a [[basic income|guaranteed basic income]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sullivan|first1=Dan|title=Where Was Martin Luther King Heading?|url=http://savingcommunities.org/issues/race/king.martin.html|website=savingcommunities.org|access-date=January 20, 2015|archive-date=April 15, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415091914/http://savingcommunities.org/issues/race/king.martin.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Martin Luther King&nbsp;– Final Advice |url=http://www.progress.org/tpr/martin-luther-king-final-advice/ |date=January 9, 2007 |website=The Progress Report |access-date=February 4, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204201039/https://www.progress.org/tpr/martin-luther-king-final-advice/ |archive-date=February 4, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Yglesias|first1=Matthew|title=Martin Luther King's Case for a Guaranteed Basic Income|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/28/martin_luther_king_guaranteed_basic_income.html|access-date=January 20, 2015|work=Slate|date=August 28, 2013|archive-date=January 20, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120082638/http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/08/28/martin_luther_king_guaranteed_basic_income.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C., demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the U.S.

King and the SCLC called on the government to invest in rebuilding America's cities. He felt that Congress had shown "hostility to the poor" by spending "military funds with alacrity and generosity". He contrasted this with the situation faced by poor Americans, claiming that Congress had merely provided "poverty funds with miserliness".<ref name=lied /> His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: he cited systematic flaws of "racism, poverty, militarism and materialism", and argued that "reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced."{{sfn|Lawson|Payne|Patterson|2006|pp=148–49}}

The Poor People's Campaign was controversial even within the civil rights movement. Rustin resigned from the march, stating that the goals of the campaign were too broad, that its demands were unrealizable, and that he thought that these campaigns would accelerate repression on the poor and the black.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington|url=https://archive.org/details/otheramericanlif0000isse|url-access=registration|last=Isserman|first=Maurice|page=[https://archive.org/details/otheramericanlif0000isse/page/281 281]|isbn=1-58648-036-7|publisher=Public Affairs|year=2001}}</ref>

=== Global policy ===
King was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a [[world constitution]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials |url=https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B154-F05-028.1.9 |access-date=July 3, 2023 |website=Helen Keller Archive |publisher=American Foundation for the Blind |archive-date=July 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719103258/https://www.afb.org/HelenKellerArchive?a=d&d=A-HK01-07-B154-F05-028.1.9 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=June 7, 1962 |title=Pakistan Announces Delegates Named |page=5 |work=Arizona Sun |url=https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/118619}}</ref> As a result, in 1968 a [[World Constituent Assembly]] convened to draft and adopt the [[Constitution for the Federation of Earth]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Preparing earth constitution {{!}} Global Strategies & Solutions |url=http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/strategy/193465 |url-status=live |access-date=July 15, 2023 |website=The Encyclopedia of World Problems |archive-date=July 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719215501/http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/strategy/193465 }}</ref>

== Assassination and aftermath ==
{{Main|Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.}}

[[File:Lorraine Motel, Memphis, TN, US.jpg|thumb|The Lorraine Motel, where King was assassinated, is now the site of the [[National Civil Rights Museum]].]]
{{listen
| filename     = I've Been To The Mountaintop.ogg
| title        = I've Been to the Mountaintop
| description  = Final 30 seconds of "[[I've Been to the Mountaintop]]" speech by Martin Luther King Jr.
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On March 29, 1968, King went to Memphis, Tennessee, in support of the black [[sanitation workers]], who were represented by [[American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees]] (AFSCME) Local 1733. The workers had been [[Memphis sanitation strike|on strike]] since March 12 for higher wages and better treatment. In one incident, black street repairmen received pay for two hours when they were sent home because of bad weather, but white employees were paid for the full day.<ref name=AFSCME-WEB1>{{cite web |title=1,300 Members Participate in Memphis Garbage Strike|publisher=[[AFSCME]]|date=February 1968|url=http://www.afscme.org/about/1529.cfm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061102004632/http://www.afscme.org/about/1529.cfm|archive-date=November 2, 2006|access-date=January 16, 2012}}</ref><ref name="AFSCME-WEB2">{{cite web|title=Memphis Strikers Stand Firm|publisher=[[AFSCME]]|date=March 1968|url=http://www.afscme.org/about/1532.cfm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061102004516/http://www.afscme.org/about/1532.cfm|archive-date=November 2, 2006|access-date=January 16, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= Weary Feet, Rested Souls: A Guided History of the Civil Rights Movement|last=Davis|first= Townsend|page= [https://archive.org/details/wearyfeetresteds00davi/page/364 364]|isbn=978-0-393-04592-5 | publisher =[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|year=1998|url=https://archive.org/details/wearyfeetresteds00davi/page/364}}</ref>

On April 3, King addressed a rally and delivered his "[[I've Been to the Mountaintop]]" address at [[Mason Temple]]. King's flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat against his plane.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.newsweek.com/id/69542/page/2| title=The Worst Week | page=2| work=[[Newsweek]] | access-date=August 27, 2008| date=November 19, 2007| last=Thomas| first=Evan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010070531/http://www.newsweek.com/id/69542/page/2 |archive-date=October 10, 2008}}</ref> In reference to the bomb threat, King said:

{{blockquote|And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.<ref>{{cite book| last= Montefiore| first= Simon Sebag| page =[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781847243690/page/155 155] | publisher= Quercus|year=2006|isbn=1-84724-369-X|title= Speeches that Changed the World: The Stories and Transcripts of the Moments that Made History|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781847243690/page/155}}</ref>}}

King was booked in Room 306 at the [[Lorraine Motel]] in Memphis. [[Ralph Abernathy]], who was present at the assassination, testified to the [[United States House Select Committee on Assassinations]] that King and his entourage stayed at Room 306 so often that it was known as the "King-Abernathy suite".<ref name="usdoj">{{cite book|title=United States Department of Justice Investigation of Recent Allegations Regarding the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr|chapter=King V. Jowers Conspiracy Allegations|publisher=[[U.S. Department of Justice]]|date=June 2000|url=https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part1.php|chapter-url=https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part6.php#conspire|access-date=July 11, 2011|archive-date=January 13, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113154920/http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part2.php|url-status=live}}</ref> According to [[Jesse Jackson]], who was present, King's last words were spoken to musician [[Ben Branch]], who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: "Ben, make sure you play '[[Take My Hand, Precious Lord]]' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."<ref>{{cite news|title=40 years after King's death, Jackson hails first steps into promised land|last=Pilkington|first=Ed|date=April 3, 2008|access-date=June 11, 2008|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/apr/03/usa.race|archive-date=April 8, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408150848/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/apr/03/usa.race|url-status=live}}</ref>

King was fatally shot by [[James Earl Ray]] at 6:01&nbsp;p.m., Thursday, April 4, 1968, as he stood on the motel's second-floor balcony. The bullet entered through his right cheek, smashing his jaw, then traveled down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder.<ref name="CHI">{{cite book |last1=Garner |first1=Joe |page=[https://archive.org/details/weinterruptthisb00garn_0/page/62 62] |first2=Walter |last2=Cronkite |author-link2=Walter Cronkite |first3=Bill |last3=Kurtis |publisher=Sourcebooks |year=2002 |isbn=1-57071-974-8 |title=We Interrupt This Broadcast: The Events that Stopped Our Lives&nbsp;... from the Hindenburg Explosion to the Attacks of September 11 |url=https://archive.org/details/weinterruptthisb00garn_0 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King |last=Pepper |first=William |page=[https://archive.org/details/actofstateexe00pepp/page/159 159] |year=2003 |publisher=Verso |isbn=1-85984-695-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/actofstateexe00pepp/page/159}}</ref> Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor.{{sfn|Frady|2002|pp=204–05}}

After emergency surgery, King died at [[St. Joseph's Hospital (Memphis, Tennessee)|St. Joseph's Hospital]] at 7:05&nbsp;p.m.<ref>{{cite book| title= House Divided: The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King|page= 48|last= Lokos | first= Lionel|publisher= Arlington House|year= 1968}}</ref> According to biographer [[Taylor Branch]], King's [[autopsy]] revealed that though only 39 years old, he "had the heart of a 60 year old", which Branch attributed to stress.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mlk/filmmore/pt.html |title=Citizen King Transcript |publisher=PBS |access-date=June 12, 2008 |archive-date=January 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130125144003/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mlk/filmmore/pt.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> King was initially interred in South View Cemetery in South Atlanta, but in 1977, his remains were transferred to a tomb on the site of the [[Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park]].<ref name="nhsnom">{{Cite web|first1=Robert W.|last1=Blythe|first2=Maureen A.|last2=Carroll|first3=Steven H.|last3=Moffson|name-list-style=amp|date=October 15, 1993|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/80000435_text|format=PDF|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=June 28, 2009|archive-date=January 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200129211100/https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/80000435_text|url-status=live}} and {{NRHP url|id=80000435|title=''Accompanying 75 photos''|photos=y}}&nbsp;{{small|(16.9&nbsp;MB)}}</ref>

=== Aftermath ===
{{Further|King assassination riots}}
The assassination led to [[Mass racial violence in the United States|race riots]] in [[1968 Washington, D.C. riots|Washington, D.C.]], [[1968 Chicago riots|Chicago]], [[Baltimore riot of 1968|Baltimore]], [[Louisville riots of 1968|Louisville]], [[1968 Kansas City riot|Kansas City]], and dozens of other cities.<ref name=BBC>{{cite news| title=1968: Martin Luther King shot dead| work=On this Day| publisher=BBC (2006)| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/4/newsid_2453000/2453987.stm| access-date=August 27, 2008| date=April 4, 1968| archive-date=March 11, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190311175917/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/4/newsid_2453000/2453987.stm| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Risen|first=Clay|title=A Nation on Fire: America in the Wake of the King Assassination|year=2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-17710-5|url=https://archive.org/details/nationonfireamer00rise}}</ref><ref name="202004xxSmithsonianMagazineClayRisen">{{cite news |last1=Risen |first1=Clay |title=The Unmaking of the President |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-unmaking-of-the-president-31577203/ |access-date=January 24, 2021 |date=April 2008 |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119112605/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-unmaking-of-the-president-31577203/ |archive-date=November 19, 2020}}</ref> Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was on his way to [[Indianapolis]] for a campaign rally when he was informed of King's death. He gave [[Robert F. Kennedy's speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.|a short, improvised speech]] to the gathering of supporters informing them of the tragedy and urging them to continue King's ideal of nonviolence.<ref>Klein, Joe (2006). ''Politics Lost: How American Democracy was Trivialized by People Who Think You're Stupid''. New York: Doubleday. p. 6. {{ISBN|978-0-385-51027-1}}</ref> The following day, he delivered [[On the Mindless Menace of Violence|a prepared response]] in Cleveland.<ref>{{cite book|last=Newfield|first=Jack|author-link=Jack Newfield|title=Robert Kennedy: A Memoir|publisher=[[Plume (publisher)|Plume]]|edition=3rd|year=1988|isbn=978-0-452-26064-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyme000newf/page/248 248]|url=https://archive.org/details/robertkennedyme000newf/page/248}}</ref> [[James Farmer Jr.]] and other civil rights leaders also called for non-violent action, while the more militant [[Stokely Carmichael]] called for a more forceful response.<ref name="1968 Year In Review, UPI.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1968/Martin-Luther-King-Assasination/12303153093431-4/ |title=1968 Year In Review |work=United Press International |access-date=November 30, 2010 |archive-date=October 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021014925/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1968/Martin-Luther-King-Assasination/12303153093431-4/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on terms favorable to the sanitation workers.<ref name="AFSCME-WEB3">{{cite web|title=AFSCME Wins in Memphis|publisher=[[AFSCME]] The Public Employee|date=April 1968|url=http://www.afscme.org/about/1533.cfm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061102004802/http://www.afscme.org/about/1533.cfm|archive-date=November 2, 2006|access-date=January 16, 2012}}</ref>

The plan to set up a [[shantytown]] in Washington, D.C., was carried out soon after the April 4 assassination. Criticism of King's plan was subdued in the wake of his death, and the SCLC received an unprecedented wave of donations to carry it out. The campaign officially began in Memphis, on May 2, at the hotel where King was murdered.<ref name=McKnight>{{cite book|last=McKnight|first=Gerald D.|title=The last crusade: Martin Luther King Jr., the FBI, and the poor people's campaign|year=1998|publisher=Westview Press|isbn=0-8133-3384-9|chapter='The Poor People Are Coming!' 'The Poor People Are Coming!'|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813333847|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813333847}}</ref> Thousands of demonstrators arrived on the [[National Mall]] and stayed for six weeks, establishing a camp they called "[[Poor People's Campaign|Resurrection City]]".<ref name="Engler15Jan10">{{cite news|last=Engler |first=Mark |title=Dr. Martin Luther King's Economics: Through Jobs, Freedom |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/dr-martin-luther-kings-economics-through-jobs-freedom# |access-date=July 19, 2012 |newspaper=The Nation |date=January 15, 2010 |archive-date=February 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130221105032/http://www.thenation.com/article/dr-martin-luther-kings-economics-through-jobs-freedom |url-status=live }}</ref>

President Johnson tried to quell the riots by making telephone calls to civil rights leaders, mayors and governors and told politicians that they should warn the police against the unwarranted use of force.<ref name="202004xxSmithsonianMagazineClayRisen" /> "I'm not getting through," Johnson told his aides. "They're all holing up like generals in a dugout getting ready to watch a war."<ref name="202004xxSmithsonianMagazineClayRisen" /> Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning for King.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=97}} Vice President [[Hubert Humphrey]] attended King's funeral on behalf of the President, as there were fears that Johnson's presence might incite protests and perhaps violence.<ref>{{cite book|page= [https://archive.org/details/dixiesdirtysecre00jame/page/169 169]|last= Dickerson|first= James|publisher= ME Sharpe|year= 1998|isbn= 0-7656-0340-3|title= Dixie's Dirty Secret: The True Story of how the Government, the Media, and the Mob Conspired to Combat Immigration and the Vietnam Antiwar Movement|url= https://archive.org/details/dixiesdirtysecre00jame/page/169}}</ref> At his widow's request, King's last sermon at [[Ebenezer Baptist Church (Atlanta, Georgia)|Ebenezer Baptist Church]], given on February 4, 1968, was played at the funeral,

{{blockquote|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. 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. And 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.<ref>{{cite book| title =The American Book of Days| url =https://archive.org/details/americanbookofda00hatc| url-access =registration| last1=Hatch |first1=Jane M. |first2=George William|last2=Douglas|publisher=Wilson|year=1978 |page= [https://archive.org/details/americanbookofda00hatc/page/321 321]| isbn =978-0-8242-0593-5}}</ref><ref name="1968 Year In Review, UPI.com" /><ref>{{cite news|title=IBM advertisement|date=January 14, 1985|newspaper=[[The Dallas Morning News]]|page=13A}}</ref>}}

His friend Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", at the funeral.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Change is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America|last=Werner|first=Craig|page=[https://archive.org/details/changeisgonnacom00wern_0/page/9 9]|isbn=0-472-03147-3|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=2006|url=https://archive.org/details/changeisgonnacom00wern_0/page/9}}</ref> The assassination helped to spur the enactment of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1968]].<ref name="202004xxSmithsonianMagazineClayRisen" /> Two months after King's death, [[James Earl Ray]]—on the loose from a previous prison escape—was captured at [[London Heathrow Airport]] while trying to reach white-ruled [[Rhodesia]] on a false Canadian passport. He was using the alias Ramon George Sneyd.<ref>{{cite book|title= Martin Luther King, Jr. |url= https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00ling |url-access= registration |last= Ling|first= Peter J. |page= [https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00ling/page/296 296]| publisher= Routledge| year =2002| isbn= 0-415-21664-8}}</ref> Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's murder. He confessed on March 10, 1969, though he recanted this confession three days later.<ref name=extradite>{{cite book|last1= Flowers|first1=R. Barri|first2=H. Loraine|last2=Flowers|page= 38|title= Murders in the United States: Crimes, Killers And Victims Of The Twentieth Century|publisher=McFarland|year=2004 |isbn=0-7864-2075-8}}</ref> On the advice of his attorney [[Percy Foreman]], Ray pleaded guilty to avoid the possibility of the death penalty. He was sentenced to a 99-year prison term.<ref name=extradite /><ref name=cbs>{{cite web|title=James Earl Ray Dead At 70|date=April 23, 1998|publisher=CBS|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-earl-ray-dead-at-70/|access-date=June 12, 2008|archive-date=November 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114172759/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/04/23/national/main7900.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> Ray later claimed a man he met in [[Montreal]], Quebec, with the alias "Raoul" was involved and that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy.<ref>{{cite book| page=[https://archive.org/details/compsta00unit/page/17 17] |author= House Select Committee on Assassinations|title=Compilation of the Statements of James Earl Ray: Staff Report|publisher=The Minerva Group |isbn=0-89875-297-3|year=2001|url=https://archive.org/details/compsta00unit/page/17}}</ref><ref name=davis>{{cite book|title= Assassination: 20 Assassinations that Changed the World|page=105 |last=Davis|first=Lee|year=1995|publisher=JG Press|isbn= 1-57215-235-4}}</ref> He spent the remainder of his life attempting, unsuccessfully, to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had.<ref name=cbs /> Ray died in 1998 at age 70.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/24/us/james-earl-ray-70-killer-of-dr-king-dies-in-nashville.html|title=James Earl Ray, 70, Killer of Dr. King, Dies in Nashville|first=Lawrence Van|last=Gelder|date=April 24, 1998|newspaper=[[NYTimes.com]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210120821/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/24/us/james-earl-ray-70-killer-of-dr-king-dies-in-nashville.html |archive-date=February 10, 2014}}</ref>

=== Allegations of conspiracy ===
{{Main|Martin Luther King Jr. assassination conspiracy theories}}

[[File:Martin Luther King Jr Coretta Scott King Tomb.jpg|thumb|The [[sarcophagus]] for Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King is within the [[Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park]] in [[Atlanta]], Georgia.]]

Ray's lawyers maintained he was a [[Scapegoating|scapegoat]] similar to the way that John F. Kennedy's assassin [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] is seen by [[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories|conspiracy theorists]].<ref name=CNN1>{{cite news|title=From small-time criminal to notorious assassin|publisher=CNN|url=http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/03/james.ray.profile/|access-date=September 17, 2006|year=1998|archive-date=October 25, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025032408/http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/03/james.ray.profile/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Supporters of this assertion said that Ray's confession was given under pressure and that he had been threatened with the death penalty.<ref name=cbs /><ref>{{cite book| title= Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia| url= https://archive.org/details/conspiracytheori00knig_851| url-access= limited| last =Knight | first =Peter| page= [https://archive.org/details/conspiracytheori00knig_851/page/n419 402]| isbn= 1-57607-812-4| publisher= ABC-CLIO| year= 2003}}</ref> They admitted that Ray was a thief and burglar, but claimed that he had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon.<ref name=davis /> However, prison records in different U.S. cities have shown that he was incarcerated on numerous occasions for armed robbery.<ref name=mlkassassin /> In a 2008 interview with [[CNN]], Jerry Ray, the younger brother of James Earl Ray, claimed that James was smart and was sometimes able to get away with armed robbery. "I never been with nobody as bold as he is," Jerry said. "He just walked in and put that gun on somebody, it was just like it's an everyday thing."<ref name=mlkassassin />

Those suspecting a conspiracy point to the two successive [[ballistics]] tests which proved that a rifle similar to Ray's [[Remington Arms|Remington]] Gamemaster had been the murder weapon. Those tests did not implicate Ray's specific rifle.<ref name=cbs /><ref name=BBC-WEB1>{{cite news|title=Questions left hanging by James Earl Ray's death|publisher=BBC|date=April 23, 1998|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/82893.stm|access-date=August 27, 2008|archive-date=January 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112023540/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/82893.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Witnesses near King said that the shot came from another location, from behind thick shrubbery near the boarding house—which had been cut away in the days following the assassination—and not from the boarding house window.<ref name=Gerold>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/americandeathtr00fran/page/283 283]|last= Frank|first=Gerold|author-link=Gerold Frank|year=1972|publisher= Doubleday|title=An American Death: The True Story of the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Greatest Manhunt of our Time|url=https://archive.org/details/americandeathtr00fran|url-access=registration}}</ref> However, Ray's fingerprints were found on various objects in the bathroom where it was determined the gunfire came from.<ref name=mlkassassin>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/mlk.ray.case/index.html|title=The case against James Earl Ray|first=James|last=Polk|publisher=CNN|date=December 29, 2008|access-date=July 12, 2014|archive-date=July 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714194427/http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/mlk.ray.case/index.html|url-status=dead }}</ref> An examination of the rifle containing Ray's fingerprints determined that at least one shot was fired from the firearm at the time of the assassination.<ref name=mlkassassin />

In 1997, King's son Dexter Scott King met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a [[new trial]].<ref name=CNN2>{{cite news|title=James Earl Ray, convicted King assassin, dies|publisher=CNN|date=April 23, 1998|url=http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/23/ray.obit/#2|access-date=September 17, 2006|archive-date=October 29, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061029154237/http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/23/ray.obit/#2|url-status=dead}}</ref> Two years later, King's widow Coretta Scott King and the couple's children, represented by [[William F. Pepper]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Contemporary Controversies and the American Racial Divide|page=[https://archive.org/details/contemporarycont0000smit/page/97 97]|last1=Smith|first1=Robert Charles|first2=Richard|last2=Seltzer|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2000|isbn=0-7425-0025-X|url=https://archive.org/details/contemporarycont0000smit}}</ref> won a [[wrongful death claim]] against [[Loyd Jowers]] and "other unknown co-conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury found Jowers to be complicit in a conspiracy and that government agencies were party to the assassination.<ref>{{cite web|title=Trial Transcript Volume XIV|publisher=The King Center|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/trial/Volume14.html|access-date=August 27, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506041106/http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/trial/Volume14.html|archive-date=May 6, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/10/us/dr-king-s-slaying-finally-draws-a-jury-verdict-but-to-little-effect.html |title=Dr. King's Slaying Finally Draws A Jury Verdict, but to Little Effect |author1=Sack, Kevin |author2=Yellin, Emily |date=December 10, 1999 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 20, 2013 |archive-date=January 26, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126032638/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/10/us/dr-king-s-slaying-finally-draws-a-jury-verdict-but-to-little-effect.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>&nbsp;

In 2000, the [[U.S. Department of Justice]] completed the investigation into Jowers' claims but did not find evidence of conspiracy. The investigation report recommended no further investigation unless new reliable facts are presented.<ref name="usdoj2">{{cite book| title=United States Department of Justice Investigation of Recent Allegations Regarding the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr|chapter=Overview|publisher=[[U.S. Department of Justice]]|date=June 2000|url=https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part1.php|chapter-url=https://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part2.php#over|access-date=July 11, 2011 |archive-date=January 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113154920/http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/crm/mlk/part2.php |url-status=dead}}</ref> A sister of Jowers admitted that he had fabricated the story so he could make $300,000 from selling the story, and she corroborated his story to get money to pay her income tax.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/mlk/memphis/memphis2.htm | newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] | title=The Truth About Memphis | author=Posner, Gerald |date=January 30, 1999 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111161639/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/mlk/memphis/memphis2.htm |archive-date=November 11, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/23/us/loyd-jowers-73-who-claimed-a-role-in-the-killing-of-dr-king.html | work=The New York Times | title=Loyd Jowers, 73, Who Claimed A Role in the Killing of Dr. King | date=May 23, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715182331/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/23/us/loyd-jowers-73-who-claimed-a-role-in-the-killing-of-dr-king.html |archive-date=July 15, 2014}}</ref>

In 2002, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that a church minister, Ronald Denton Wilson, claimed his father, Henry Clay Wilson, assassinated King. He stated, "It wasn't a racist thing; he thought Martin Luther King was connected with communism, and he wanted to get him out of the way." Wilson provided no evidence to back up his claims.<ref name=NYTORIG>{{cite news|title=A Minister Says His Father, Now Dead, Killed Dr. King|work=The New York Times|date=April 5, 2002| first=Dana|last=Canedy|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/05/us/a-minister-says-his-father-now-dead-killed-dr-king.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110235447/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/05/us/a-minister-says-his-father-now-dead-killed-dr-king.html |archive-date=November 10, 2012 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref>

King researchers [[David Garrow]] and [[Gerald Posner]] disagreed with Pepper's claims that the government killed King.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Civil Rights Revolution: Events and Leaders, 1955–1968|last=Sargent|first=Frederic O.|page=129|publisher=McFarland|year=2004|isbn=0-7864-1914-8}}</ref> In 2003, Pepper published a book about the investigation and trial, as well as his representation of James Earl Ray in his bid for a trial.<ref>{{cite book|title=An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King|last=Pepper|first=William|page=[https://archive.org/details/actofstateexe00pepp/page/182 182]|publisher=Verso|year=2003|isbn=1-85984-695-5|url=https://archive.org/details/actofstateexe00pepp/page/182}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/the-colours-of-conspiracy/175344.article|title=The colours of conspiracy|last=King|first=Desmond|date=March 14, 2003|work=[[Times Higher Education]]|access-date=January 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180129195152/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/the-colours-of-conspiracy/175344.article |archive-date=January 29, 2018}}</ref> James Bevel also disputed the argument that Ray acted alone, stating, "There is no way a ten-cent white boy could develop a plan to kill a million-dollar black man."<ref>{{cite book|last=Branch|first=Taylor|title=At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965–68|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2006|isbn=978-0-684-85712-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/atcanaansedgeame00bran/page/770 770]|url=https://archive.org/details/atcanaansedgeame00bran/page/770}}</ref> In 2004, Jesse Jackson stated:

{{blockquote|The fact is there were saboteurs to disrupt the march. And within our own organization, we found a very key person who was on the government payroll. So infiltration within, saboteurs from without and the press attacks.&nbsp;... I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray.<ref name=Demo>{{cite news|last1=Goodman|first1=Amy|first2=Juan|last2=Gonzalez|title=Jesse Jackson On 'Mad Dean Disease', the 2000 Elections and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King|publisher=[[Democracy Now!]]|date=January 15, 2004|url=http://www.democracynow.org/2004/1/15/rev_jesse_jackson_on_mad_dean|access-date=September 18, 2006|archive-date=February 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219124722/https://www.democracynow.org/2004/1/15/rev_jesse_jackson_on_mad_dean|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

On January 23 2025, [[President Donald Trump]] signed an Executive Order declassifying the records concerning the assassination.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Orders Declassification of JFK, RFK, and MLK Assassination Files |url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-orders-declassification-of-jfk-rfk-and-mlk-assassination-files/ |website=[[White House]] |date=January 23, 2025 |publisher=United States |access-date=January 24, 2025}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
{{See also|Memorials to Martin Luther King Jr.|List of streets named after Martin Luther King Jr.}}
[[File:Martin Luther King memorial Westminster Abbey.jpg|thumb|upright|Martin Luther King Jr. statue over the west entrance of [[Westminster Abbey]], installed in 1998]]

=== South Africa ===
{{See also|Black Consciousness Movement}}

King's legacy includes influences on the [[Black Consciousness Movement]] and civil rights movement in South Africa.<ref>{{cite book |title=Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music, and Politics in South Africa |last= Ansell |first=Gwen |page=139 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=2005 |isbn=0-8264-1753-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us |last= Clinton |first= Hillary Rodham |page= [https://archive.org/details/ittakesvillage00clin/page/137 137] |isbn= 978-1-4165-4064-9 |publisher= Simon & Schuster |year= 2007 |url= https://archive.org/details/ittakesvillage00clin/page/137 }}</ref> King's work was cited by, and served as, an inspiration for South African leader [[Albert Luthuli]], who fought for racial justice in his country during [[apartheid]] and was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.{{sfn|King|1992|pp=307–308}}

=== United Kingdom ===
{{See also|Northern Ireland civil rights movement}}
[[John Hume]], the former leader of the [[Social Democratic and Labour Party]], cited King's legacy as quintessential to the [[Northern Ireland civil rights movement]] and the signing of the [[Good Friday Agreement]], calling him "one of my great heroes of the century".<ref>{{cite web|title=Nobel Lecture|website=Nobelprize.org|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1998/hume-lecture.html|date=December 10, 1998|access-date=May 18, 2016|archive-date=June 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624054943/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1998/hume-lecture.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=King remembered for civil rights achievements|url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9901/18/mlk.03/|website=CNN|date=January 18, 1999|access-date=May 18, 2016|archive-date=August 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160805055210/http://www.cnn.com/US/9901/18/mlk.03/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Interview with John Hume (26 minutes)|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/?id=46|publisher=The Nobel Prize|date=August 31, 2006|access-date=May 20, 2016|archive-date=June 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624200533/http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/?id=46|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Martin Luther King Fund and Foundation in the UK was set up as a charity<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=MARTIN LUTHER KING FOUNDATION – Charity 260411 |url=https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/260411/full-print |access-date=April 27, 2022 |website=register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk |language=en-GB |archive-date=March 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321175545/https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/260411/full-print |url-status=live }}</ref> on December 30, 1969, after King's assassination and following a visit to the UK in 1969 by his widow, [[Coretta Scott King|Coretta King]]. The Foundation's first chairman, Canon [[John Collins (priest)|John Collins]], stated that the Foundation was to be an active UK national campaign for racial equality, its work also to include community projects in areas of social need, and education.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Sheppard |first=David |title=Black People and Employment: The 1975 Martin Luther King Memorial Lecture |publisher=The Martin Luther King Foundation |year=1975 |page=1 |author-link=David Sheppard}}</ref> International Personnel (IP), an employment agency, was formed in 1970 out of the foundation's base in [[Balham]], to find employment for professionally qualified black people. In its first year, the agency placed ten percent of its applicants in jobs equal to their ability.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Wilfred |url=https://archive.org/details/keepfaithbaby0000wood |title=Keep the Faith, Baby! |publisher=The Bible Reading Fellowship |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-7459-2965-1 |page=13}}</ref> The Balham Training Scheme operated an evening school with lecturers in Typing, Shorthand, English and Math.<ref name=":3" /> The foundation was removed from the Charity Commission list on November 18, 1996, as it had ceased to exist.<ref name=":1" />
The Northumbria and Newcastle Universities Martin Luther King Peace Committee<ref>{{cite web|url=https://research.ncl.ac.uk/martinlutherking/|title=Martin Luther King Peace Committee|website=Newcastle University|access-date=April 22, 2015|archive-date=August 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814171943/https://research.ncl.ac.uk/martinlutherking/|url-status=live}}</ref> still exists to honor King's legacy, as represented by his final visit to the UK to receive an honorary degree from [[Newcastle University]] in 1967.<ref name="Newcastle ceremony">{{cite web|url=https://www.ncl.ac.uk/congregations/honorary/martinlutherking/|title=Martin Luther King Honorary Degree Ceremony|website=Newcastle University|access-date=December 18, 2018|archive-date=December 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219000901/https://www.ncl.ac.uk/congregations/honorary/martinlutherking/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Ward">{{cite journal|last=Ward|first=Brian|title=A King in Newcastle; Martin Luther King Jr. and British Race Relations, 1967–1968|journal=The Georgia Historical Quarterly|volume=79|issue=3|pages=599–632}}</ref> Northumbria and Newcastle remain centers for the study of Martin Luther King and the US civil rights movement. Inspired by King's vision, the committee undertakes a range of activities across the UK to "build cultures of peace".

In 2017, Newcastle University unveiled a bronze statue of King to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his honorary doctorate ceremony.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/archive/2017/11/martinlutherkingstatueunveiled/|title=Statue unveiled in honour of Martin Luther King Jr.|website=Newcastle University|author=Press Office|date=November 13, 2017|access-date=January 15, 2018|archive-date=July 20, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720132041/https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/archive/2017/11/martinlutherkingstatueunveiled/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Students Union also voted to rename their bar "Luther's".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/new-name-newcastle-universitys-student-12725758|title=New name for Newcastle University's Student Union Mensbar revealed|website=Chronicle Live|first=Hannah|last=Graham|date=March 11, 2017|access-date=January 15, 2018|archive-date=September 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220912044307/https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/new-name-newcastle-universitys-student-12725758|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== United States ===

King has become an icon in the history of [[Modern liberalism in the United States|American liberalism]] and [[American progressivism]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Krugman|first=Paul R.|url=https://archive.org/details/conscienceoflib00krug/page/84|title=The Conscience of a Liberal|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|year=2009|isbn=978-0-393-33313-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/conscienceoflib00krug/page/84 84]}}</ref> His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the U.S. Just days after King's assassination, Congress passed the [[Civil Rights Act of 1968]].<ref name=HUDHistory>{{cite web|title=The History of Fair Housing|url=http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/aboutfheo/history|publisher=U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development|access-date=April 19, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327032116/http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=%2Fprogram_offices%2Ffair_housing_equal_opp%2Faboutfheo%2Fhistory|archive-date=March 27, 2012}}</ref> Title VIII of the Act, commonly known as the Fair Housing Act, prohibited discrimination in housing and housing-related transactions on the basis of race, religion, or national origin (later expanded to include sex, familial status, and disability). This legislation was seen as a tribute to King's struggle in his final years to combat residential discrimination.<ref name=HUDHistory /> The day following King's assassination, teacher [[Jane Elliott]] conducted her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise with her class of elementary school students to help them understand King's death as it related to racism.<ref>{{cite news|title= A Class Divided: One Friday in April, 1968|work= Frontline|publisher= PBS|last= Peters|first= William|url= https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/one-friday-in-april-1968/|date= January 1, 2003|access-date= June 15, 2008|archive-date= June 5, 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080605044824/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/friday.html|url-status= live}}</ref>

King's wife Coretta Scott King was active in matters of social justice and civil rights until her death in 2006. The same year that King was assassinated, she established the [[King Center for Nonviolent Social Change|King Center in Atlanta, Georgia]], dedicated to preserving his legacy and the work of championing nonviolent conflict resolution and tolerance worldwide.<ref name=KC-WEB1>{{cite web|title=The King Center's Mission|publisher=[[Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site|The King Center]]|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/mission.asp| access-date=June 15, 2008 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080412114756/http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/mission.asp |archive-date=April 12, 2008}}</ref> Their son, Dexter King, who died in 2024, served as the center's chairman until 2010.<ref>{{cite news|title=Future of Atlanta's King Center in limbo|work=USA Today|last=Copeland|first=Larry|date=February 1, 2006|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-31-king-center_x.htm|access-date=August 27, 2008|archive-date=August 29, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080829132426/http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-31-king-center_x.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url =http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/chairman.asp |title= Chairman's Message: Introduction to the King Center and its Mission| publisher =The King Center| access-date=June 15, 2008 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080118102950/http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/chairman.asp | archive-date=January 18, 2008}}</ref> In 2010, [[Martin Luther King III]] became president. In 2012, King's youngest child, [[Bernice King]], became the CEO. Daughter Yolanda King, who died in 2007, was a motivational speaker, author and founder of Higher Ground Productions, an organization specializing in diversity training.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Higher Ground Productions |url=http://www.highergroundproductions.com/index2.htm |title=Welcome |access-date=June 15, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513175358/http://www.highergroundproductions.com/index2.htm |archive-date=May 13, 2008 }}</ref>

King family members disagree about his views about [[LGBTQ]] people. King's widow Coretta said that she believed her husband would have supported them.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Triple Evils|publisher= [[The King Center]]| url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/misc/triple_evils.htm| archive-url=https://archive.today/20080803150448/http://www.thekingcenter.org/misc/triple_evils.htm| url-status=dead| archive-date=August 3, 2008| access-date=August 27, 2008 }}</ref> However, King's youngest child, Bernice, said that he would have been opposed to [[gay marriage]].<ref name=MPR-WEB1>{{cite news|last= Williams|first= Brandt|title= What would Martin Luther King do?|publisher= [[Minnesota Public Radio]]|date= January 16, 2005|url= http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/01/17_williamsb_wwmlkd/|access-date= August 27, 2008|archive-date= July 19, 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080719231916/http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/01/17_williamsb_wwmlkd/|url-status= live}}</ref> King himself, in a 1958 advice column written for [[Ebony (magazine)|''Ebony'']], called homosexuality a "problem" and suggested that it could be resolved through [[Psychotherapy|psychiatric treatment]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Powys Maurice |first=Emma |date=2023-01-16 |title=Martin Luther King Jr's advice to closeted gay teen in 1958 is eye-opening |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/01/16/martin-luther-king-lgbt-gay-teen-advice/ |access-date=2025-07-03 |website=PinkNews |language=en-US}}</ref>

==== Martin Luther King Jr. Day ====
{{Main|Martin Luther King Jr. Day}}

Beginning in 1971, cities and states established annual holidays to honor King.<ref name="stlouis">{{Cite web|date=January 21, 2014|title=St. Louis Remains A Stronghold For Dr. King's Dream|url=https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2014-01-20/st-louis-remains-a-stronghold-for-dr-kings-dream|access-date=March 18, 2022|website=STLPR|language=en|archive-date=April 11, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411091048/https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2014-01-20/st-louis-remains-a-stronghold-for-dr-kings-dream|url-status=live}}</ref> On November 2, 1983, President [[Ronald Reagan]] signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor King. Observed for the first time on January 20, 1986, it is called [[Martin Luther King Jr. Day]]. Following President [[George H. W. Bush]]'s 1992 proclamation, the holiday is observed on the third Monday of January each year, near the time of King's birthday.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=47329|title=Proclamation 6401&nbsp;– Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday|year=1992|publisher=The American Presidency Project|access-date=September 8, 2008|archive-date=October 5, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005092831/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=47329|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Martin Luther King Day|publisher=U.S. Department of State| url= http://exchanges.state.gov/education/engteaching/mlkbday.htm|access-date=June 15, 2008 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080328081425/http://exchanges.state.gov/education/engteaching/mlkbday.htm |archive-date=March 28, 2008}}</ref> On January 17, 2000, for the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially observed in all fifty U.S. states.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/26/us/contrarian-new-hampshire-to-honor-dr-king-at-last.html|title=Contrarian New Hampshire To Honor Dr. King, at Last|work=The New York Times|last=Goldberg|first=Carey|date=May 26, 1999|access-date=June 15, 2008|archive-date=July 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090729104406/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/26/us/contrarian-new-hampshire-to-honor-dr-king-at-last.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Arizona]] (1992), [[New Hampshire]] (1999) and [[Utah]] (2000) were the last states to recognize the holiday. Utah previously celebrated the holiday under the name Human Rights Day.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkhistory1.html| title=The History of Martin Luther King Day| publisher=Infoplease| year=2007| access-date=July 4, 2011| archive-date=July 4, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704203142/http://www.infoplease.com/spot/mlkhistory1.html| url-status=live}}</ref>

== Veneration ==
{{Infobox saint|name=Martin Luther King of Georgia|image=|caption=Icon|titles=Pastor and Martyr|feast_day=April 4<br />January 15 (Episcopalian and Lutheran)|honored_in=Holy Christian Orthodox Church<br />[[Episcopal Church (United States)]]<br />[[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]]|canonized_date=September 9, 2016|canonized_place=The Christian Cathedral|canonized_by=Timothy Paul Baymon}}
King was [[Canonization|canonized]] by Archbishop [[Timothy Paul Baymon|Timothy Paul]] of the Holy Christian Orthodox Church on September 9, 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Martin Luther King Jr. made a saint by American church – Premier Christian News |date=September 14, 2016 |url=https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/martin-luther-king-jr-made-a-saint-by-american-church |access-date=April 24, 2021 |website=premierchristian.news |language=en |archive-date=April 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424165651/https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/martin-luther-king-jr-made-a-saint-by-american-church |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Holy Communion Of Churches |url=https://holycommunionofchurches.org/ |access-date=April 24, 2021 |website=Holy Communion Of Churches |language=en |archive-date=April 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424165650/https://holycommunionofchurches.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=PAGE |first=Orthodoxy Cognate |date=September 15, 2016 |title=Martin Luther King Jr. Canonized by the Unrecognized 'Holy Christian Orthodox Church' |url=https://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/martin-luther-king-jr-canonized-by-the-unrecognized-holy-christian-orthodox-church/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424165650/https://theorthodoxchurch.info/blog/news/martin-luther-king-jr-canonized-by-the-unrecognized-holy-christian-orthodox-church/ |archive-date=April 24, 2021 |access-date=April 24, 2021 |website=News {{!}} Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release|title=The Holy Christian Orthodox Church Announces the Sainthood of Martin Luther King Jr. of Georgia – Standard Newswire|url=http://www.standardnewswire.com/news/4841511698.html|access-date=April 24, 2021|website=www.standardnewswire.com|archive-date=April 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424165650/http://www.standardnewswire.com/news/4841511698.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Christian Cathedral – Community. Worship. Purpose|url=https://www.thechristiancathedral.org/|access-date=April 24, 2021|language=en-US|archive-date=April 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210424165652/https://www.thechristiancathedral.org/|url-status=dead}}</ref> His feast day was set as April 4, the date of his assassination. King is also honored with a Lesser Feast on the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)|liturgical calendar]] of the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/21034|title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018|access-date=April 24, 2021|archive-date=January 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125225221/https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/download/21034|url-status=live}}</ref> on April 4 or January 15, the anniversary of his birth. The [[Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)|Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]] commemorates King liturgically on January 15.<ref>{{cite web|title=Church Year and Calendar|url=http://www.stbartlutheran.org/churchyearcalendar.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216045355/http://www.stbartlutheran.org/churchyearcalendar.htm|archive-date=February 16, 2013|access-date=January 10, 2013|publisher=St. Bartholomew Lutheran Church}}</ref>

== Ideas, influences, and political stances ==

=== Christianity ===

As a Christian minister, King's main influence was [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus Christ]] and the Christian gospels, which he would almost always quote in his speeches.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}} King's faith was strongly based in the [[Golden Rule]], loving God above all, and loving your enemies. His [[nonviolence|nonviolent]] thought was also based in the injunction to ''[[turn the other cheek]]'' in the [[Sermon on the Mount]], and Jesus' teaching of putting the sword back into its place (Matthew 26:52).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/liberation-curriculum/classroom-resources/king-quotes-war-and-peace |title=Martin Luther King Jr., Justice Without Violence&nbsp;– April 3, 1957 |publisher=Mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu |access-date=July 9, 2013 |archive-date=September 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908025618/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/liberation-curriculum/classroom-resources/king-quotes-war-and-peace |url-status=dead }}</ref> In his [[Letter from Birmingham Jail]], King urged action consistent with what he describes as Jesus' "extremist" love, and also quoted numerous other [[Christian pacifism|Christian pacifist]] authors. In another sermon, he stated:

{{blockquote|Before I was a civil rights leader, I was a preacher of the Gospel. This was my first calling and it still remains my greatest commitment. You know, actually all that I do in civil rights I do because I consider it a part of my ministry. I have no other ambitions in life but to achieve excellence in the Christian ministry. I don't plan to run for any political office. I don't plan to do anything but remain a preacher. And what I'm doing in this struggle, along with many others, grows out of my feeling that the preacher must be concerned about the whole man.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2014-06-11|title=Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/about-papers-project|access-date=2022-03-18|website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute|publisher=Stanford University|language=en|archive-date=November 1, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101092930/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/kingpapers/article/voter_education_project/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-gift-of-love-martin-luther-king-sermons-from-strength-to-love-excerpt_n_2499321 | title='A Gift Of Love': Martin Luther King's Sermons From Strength To Love (Excerpt) | first=Josh | last=Fleet | work=[[HuffPost]] | date=January 21, 2013 | access-date=April 26, 2020 | archive-date=April 27, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427213240/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-gift-of-love-martin-luther-king-sermons-from-strength-to-love-excerpt_n_2499321 | url-status=live }}</ref>}}

King's private writings show that he rejected [[biblical literalism]]; he described the Bible as "[[Christian mythology|mythological]]", doubted that Jesus was [[virgin birth of Jesus|born of a virgin]] and did not believe that the [[Book of Jonah|story of Jonah and the whale]] was true.<ref>{{cite web |work= [[San Francisco Chronicle]] |url= https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Writings-show-King-as-liberal-Christian-2623685.php |first= Matthai |last= Chakko Kuruvila |title= Writings show King as liberal Christian, rejecting literalism |date= January 15, 2007 |access-date= June 5, 2019 |archive-date= June 29, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220629204128/https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Writings-show-King-as-liberal-Christian-2623685.php |url-status= live }}</ref>

Among the thinkers who influenced King's theological outlook were [[L. Harold DeWolf]], [[Edgar Brightman]], [[Peter Bertocci]], [[Walter George Muelder]], [[Walter Rauschenbusch]], and [[Reinhold Niebuhr]].<ref name=Ansbro>{{cite book|last=Ansbro|first=John J.|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.: Nonviolent Strategies and Tactics for Social Change|publisher=Madison Books|date=2000}}</ref>

==== ''The Measure of a Man'' ====
In 1959, King published a short book called ''The Measure of a Man'', which contained his sermons "[[What Is Man? (King essay)|What is Man?]]" and "The Dimensions of a Complete Life". The sermons argued for man's need for God's love and criticized the racial injustices of Western civilization.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/measure-man |title=Measure of a Man, The |encyclopedia=King Encyclopedia |publisher=[[Stanford University#Research centers and institutes|Stanford University {{!}} Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute]] |date=June 2017 |access-date=December 18, 2018 |archive-date=December 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181212105149/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/measure-man |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Nonviolence ===
[[File:BayardRustinAug1963-LibraryOfCongress crop.jpg|upright|thumb|alt=A close-up of Rustin|King worked alongside Quakers such as [[Bayard Rustin]] to develop nonviolent tactics.]]
{{quote box
| width = 23em|World peace through nonviolent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Nonviolence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity, and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred, and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built.
| salign = right
| source = —Martin Luther King Jr.<ref name=Amherst>{{cite web|last1=Luther King|first1=Martin Jr.|title=Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking at The New School|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/liberation-curriculum/classroom-resources/king-quotes-war-and-peace|access-date=21 Jan 2013|archive-date=September 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908025618/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/liberation-curriculum/classroom-resources/king-quotes-war-and-peace|url-status=dead}}</ref>
}}

African-American civil rights activist [[Bayard Rustin]] was King's first regular advisor on [[nonviolence]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Spirit of the Sixties: Making Postwar Radicalism| last= Farrell|first= James J.|page= 90|isbn= 0-415-91385-3|publisher= Routledge| year= 1997}}</ref> King was also advised by the white activists [[Harris Wofford]] and [[Glenn Smiley]].<ref name="wofford">{{cite web|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/wofford-harris-llewellyn|title=Wofford, Harris Llewellyn|access-date=December 3, 2019|date=July 5, 2017|archive-date=December 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203095816/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/wofford-harris-llewellyn|url-status=live}}</ref> Rustin and Smiley came from the [[Christian pacifist]] tradition, and Wofford and Rustin both studied [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s teachings. Rustin had applied nonviolence with the [[Journey of Reconciliation]] campaign in the 1940s,<ref>{{cite news|title=Book Review: Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen |last=Kahlenberg |first=Richard D. |work=Washington Monthly |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n4_v29/ai_19279952 |access-date=June 12, 2008 |year=1997 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005121547/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n4_v29/ai_19279952 |archive-date=October 5, 2008 }}</ref> and Wofford had been promoting [[Gandhism]] to Southern blacks since the early 1950s.<ref name="wofford" />

King initially knew little about Gandhi and rarely used the term "nonviolence" during his early activism. King initially believed in and practiced self-defense, even obtaining guns to defend against possible attackers. The pacifists showed him the alternative of [[Nonviolent revolution|nonviolent resistance]], arguing that this would be a better means to accomplish his goals. King then vowed to no longer personally use arms.<ref>{{cite web|last=Enger|first=Mark and Paul|title=When Martin Luther King Jr. gave up his guns|url=http://www.salon.com/2014/01/20/when_martin_luther_king_jr_gave_up_his_guns_partner/|date=January 20, 2014|access-date=June 24, 2014|archive-date=February 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224035720/http://www.salon.com/2014/01/20/when_martin_luther_king_jr_gave_up_his_guns_partner/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| page= 217| last=Bennett | first=Scott H.| title=Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915–1963 | publisher=Syracuse University Press| year=2003| isbn=0-8156-3003-4}}</ref>

[[File:Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mathew Ahmann in a crowd.) - NARA - 542015 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|King at the 1963 Civil Rights March in Washington, D.C.]]

In a chapter of ''[[Stride Toward Freedom]]'', King outlined his understanding of nonviolence, which seeks to win an opponent to friendship, rather than to humiliate or defeat him. The chapter draws from an address by Wofford, with Rustin and [[Stanley Levison]] also providing guidance and ghostwriting.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/stride-toward-freedom-montgomery-story|title=Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story|access-date=December 3, 2019|date=July 5, 2017|archive-date=December 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211142835/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/stride-toward-freedom-montgomery-story|url-status=live}}</ref>

King was inspired by Gandhi and his success with nonviolent activism, and as a theology student, King described Gandhi as being one of the "individuals who greatly reveal the working of the Spirit of God".<ref>{{Cite web|date=April 25, 2017|title=Gandhi, Mohandas K.|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/gandhi-mohandas-k|access-date=March 18, 2022|website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute|publisher=Stanford University|language=en|archive-date=March 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324053637/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/gandhi-mohandas-k|url-status=live}}</ref> King had "for a long time&nbsp;... wanted to take a trip to India."<ref>{{cite book|last1=King |first1=Martin Luther Jr. |first2=Clayborne |last2=Carson |title=The Papers of Martin Luther King Jr., Volume V: Threshold of a New Decade, January 1959&nbsp;– December 1960 |publisher=University of California Press |year=2005 |page=231 |url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol5/July1959_MyTriptotheLandofGandhi.pdf |isbn=0-520-24239-4 |display-authors=etal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615084051/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/primarydocuments/Vol5/July1959_MyTriptotheLandofGandhi.pdf |archive-date=June 15, 2013 }}</ref> With assistance from Harris Wofford, the [[American Friends Service Committee]], and other supporters, [[1959 visit by Martin Luther King Jr. to India|he was able to fund the journey in February 1959]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/india-trip|title=India Trip (1959)|date=June 20, 2017|access-date=December 3, 2019|archive-date=December 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211144903/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/india-trip|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|King|1992|p=13}} The trip deepened his understanding of [[nonviolent resistance]] and his commitment to America's struggle for civil rights. In a radio address made during his final evening in India, King reflected, "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."

When receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, King hailed the "successful precedent" of using nonviolence "by Mohandas K. Gandhi to challenge the might of the British Empire&nbsp;... He struggled only with the weapons of truth, soul force, non-injury and courage."<ref>{{cite web|title=Nobel Lecture by MLK|date=December 11, 1964|author=Martin Luther King|page=12|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/nobel-lecture-mlk|publisher=The King Center|access-date=August 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315071306/http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/nobel-lecture-mlk|archive-date=March 15, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Another influence was [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s essay ''[[Civil Disobedience (Thoreau)|On Civil Disobedience]]'' and its theme of refusing to cooperate with an evil system.<ref>King, M. L. Morehouse College (Chapter 2 of The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.)</ref> He also was greatly influenced by the works of Protestant theologians [[Reinhold Niebuhr]] and [[Paul Tillich]],<ref>Reinhold Niebuhr and Contemporary Politics: God and Power</ref> and said that [[Walter Rauschenbusch]]'s ''Christianity and the Social Crisis'' left an "indelible imprint" on his thinking by giving him a theological grounding for his social concerns.<ref name="Ansbro 1982 p. 163">{{cite book | last=Ansbro | first=J.J. | title=Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Making of a Mind | publisher=Orbis Books | chapter=Ch. 5: The Social Mission of the Christian Church | year=1982 | isbn=0-88344-333-3 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000ansb_j7f7/page/163 | page=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000ansb/page/163 163] | url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000ansb | url-access=registration }}</ref><ref name="Baldwin Burrow Fairclough 2013 p. 133">{{cite book | last1=Baldwin | first1=L.V. | last2=Burrow | first2=R. | last3=Fairclough | first3=A. | title=The Domestication of Martin Luther King Jr.: Clarence B. Jones, Right-Wing Conservatism, and the Manipulation of the King Legacy | publisher=Cascade Books | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-61097-954-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c15NAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 | page=133 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | archive-date=July 27, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727202906/https://books.google.com/books?id=c15NAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 | url-status=live }}</ref> King was moved by Rauschenbusch's vision of Christians spreading social unrest in "perpetual but friendly conflict" with the state, simultaneously critiquing it and calling it to act as an instrument of justice.<ref name="Long 2002 p. 53">{{cite book | last=Long | first=M.G. | title=Against Us, But for Us: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the State | publisher=Mercer University Press | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-86554-768-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XJpVWyQGKbsC&pg=PA53 | page=53 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | archive-date=July 27, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727203409/https://books.google.com/books?id=XJpVWyQGKbsC&pg=PA53 | url-status=live }}</ref> However, he was apparently unaware of the [[Pacifism in the United States|American tradition]] of [[Christian pacifism]] exemplified by [[Adin Ballou]] and [[William Lloyd Garrison]].<ref name="Perry 1973 p. 4">{{cite book | last=Perry | first=L. | title=[[Radical Abolitionism: Anarchy and the Government of God in Antislavery Thought]] | publisher=University of Tennessee Press | year=1973 | isbn= 978-0-8014-0754-3 | page=[https://archive.org/details/radicalabolition00lewi/page/4 4]}}</ref> King frequently referred to Jesus' [[Sermon on the Mount]] as central for his work.<ref name="Baldwin Burrow Fairclough 2013 p. 133" /><ref name="Burrow 2014 p. 313">{{cite book | last=Burrow | first=R. | title=Extremist for Love: Martin Luther King Jr., Man of Ideas and Nonviolent Social Action | publisher=Fortress Press | series=Book collections on Project MUSE | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-4514-8027-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVffAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT313 | page=313 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | archive-date=July 27, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727203419/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZVffAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT313 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Deats Lenker Perry 2004 p. 37">{{cite book | last1=Deats | first1=S.M. | last2=Lenker | first2=L.T. | last3=Perry | first3=M.G. | title=War and Words: Horror and Heroism in the Literature of Warfare | publisher=Lexington Books | series=G – Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-7391-0579-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v-mkw-NBGbAC&pg=PA37 | page=37 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | archive-date=July 27, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727203921/https://books.google.com/books?id=v-mkw-NBGbAC&pg=PA37 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Stott 2004 p. 149">{{cite book | last=Stott | first=J. | title=The Incomparable Christ | publisher=InterVarsity Press | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-8308-3222-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPYUUaYZH_UC&pg=PA149 | page=149 | access-date=February 22, 2018 | archive-date=July 27, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727203934/https://books.google.com/books?id=kPYUUaYZH_UC&pg=PA149 | url-status=live }}</ref> Before 1960, King also sometimes used the concept of "[[agape]]" (brotherly Christian love).<ref>{{cite web|title=Agape|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/agape|website=Martin Luther King Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle|publisher=The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute|access-date=December 3, 2019|date=April 24, 2017|archive-date=December 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203095827/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/agape|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Wang|first1=Lisa|title=Martin Luther King Jr.'s Troubled Attitude toward Nonviolent Resistance|url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~expose/issues/issue_2011/pdf/2010_wang.pdf|website=Exposé|publisher=Harvard College Writing Program|access-date=January 19, 2015|archive-date=January 20, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120044541/http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~expose/issues/issue_2011/pdf/2010_wang.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Even after renouncing personal use of guns, King had a complex relationship with self-defense in the movement. He publicly discouraged it as a widespread practice but acknowledged that it was sometimes necessary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/nonviolence-the-only-road-to-freedom/|title=Nonviolence: The Only Road to Freedom&nbsp;– Teaching American History|work=teachingamericanhistory.org|access-date=May 8, 2015|archive-date=January 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190111133412/http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/nonviolence-the-only-road-to-freedom/|url-status=live}}</ref> Throughout his career King was frequently protected by other civil rights activists who carried arms, such as [[Colonel Stone Johnson]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/01/birmingham_civil_rights_activi.html|title=Birmingham civil rights activist Colonel Stone Johnson has died (slideshow)|work=AL.com|date=January 19, 2012|access-date=May 8, 2015|archive-date=January 22, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122083911/http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/01/birmingham_civil_rights_activi.html|url-status=live}}</ref> [[St. Augustine Movement|Robert Hayling]], and the [[Deacons for Defense and Justice]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://prospect.org/article/armed-resistance-civil-rights-movement-charles-e-cobb-and-danielle-l-mcguire-forgotten|title=Armed Resistance in the Civil Rights Movement: Charles E. Cobb and Danielle L. McGuire on Forgotten History|work=The American Prospect|date=June 11, 2014|access-date=May 8, 2015|archive-date=December 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215121811/http://prospect.org/article/armed-resistance-civil-rights-movement-charles-e-cobb-and-danielle-l-mcguire-forgotten|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8H9Me8LZ488C&pg=PA246 |first=Lance |last=Hill |title=The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |pages=245–250 |year=2006 |access-date=July 12, 2016 |isbn=978-0-8078-5702-1 |archive-date=July 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727204458/https://books.google.com/books?id=8H9Me8LZ488C&pg=PA246 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Amid recurring [[Ghetto riots (1964–1969)|riots in the mid-1960s]], King reaffirmed his commitment to nonviolence. He stated that riots were "the language of the unheard", the result of a failure to improve economic conditions and address racial injustice, but condemned them as "self-defeating and socially destructive".<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=2013-08-25 |title=MLK: A riot is the language of the unheard |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mlk-a-riot-is-the-language-of-the-unheard/ |access-date=2025-09-13 |website=CBS News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite magazine |last=Rothman |first=Lily |date=2015-04-28 |title=What Martin Luther King Jr Really Thought About Riots |url=https://time.com/3838515/baltimore-riots-language-unheard-quote/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250805132125/https://time.com/3838515/baltimore-riots-language-unheard-quote/ |archive-date=August 5, 2025 |access-date=2025-09-13 |magazine=Time |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Criticism within the movement ===
King was criticized by other black leaders in the civil rights movement. This included more militant thinkers such as [[Nation of Islam (religious movement)|Nation of Islam]] member [[Malcolm X]].<ref>{{cite book|page= 105| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2007|isbn=978-0-7425-2928-1|last=Bobbitt|first=David|title=The Rhetoric of Redemption: Kenneth Burke's Redemption Drama and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech}}</ref> [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] founder [[Ella Baker]] regarded King as a charismatic [[Charismatic authority|media figure]] who lost touch with the grassroots of the movement<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F7ljj_iyQcwC&pg=PA298|title=I May Not Get There with You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr|last1=Dyson|first1=Michael Eric|last2=Jagerman|first2=David L.|date=2000|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-684-86776-2|pages=297–299|language=en|access-date=January 30, 2020|archive-date=January 23, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123123946/https://books.google.com/books?id=F7ljj_iyQcwC&pg=PA298#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> as he became close to elite figures like [[Nelson Rockefeller]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theroot.com/a-close-alliance-between-mlk-and-nelson-rockefeller-rev-1790858451|title=A Close Alliance Between MLK and Nelson Rockefeller Revealed|last=Burke|first=Kevin M.|website=The Root|date=January 11, 2015|language=en-us|access-date=January 30, 2020|archive-date=January 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130173509/https://www.theroot.com/a-close-alliance-between-mlk-and-nelson-rockefeller-rev-1790858451|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Stokely Carmichael]], a protege of Baker's, became a black [[Black separatism|separatist]] and disagreed with King's plea for [[racial integration]] because he considered it an insult to a uniquely [[African-American culture]].<ref>{{cite book|title= Martin Luther King, Jr. |url= https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00ling |url-access= registration | last=Ling| first= Peter J. | pages=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00ling/page/250 250–51]|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=0-415-21664-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.apspuhuru.org/publications/repnow/ReparationsNow-OCR.txt| title= Abbreviated Report from the International Tribunal on Reparations for Black People in the U.S.|publisher=African People's Socialist Party| access-date=June 15, 2008|last=Yeshitela|first=Omali |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517082245/http://www.apspuhuru.org/publications/repnow/ReparationsNow-OCR.txt | archive-date=May 17, 2008}}</ref> He also took issue that King's non-violence approach depended on appealing to America's conscience, feeling America had none to appeal to.<ref name="blackpower">{{cite web |last1=Bates |first1=Karen Grigsby|title=Stokely Carmichael, A Philosopher Behind The Black Power Movement |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/03/10/287320160/stokely-carmichael-a-philosopher-behind-the-black-power-movement |website=NPR |date=March 10, 2014|access-date=March 10, 2014 |archive-date=June 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150605070410/http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/03/10/287320160/stokely-carmichael-a-philosopher-behind-the-black-power-movement |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Activism and involvement with Native Americans ===
King was an avid supporter of Native American rights and Native Americans were active supporters of King's [[civil rights movement]].<ref>{{cite news | last=Ross | first=Gyasi | title=Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Black People and Indigenous People: How We Cash This Damn Check | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-black-people-and-indigenous_b_5a57c671e4b03a1e6098bc6d | work=[[HuffPost]] | date=January 11, 2018 | access-date=April 26, 2020 | archive-date=July 11, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711002150/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-black-people-and-indigenous_b_5a57c671e4b03a1e6098bc6d | url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Native American Rights Fund]] (NARF) was patterned after the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund.<ref name="kingcreek">{{cite web |last1=Bender |first1=Albert |title=Dr. King spoke out against the genocide of Native Americans |url=http://www.peoplesworld.org/article/dr-king-spoke-out-against-the-genocide-of-native-americans/ |website=People's World |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=February 13, 2014 |archive-date=June 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625114956/https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/dr-king-spoke-out-against-the-genocide-of-native-americans/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) was especially supportive in King's campaigns especially the [[Poor People's Campaign]] in 1968.<ref name="scielo.org.za">{{cite journal |last1=Garcia |first1=Kevin |title=The American Indian Civil Rights Movement: A case study in Civil Society Protest |journal=Yesterday and Today |date=December 1, 2014 |volume=12 |pages=60–74 |url=http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862014000200004 |access-date=November 25, 2018 |issn=2309-9003 |archive-date=April 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411091513/http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2223-03862014000200004 |url-status=live }}</ref> In King's book ''[[Why We Can't Wait]]'' he writes:

<blockquote>Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race. Even before there were large numbers of Negroes on our shores, the scar of racial hatred had already disfigured colonial society. From the sixteenth century forward, blood flowed in battles over racial supremacy. We are perhaps the only nation which tried as a matter of national policy to wipe out its indigenous population. Moreover, we elevated that tragic experience into a noble crusade. Indeed, even today we have not permitted ourselves to reject or to feel remorse for this shameful episode. Our literature, our films, our drama, our folklore all exalt it.<ref name="kingnatspeech">{{cite web |last1=Rickert |first1=Levi |title=Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: Our Nation was Born in Genocide |url=https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-nation-born-genocide/ |website=Native News Online |access-date=November 25, 2018 |date=January 16, 2017 |archive-date=November 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126092832/https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-nation-born-genocide/ |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote>

In the late 1950s, the remaining [[Creek tribe|Creek]] in Alabama were trying to completely desegregate schools. Light-complexioned Native children were allowed to ride buses to previously all-white schools, while dark-skinned Native children from the same band were barred from the same buses.<ref name="kingcreek" /> Tribal leaders, hearing of King's desegregation campaign in Birmingham, contacted him for assistance. Through his intervention the problem was quickly resolved.<ref name="kingcreek" />

In September 1959, after giving a speech at the [[University of Arizona]] on the ideals of using nonviolent methods in creating social change, King stated his belief that one must not use force in this struggle "but match the violence of his opponents with his suffering."<ref name="kingindrez">{{cite web |last1=Leighton |first1=David |title=Street Smarts: MLK Jr. visited 'Papago' reservation near Tucson, was fascinated |url=https://tucson.com/news/local/street-smarts-mlk-jr-visited-papago-reservation-near-tucson-was/article_cbc4d8f3-6d53-54f3-a783-359646fe2c82.html |website=The Arizona Daily Star |access-date=November 26, 2018 |date=April 2, 2017 |archive-date=July 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704085258/https://tucson.com/news/local/street-smarts-mlk-jr-visited-papago-reservation-near-tucson-was/article_cbc4d8f3-6d53-54f3-a783-359646fe2c82.html |url-status=live }}</ref> King then went to Southside Presbyterian, a predominantly Native American church, and was fascinated by their photos; he wanted to go to an Indian Reservation to meet the people so Casper Glenn took King to the Papago Indian Reservation.<ref name="kingindrez" /> He met with all the tribal leaders, visited another Presbyterian church near the reservation, and preached there, attracting a Native American crowd.<ref name="kingindrez" /> He later returned to Old Pueblo in March 1962 where he preached again to a Native American congregation.<ref name="kingindrez" /> King would continue to attract the attention of Native Americans throughout the civil rights movement. During the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|1963 March on Washington]] there was a sizable Native American contingent, including many from South Dakota and from the [[Navajo nation]].<ref name="kingcreek" /><ref name="navtimes">{{cite web |last1=Pineo |first1=Christopher |title=Navajos and locals in Gallup celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day |url=https://www.navajotimes.com/reznews/navajos-and-locals-in-gallup-celebrate-martin-luther-king-jr-day/ |website=Navajo Times |access-date=November 26, 2018 |date=January 21, 2016 |archive-date=September 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220918181926/https://navajotimes.com/reznews/navajos-and-locals-in-gallup-celebrate-martin-luther-king-jr-day/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

King was a major inspiration, along with the [[civil rights movement]], of the [[Native American rights movement]] of the 1960s and many of its leaders.<ref name="kingcreek" /> John Echohawk, a member of the [[Pawnee people|Pawnee tribe]] who was the executive director and a founder of the Native American Rights Fund, stated:

<blockquote>Inspired by Dr. King, who was advancing the civil rights agenda of equality under the laws of this country, we thought that we could also use the laws to advance our Indianship, to live as tribes in our territories governed by our own laws under the principles of tribal sovereignty that had been with us ever since 1831. We believed that we could fight for a policy of self-determination that was consistent with U.S. law and that we could govern our own affairs, define our own ways and continue to survive in this society.<ref name="amiss">{{cite web |last1=Cook |first1=Roy |title='I have a dream for all God's children,' Martin Luther King Jr. Day |url=http://americanindiansource.com/mlkechohawk.html |website=American Indian Source |access-date=25 November 2018 |archive-date=August 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220801132750/http://americanindiansource.com/mlkechohawk.html |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

=== Politics ===
As the leader of the SCLC, King maintained a policy of not publicly endorsing a U.S. political party or candidate: "I feel someone must remain in the position of non-alignment, so that he can look objectively at both parties and be the conscience of both—not the servant or master of either."<ref name="Oates1993">{{cite book|first=Stephen B.|last=Oates|title=Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr|url=https://archive.org/details/lettrumpetsound00step/page/159|year=1993|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-452-25627-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/lettrumpetsound00step/page/159 159]}}</ref> In a 1958 interview, he expressed his view that neither party was perfect, saying, "I don't think the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican party]] is a party full of the almighty God nor is the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic party]]. They both have weaknesses&nbsp;... And I'm not inextricably bound to either party."<ref name="King-Carson2000p364">{{cite book|first=Martin Luther Jr.|last=King|editor1-first=Clayborne|editor1-last=Carson|editor2-first=Peter|editor2-last=Holloran|editor3-first=Ralph|editor3-last=Luker|editor4-first=Penny A.|editor4-last=Russell|title=The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr: Symbol of the Movement, January 1957&nbsp;– December 1958|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qW-NYdIefPgC&pg=PA364|year=2000|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-22231-1|page=364|access-date=June 17, 2015|archive-date=July 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727204503/https://books.google.com/books?id=qW-NYdIefPgC&pg=PA364|url-status=live}}</ref> King did praise Democratic Senator [[Paul Douglas (Illinois politician)|Paul Douglas]] of Illinois as being the "greatest of all senators" because of his fierce advocacy for civil rights causes.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Merriner|first1=James L.|title=Illinois' liberal giant, Paul Douglas|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2003/03/09/illinois-liberal-giant-paul-douglas/|access-date=May 17, 2015|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=March 9, 2003|archive-date=September 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904003104/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2003-03-09/entertainment/0303080081_1_illinois-gov-paul-douglas-liberal/2|url-status=live}}</ref>

King critiqued both parties' performance on promoting racial equality:

{{blockquote|Actually, the Negro has been betrayed by both the Republican and the Democratic party. The Democrats have betrayed him by capitulating to the whims and caprices of the Southern [[Dixiecrats]]. The Republicans have betrayed him by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of [[reactionary]] right-wing northern Republicans. And this [[Conservative coalition|coalition of southern Dixiecrats and right-wing reactionary northern Republicans]] defeats every bill and every move towards liberal legislation in the area of civil rights.<ref name="King-Carson2000p84">{{cite book|first=Martin Luther Jr.|last=King|editor1-first=Clayborne|editor1-last=Carson|editor2-first=Peter|editor2-last=Holloran|editor3-first=Ralph|editor3-last=Luker|editor4-first=Penny A.|editor4-last=Russell|title=The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr: Symbol of the Movement, January 1957&nbsp;– December 1958|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qW-NYdIefPgC&pg=PA84|year=2000|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-22231-1|page=84|access-date=June 17, 2015|archive-date=July 27, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727205031/https://books.google.com/books?id=qW-NYdIefPgC&pg=PA84|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Although King never publicly supported a political party or candidate for president, in a letter to a civil rights supporter in October 1956 he said that he had not decided whether he would vote for Democrat [[Adlai Stevenson II]] or Republican [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] at the [[1956 United States presidential election|1956 presidential election]], but that "In the past, I always voted the Democratic ticket."{{sfn|King|1992|p=384}} In his autobiography, King says that in [[1960 United States presidential election|1960]] he privately voted for Democratic candidate [[John F. Kennedy]]: "I felt that Kennedy would make the best president. I never came out with an endorsement. My father did, but I never made one." King adds that he likely would have made an exception to his non-endorsement policy for a second Kennedy term, saying "Had President Kennedy lived, I would probably have endorsed him in 1964."<ref name="King-Carson1998p187">{{cite book|first1=Martin Luther Jr.|last1=King|first2=Clayborne|last2=Carson|title=The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.|url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofm00king/page/187|year=1998|publisher=Hachette Digital|isbn=978-0-446-52412-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofm00king/page/187 187]}}</ref>

In [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]], King urged his supporters "and all people of goodwill" to vote against Republican Senator [[Barry Goldwater]] for president, saying that his election "would be a tragedy, and certainly suicidal almost, for the nation and the world."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJyWWM9OHKA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/JJyWWM9OHKA| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Mr. Conservative: Barry Goldwater's opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964|website=YouTube|date=September 18, 2006|access-date=May 17, 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> King believed [[Robert F. Kennedy]] would make for a good president, but also believed that he wouldn't beat Johnson in the 1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries. He also expressed support for the possible presidential candidacies of Republicans [[Nelson Rockefeller]], [[George W. Romney|George Romney]] and [[Charles H. Percy|Charles Percy]].<ref>MLK: An American Legacy: Bearing the Cross, Protest at Selma, and the FBI, and Martin Luther King, Jr.</ref>

[[File:'Today capitalism has outlived its usefulness' MLK.jpg|thumb|Banner at the [[2012 Republican National Convention]] ]]
King rejected both [[Laissez-faire|''laissez-faire'' capitalism]] and [[communism]]; King had read [[Karl Marx|Marx]] while at Morehouse but rejected communism because of its "[[Historical materialism|materialistic interpretation of history]]" that denied religion, its "[[Moral relativism|ethical relativism]]", and its "[[Totalitarianism|political totalitarianism]]". He stated that one focused too much on the individual while [[Marxism|the other]] focused too much on the collective.<ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Martin Luther Jr. |url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00king_0/page/39 |title=The Martin Luther King Jr. Companion: Quotations from the Speeches, Essays, and Books of Martin Luther King, Jr. |last2=King |first2=Coretta Scott |last3=King |first3=Dexter Scott |publisher=St. Martin's Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-312-19990-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00king_0/page/39 39]}}</ref>

In a 1952 letter to Coretta Scott, he said: "I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic&nbsp;..."<ref>{{cite book |last=Laurent |first= Sylvie |date=2019 |title=King and the Other America: The Poor People's Campaign and the Quest for Economic Equality |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0JvDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 |location= |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |page=82 |isbn=978-0-520-28857-7}}</ref><ref name=AntiCapitalism>{{cite news | first=Obery M. | last=Hendricks Jr. | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-uncompromising-anti-capitalism-of-martin-luther-king-jr_b_4629609 | title=The Uncompromising Anti-Capitalism of Martin Luther King Jr. | work=[[HuffPost]] | date=January 20, 2014 | access-date=April 26, 2020 | archive-date=April 27, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427213323/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-uncompromising-anti-capitalism-of-martin-luther-king-jr_b_4629609 | url-status=live }}</ref> In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism" and said, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism."<ref>{{cite book|title=Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African-American Thought|last=Franklin|first=Robert Michael|page= 125| publisher =Fortress Press|year=1990|isbn=0-8006-2392-4}}</ref> King further said that "capitalism has outlived its usefulness" and "failed to meet the needs of the masses".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Loggins|first1= Jared A.|last2=Douglas|first2=Andrew J.|title=Prophet of Discontent: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Critique of Racial Capitalism |date=2021 |publisher=[[University of Georgia Press]]|url= |page=44|isbn=978-0-8203-6017-1}}</ref>

King was critical of American culture saying "when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered" and that America must undergo a "radical revolution of values".<ref>{{cite book |title=Voices of Social Education A Pedagogy of Change |date=2021 |page=79}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Transpacific Antiracism Afro-Asian Solidarity in 20th-Century Black America, Japan, and Okinawa |date=2013 |publisher=NYU Press |page=149}}</ref> King considered that in America "the problem is that we all too often have [[Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor|socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Honey |first1=Michael K. |title=Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign |date=2011 |page=187}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Prophet of Discontent Martin Luther King Jr. and the Critique of Racial Capitalism |date=2021 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |page=48}}</ref>

=== Compensation ===
{{See also|Reparations for slavery debate in the United States}}
King stated that black Americans, as well as other disadvantaged Americans, should be compensated for historical wrongs. In an interview conducted for ''[[Playboy]]'' in 1965, he said that granting black Americans only equality could not realistically close the economic gap between them and whites. King said that he did not seek a full restitution of wages lost to slavery, which he believed impossible, but proposed a government compensatory program of $50&nbsp;billion over ten years to all disadvantaged groups.{{sfn|Washington|1991|p=366}}

He posited that "the money spent would be more than amply justified by the benefits that would accrue to the nation through a spectacular decline in school dropouts, family breakups, crime rates, illegitimacy, swollen relief rolls, rioting and other social evils."{{sfn|Washington|1991|pp=365–67}} He presented this idea as an application of the [[common law]] regarding settlement of unpaid labor but clarified that he felt that the money should not be spent exclusively on blacks. He stated, "It should benefit the disadvantaged of ''all'' races."{{sfn|Washington|1991|pp=367–68}}

=== Television ===
Actress [[Nichelle Nichols]] planned to leave the science-fiction television series ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' in 1967 after [[Star Trek: The Original Series (season 1)|its first season]].<ref name="nprcode">{{cite news | title= Zoë Saldaña Climbed Into Lt. Uhura's Chair, Reluctantly | url= https://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/04/08/176594781/zo-salda-a-climbed-into-lt-uhuras-chair-reluctantly | first= Gene | last= Demby | date= April 8, 2013 | work= Code Switch (blog) | publisher= NPR | access-date= April 10, 2013 | archive-date= May 2, 2015 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150502095842/http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/04/08/176594781/zo-salda-a-climbed-into-lt-uhuras-chair-reluctantly | url-status= live }}</ref> She changed her mind after talking to King,<ref name="25th">{{cite video | people=Beck, Donald R. (Director) |date=1991| title=Star Trek: 25th Anniversary Special}}</ref> who was a fan of the show. King explained that her character signified a future of greater racial cooperation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.openculture.com/2013/01/nichelle_nichols_tells_neil_degrasse_tyson_how_martin_luther_king_convinced_her_to_stay_on_star_trek.html|title=Nichelle Nichols Explains How Martin Luther King Convinced Her to Stay on Star Trek|work=Open Culture|date=January 21, 2013|access-date=March 31, 2019|archive-date=August 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814122627/https://www.openculture.com/2013/01/nichelle_nichols_tells_neil_degrasse_tyson_how_martin_luther_king_convinced_her_to_stay_on_star_trek.html|url-status=live}}</ref> King told Nichols, "You are our image of where we're going, you're 300 years from now, and that means that's where we are and it takes place now. Keep doing what you're doing, you are our inspiration."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gene-roddenberry-son-star-trek_n_1119119 | title=Gene Roddenberry's Son Reveals Unhappy 'Star Trek' Family Life | first=Lee | last=Speigel | work=[[HuffPost]] | date=November 30, 2011 | access-date=April 26, 2020 | archive-date=April 14, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414212106/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gene-roddenberry-son-star-trek_n_1119119 | url-status=live }}</ref> As Nichols recounted: <blockquote>''Star Trek'' was one of the only shows that [King] and his wife [[Coretta Scott King|Coretta]] would allow their little children to watch. And I thanked him and I told him I was leaving the show. All the smile came off his face. And he said, 'Don't you understand for the first time we're seen as we should be seen. You don't have a black role. You have an equal role.'<ref name="nprcode" /></blockquote> The series' creator, [[Gene Roddenberry]], was deeply moved upon learning of King's support.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://o.canada.com/entertainment/nichelle-nichols-on-playing-star-treks-lt-uhura-and-meeting-dr-king|title=Nichelle Nichols on playing Star Trek's Lt. Uhura and meeting Dr. King|last=Strachan|first=Alex|date=August 5, 2010|website=Canada.com|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216223502/https://o.canada.com/entertainment/nichelle-nichols-on-playing-star-treks-lt-uhura-and-meeting-dr-king|archive-date=February 16, 2020|access-date=February 16, 2020|quote=Now, Gene Roddenberry was a 6-foot-3 guy with muscles. ... And he sat there with tears in his eyes. He said, 'Thank God that someone knows what I'm trying to do. Thank God for Dr. Martin Luther King.'}}</ref>

== State surveillance and coercion ==

=== FBI surveillance and wiretapping ===
[[File:FBI PPC 1.pdf|thumb|Memo describing FBI attempts to disrupt the Poor People's Campaign with fraudulent claims about King{{mdashb}}part of the [[COINTELPRO]] campaign against the anti-war and civil rights movements]]

FBI director [[J. Edgar Hoover]] personally ordered surveillance of King, with the intent to undermine his power as a civil rights leader.<ref name="MED08-2">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/april41968martin00dyso|title=April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.'s death and how it changed America|last=Dyson|first=Michael Eric|publisher=Basic Civitas Books|year=2008|isbn=978-0-465-00212-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/april41968martin00dyso/page/58 58–59]|chapter=Facing Death|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/april41968martin00dyso|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="Honey2007ch4">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/goingdownjericho00hone|title=Going down Jericho Road the Memphis strike, Martin Luther King's last campaign|last=Honey|first=Michael K.|publisher=Norton|year=2007|isbn=978-0-393-04339-6|edition=1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/goingdownjericho00hone/page/92 92–93]|chapter=Standing at the Crossroads|quote=Hoover developed around-the-clock surveillance campaign aimed at destroying King.|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/goingdownjericho00hone|url-access=registration}}</ref> The [[Church Committee]], a 1975 investigation by the [[U.S. Congress]], found that "From December 1963 until his death in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was the target of an intensive campaign by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to 'neutralize' him as an effective civil rights leader."<ref name=Church />

In the fall of 1963, the FBI received authorization from Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]] to proceed with wiretapping of King's phone lines, purportedly due to his association with [[Stanley Levison]].<ref name="the atlantic">{{cite news | title= The FBI and Martin Luther King | last= Garrow | first= David J. | author-link= David Garrow | date= July–August 2002 | work= The Atlantic Monthly | url= https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200207/garrow | access-date= March 9, 2017 | archive-date= June 26, 2009 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090626143405/http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200207/garrow | url-status= live }}</ref> The Bureau informed President [[John F. Kennedy]]. He and his brother unsuccessfully tried to persuade King to dissociate himself from Levison, a New York lawyer who had been involved with Communist Party USA.<ref name=right />{{sfn|Kotz|2005}} Although Robert Kennedy only gave written approval for limited wiretapping of King's telephone lines "on a trial basis, for a month or so",{{sfn|Herst|2007|p=372}} Hoover extended the clearance so his men were "unshackled" to look for evidence in any areas of King's life they deemed worthy.{{sfn|Herst|2007|pp=372–74}}

The Bureau placed wiretaps on the home and office phone lines of both Levison and King, and bugged King's rooms in hotels as he traveled across the country.<ref name=right>{{cite news|title=JFK and RFK Were Right to Wiretap MLK |last=Ryskind |first=Allan H. |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200602/ai_n17173432/pg_2 |access-date=August 27, 2008 |work=Human Events |date=February 27, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081004205959/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200602/ai_n17173432/pg_2 |archive-date=October 4, 2008 }}</ref><ref name=track>{{cite news |publisher=CNN |title=FBI tracked King's every move |date=April 7, 2008 |first=Jen |last=Christensen |access-date=June 14, 2008 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/31/mlk.fbi.conspiracy/index.html |archive-date=June 13, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613205200/http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/31/mlk.fbi.conspiracy/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1967, Hoover listed the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference|SCLC]] as a black nationalist hate group, with the instructions: "No opportunity should be missed to exploit through counterintelligence techniques the organizational and personal conflicts of the leaderships of the groups&nbsp;... to insure {{sic}} the targeted group is disrupted, ridiculed, or discredited."<ref name=Honey2007ch4 /><ref>{{cite book |title=War at Home: Covert Action Against U.S. Activists and What We Can Do About It |last=Glick |first=Brian |year=1989 |publisher=South End Press |isbn=978-0-89608-349-3 |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4uvwy_C3egC&pg=PA77}}</ref>

=== Police surveillance ===
King was also the subject of extensive surveillance by local police agencies throughout the United States. At the March on Washington, where King declared, "We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality", undercover police from both the Birmingham Police Department and the Philadelphia Police Department were on hand to monitor the day's proceedings. Additional documented instances of local police that monitored King include the New York Police Department and the Chicago Police Department.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Joshua Clark |url= |title=Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2025 |location=Princeton, N.J. |isbn=9780691238838}}</ref>

The Memphis Police Department also spied on King in the spring of 1968, as the civil rights leader was taking part in a campaign to support striking sanitation workers in the Tennessee city. A fire station was located across from the Lorraine Motel, next to the boarding house in which James Earl Ray was staying. Police officers were stationed in the fire station to keep King under surveillance.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Polk |first1=Jim |date=December 29, 2008 |title=Black In America&nbsp;– Behind the Scenes: 'Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination' |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/13/bts.king.assasssination/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419060639/http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/13/bts.king.assasssination/ |archive-date=April 19, 2016 |access-date=April 14, 2016 |work=CNN}}</ref> Agents were watching King at the time he was shot.<ref>{{cite book |last=McKnight |first=Gerald |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813333847/page/76 |title=The Last Crusade: Martin Luther King Jr., the FBI, and the Poor People's Crusade |publisher=Westview Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-8133-3384-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813333847/page/76 76]}}</ref> Immediately following the shooting, officers rushed to the motel. Marrell McCollough, an undercover police officer, was the first person to administer first aid to King.<ref>{{cite book |title=Martin Luther King Jr.: The FBI Files |publisher=Filiquarian Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-59986-253-8 |pages=40–42}} See also: {{cite news |last=Polk |first=James |date=April 7, 2008 |title=King conspiracy theories still thrive 40 years later |url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/conspiracy.theories/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110080900/http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/conspiracy.theories/ |archive-date=November 10, 2012 |access-date=June 16, 2008 |publisher=CNN}} and {{cite web |title=King's FBI file Part 1 of 2 |url=http://vault.fbi.gov/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr./Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._Part_1_of_2/view |access-date=January 16, 2012 |publisher=FBI |format=PDF}}{{dead link|date=June 2022|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} and {{cite web |title=King's FBI file Part 2 of 2 |url=http://vault.fbi.gov/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr./Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._Part_2_of_2/view |access-date=January 16, 2012 |publisher=FBI |format=PDF}}{{dead link|date=June 2022|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> The antagonism between King and the FBI, the lack of an [[all points bulletin]] to find the killer, and the police presence nearby led to speculation that the FBI was involved in the assassination.<ref>{{cite book |last=Knight |first=Peter |url=https://archive.org/details/conspiracytheori00knig_851 |title=Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2003 |isbn=1-57607-812-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/conspiracytheori00knig_851/page/n425 408]–409 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

=== NSA monitoring of King's communications ===
In a secret operation code-named "[[Project MINARET|Minaret]]", the [[National Security Agency]] monitored the communications of leading Americans, including King, who were critical of the [[Role of the United States in the Vietnam War|U.S. war in Vietnam]].<ref name="theguardian.com">{{Cite web|first=Ed|last=Pilkington|date=September 26, 2013|title=Declassified NSA files show agency spied on Muhammad Ali and MLK|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/26/nsa-surveillance-anti-vietnam-muhammad-ali-mlk|access-date=March 18, 2022|newspaper=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=July 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702125311/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/26/nsa-surveillance-anti-vietnam-muhammad-ali-mlk|url-status=live}}</ref> A review by the NSA itself concluded that Minaret was "disreputable if not outright illegal".<ref name="theguardian.com" />

=== Allegations of communism ===
For years, Hoover had been suspicious of potential [[Red Scare|influence of communists]] in social movements such as labor unions and civil rights.<ref>{{cite book|title= To See the Promised Land: The Faith Pilgrimage of Martin Luther King, Jr|pages= [https://archive.org/details/toseepromisedlan0000down/page/246 246–247]|last= Downing|first= Frederick L.|publisher= Mercer University Press|year= 1986|isbn= 0-86554-207-4|url= https://archive.org/details/toseepromisedlan0000down/page/246}}</ref> Hoover directed the FBI to track King in 1957, and the SCLC when it was established.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

Due to the relationship between King and Stanley Levison, the FBI feared Levison was working as an "agent of influence" over King, in spite of its own reports in 1963 that Levison had left the Party and was no longer associated in business dealings with them.{{sfn|Kotz|2005|pp=70–74}} Another King lieutenant, [[Jack O'Dell]], was also linked to the Communist Party by sworn testimony before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC).<ref>{{cite book|last=Woods|first=Jeff|page=[https://archive.org/details/blackstrugglered0000wood/page/126 126]|year=2004|publisher=LSU Press|isbn=0-8071-2926-7|title=Black Struggle, Red Scare: Segregation and Anti-communism in the South, 1948–1968|url=https://archive.org/details/blackstrugglered0000wood/page/126}} See also: {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/realjedgarhoover0000wann |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/realjedgarhoover0000wann/page/87 87] |title=The Real J. Edgar Hoover: For the Record |last=Wannall |first=Ray |isbn=1-56311-553-0 |year=2000 |publisher=Turner Publishing }}</ref>

Despite the extensive surveillance, by 1976 the FBI had acknowledged that it had not obtained any evidence that King himself or the SCLC were actually involved with any communist organizations.<ref name=Church>{{citation|last=Church|first= Frank|author-link= Frank Church|title= Church Committee Book III| work =Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Case Study| publisher= [[Church Committee]]| date=April 23, 1976}}</ref>

For his part, King adamantly denied having any connections to communism. In a 1965 ''Playboy'' interview, he stated that "there are as many Communists in this freedom movement as there are Eskimos in Florida."{{sfn|Washington|1991|p=362}} He argued that Hoover was "following the path of appeasement of political powers in the South" and that his concern for communist infiltration of the civil rights movement was meant to "aid and abet the salacious claims of southern racists and the extreme right-wing elements."<ref name=Church /> Hoover replied by saying that King was "the most notorious liar in the country".<ref>{{cite book |title=Martin Luther King Jr.: A Biography |last=Bruns |first=Roger |page=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000brun/page/67 67] |isbn=0-313-33686-5 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing |year=2006 |url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000brun/page/67 }}</ref> After his "I Have A Dream" speech, the FBI described King as "the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country".<ref name=track /> It alleged that he was "knowingly, willingly and regularly cooperating with and taking guidance from communists."{{sfn|Kotz|2005|p=83}}

The attempts to prove that King was a communist were related to the feeling of many segregationists that blacks in the South were content with the status quo but had been stirred up by "communists" and "outside agitators".<ref>{{cite book |title= Democratic Individuality: A Theory of Moral Progress |page=435 |last=Gilbert |first=Alan |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1990 |isbn=0-521-38709-4}}</ref> King said that "the Negro revolution is a genuine revolution, born from the same womb that produces all massive social upheavals—the womb of intolerable conditions and unendurable situations."{{sfn|Washington|1991|p=363}}

=== CIA surveillance ===
CIA files declassified in 2017 revealed that the agency was investigating possible links between King and Communism after a ''Washington Post'' article dated November 4, 1964, claimed he was invited to the [[Soviet Union]] and that Ralph Abernathy, as spokesman for King, refused to comment on the source of the invitation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32397512.pdf |title=Martin Luther King |author=CIA |date=November 5, 1967 |access-date=February 13, 2018 |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917222556/https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32397512.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Mail belonging to King and other civil rights activists was intercepted by the CIA program [[HTLINGUAL]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bush-and-the-nsa-spying-s_b_12552 | title=Bush and the NSA spying scandal | first=Timothy | last=Naftali | work=[[HuffPost]] | date=December 19, 2005 | access-date=April 18, 2019 | archive-date=June 5, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605002422/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bush-and-the-nsa-spying-s_b_12552 | url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Allegations of adultery ===
[[File:MLK and Malcolm X USNWR cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|The only meeting of King and [[Malcolm X]], outside the [[United States Senate chamber]], March 26, 1964, during the Senate debates regarding the (eventual) [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]<ref name=WPKingX>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/14/martin-luther-king-jr-met-malcolm-x-just-once-the-photo-still-haunts-us-with-what-was-lost/ |title=Martin Luther King Jr. met Malcolm X just once. The photo still haunts us with what was lost. |first=DeNeen L. |last=Brown |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=January 18, 2014 |access-date=October 31, 2020}}</ref>]]
The FBI attempted to discredit King through revelations regarding his private life. FBI surveillance, some of it since made public, attempted to demonstrate that he had extramarital affairs.<ref name=track /> The FBI distributed reports regarding such affairs to the executive branch, friendly reporters, potential coalition partners and funding sources of the SCLC, and King's family.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Martin Luther King |title=Conspiracy Encyclopedia |last=Burnett |first=Thom |isbn=1-84340-287-4 |publisher=Collins & Brown |year=2005 |page=[https://archive.org/details/conspiracyencycl0000unse/page/58 58] |title-link=Conspiracy Encyclopedia |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/conspiracyencycl0000unse/page/58 }}</ref> The bureau sent anonymous letters to King threatening to reveal information about his affairs.<ref>{{cite book |page=[https://archive.org/details/popularimagesofa0000unse/page/532 532] |last=Spragens |first=William C. |title=Popular Images of American Presidents |url=https://archive.org/details/popularimagesofa0000unse |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-313-22899-5 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing |year=1988 }}</ref> The [[FBI–King letter]] sent to King just before he received the Nobel Peace Prize read, in part:

[[File:Mlk-uncovered-letter.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Part of the [[FBI–King letter]],<ref name="fbi letter">{{cite news |last=Gage |first=Beverly |date=November 11, 2014 |title=What an Uncensored Letter to M.L.K. Reveals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/magazine/what-an-uncensored-letter-to-mlk-reveals.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111143946/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/magazine/what-an-uncensored-letter-to-mlk-reveals.html |archive-date=November 11, 2014 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=January 9, 2015}}</ref> mailed anonymously by the FBI. Other portions of the letter which were previously not made public would be uncovered in 2014.<ref name="fbi letter" />]]

<blockquote>The American public, the church organizations that have been helping—Protestants, Catholics and Jews will know you for what you are—an evil beast. So will others who have backed you. You are done. King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite practical significant {{sic}}). You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy fraudulent self is bared to the nation.{{sfn|Kotz|2005|p=247}}</blockquote>

The letter was accompanied by a tape recording—excerpted from FBI wiretaps—of several of King's extramarital liaisons.{{sfn|Frady|2002|pp=158–159}} King interpreted this package as an attempt to drive him to suicide,<ref>{{cite book|page= [https://archive.org/details/insearchofdemocr00sond/page/466 466] |last= Wilson |first= Sondra K. |publisher= Oxford University Press |year= 1999 |isbn= 0-19-511633-X |title= In Search of Democracy: The NAACP Writings of James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and Roy Wilkins (1920–1977) |url= https://archive.org/details/insearchofdemocr00sond/page/466 }}</ref> although [[William C. Sullivan|William Sullivan]], then head of the Domestic Intelligence Division, argued it may have only been intended to "convince Dr. King to resign from the SCLC."<ref name=Church /> Upon the release of the full letter in 2014, Yale history professor [[Beverly Gage]] noted in a ''New York Times'' article that the claim that the FBI "simply meant to push King out, not induce suicide" was a possibility, pointing out that "Another uncovered portion of the note praises "older leaders" like the NAACP executive director [[Roy Wilkins]], urging King to step aside and let other men lead the civil rights movement."<ref name="fbi letter" /> King refused to succumb to the FBI's threats.<ref name=track />

In 1977, district court judge [[John Lewis Smith Jr.]] ordered the recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI's electronic surveillance of King between 1963-68 to be sealed from public access in the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]] until 2027.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Documenting the Struggle for Racial Equality in the Decade of the Sixties | publisher=The National Archives and Records Administration | url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/equality-in-the-sixties.html#f3 | date=Summer 1997 | last=Phillips | first=Geraldine N. | journal=Prologue | access-date=June 15, 2008 | archive-date=April 8, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408151828/https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/equality-in-the-sixties.html#f3 | url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2019, an FBI file emerged on which a handwritten note alleged that King "looked on, laughed and offered advice" as one of his friends raped a woman. Historians who have examined this notional evidence have dismissed it as highly unreliable.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brockell |first1=Gillian |title='Irresponsible': Historians attack David Garrow's MLK allegations |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/05/30/irresponsible-historians-attack-david-garrows-mlk-allegations/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=May 30, 2019 |access-date=January 18, 2022 |archive-date=November 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127190731/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/05/30/irresponsible-historians-attack-david-garrows-mlk-allegations/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Mur19 /> [[David Garrow]], a King biographer, wrote that "the suggestion ... that he either actively tolerated or personally employed violence against any woman, even while drunk, poses so fundamental a challenge to his historical stature as to require the most complete and extensive historical review possible".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Garrow |first1=David J. |author-link1=David J. Garrow |title=The troubling legacy of Martin Luther King |url=https://standpointmag.co.uk/issues/june-2019/the-troubling-legacy-of-martin-luther-king/ |access-date=June 2, 2019 |work=[[Standpoint (magazine)|Standpoint]] |date=May 30, 2019 |archive-date=June 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601234100/https://standpointmag.co.uk/issues/june-2019/the-troubling-legacy-of-martin-luther-king/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Mur19>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/08/martin-luther-king-david-garrow-essay-claims|title=A historian's claims about Martin Luther King are shocking – and irresponsible|first=Donna|last=Murch|newspaper=The Guardian|date=June 8, 2019|access-date=July 27, 2019|archive-date=July 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220718144846/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/08/martin-luther-king-david-garrow-essay-claims|url-status=live}}</ref> Garrow's reliance on a handwritten note appended to a typed report is considered poor scholarship by other authorities. The professor of American studies at the [[University of Nottingham]], Peter Ling, pointed out that Garrow was excessively credulous, if not naive, in accepting the accuracy of FBI reports during a period when it was undertaking an operation to attempt to discredit King.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The Independent]]|title=Martin Luther King Jr 'watched and laughed' as woman was raped, secret FBI recordings allege|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/martin-luther-king-rape-fbi-tapes-video-mlk-laugh-files-a8932206.html|author-last1=Stubley|author-first1=Peter|author-last2=Baynes|author-first2=Chris|date=May 28, 2019|access-date=January 17, 2022|archive-date=January 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117234052/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/martin-luther-king-rape-fbi-tapes-video-mlk-laugh-files-a8932206.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Professors [[Jeanne Theoharis]], [[Barbara Ransby]], [[N. D. B. Connolly|Nathan Connolly]] and [[Glenda Gilmore]] have expressed reservations about Garrow's scholarship. Theoharis commented "Most scholars I know would penalize graduate students for doing this." It is not the first time the rigor of Garrow's work has been called into serious question.<ref name=Mur19 /> Clayborne Carson, King biographer and overseer of the Dr. King records at Stanford University states that he came to the opposite conclusion of Garrow:

<blockquote>None of this is new. Garrow is talking about a recently added summary of a transcript of a 1964 recording from the Willard Hotel that others, including Mrs. King, have said they did not hear Martin's voice on it. The added summary was four layers removed from the actual recording. This supposedly new information comes from an anonymous source in a single paragraph in an FBI report. You have to ask how could anyone conclude King looked at a rape from an audio recording in a room where he was not present.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Reynolds |first1=Barbara Ann |title=Salacious FBI information again attacks character of MLK |url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2019/jul/03/salacious-fbi-information-again-attacks-character-/ |access-date=August 7, 2019 |work=New York Amsterdam News |date=July 3, 2019 |archive-date=September 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920015143/http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2019/jul/03/salacious-fbi-information-again-attacks-character-/ |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote> The tapes that could confirm or refute the allegation are scheduled to be declassified in 2027.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Griffey |first1=Trevor |title=J. Edgar Hoover's revenge: Information the FBI once hoped could destroy Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. has been declassified |url=https://theconversation.com/j-edgar-hoovers-revenge-information-the-fbi-once-hoped-could-destroy-rev-martin-luther-king-jr-has-been-declassified-118026 |date=May 31, 2019 |access-date=June 2, 2019 |work=The Conversation |language=en |archive-date=August 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220829032857/https://theconversation.com/j-edgar-hoovers-revenge-information-the-fbi-once-hoped-could-destroy-rev-martin-luther-king-jr-has-been-declassified-118026 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In his 1989 autobiography ''[[And the Walls Came Tumbling Down]]'', Ralph Abernathy stated that King had a "weakness for women", although they "all understood and believed in the biblical prohibition against sex outside of marriage. It was just that he had a particularly difficult time with that temptation."<ref>{{cite book|title=And the walls came tumbling down: an autobiography |last=Abernathy |first=Ralph |year=1989 |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=978-0-06-016192-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/andwallscametumb00aber/page/471 471] |url=https://archive.org/details/andwallscametumb00aber/page/471 }}</ref> In a later interview, Abernathy said he only wrote the term "womanizing", that he did not specifically say King had [[extramarital sex]] and that the infidelities were [[emotional affair|emotional]] rather than sexual.<ref name=abertappva>{{cite web |url= http://www.booknotes.org/Transcript/index_print.asp?ProgramID=1442 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20071211111242/http://www.booknotes.org/Transcript/index_print.asp?ProgramID=1442 | archive-date=December 11, 2007 | title=And the Walls Came Tumbling Down | first=Ralph David |last=Abernathy |publisher=Booknotes |date=October 29, 1989 | access-date=June 14, 2008}}</ref> Abernathy criticized the media for sensationalizing the statements he wrote about King's affairs,<ref name=abertappva /> such as the allegation King had a sexual affair the night before he was assassinated.<ref name=abertappva /> In his 1986 book ''[[Bearing the Cross]]'', Garrow wrote about affairs, including one woman King saw almost daily. According to Garrow, "that relationship&nbsp;... increasingly became the emotional centerpiece of King's life, but it did not eliminate the incidental couplings&nbsp;... of King's travels." He alleged that King explained his affairs as "a form of anxiety reduction". Garrow asserted that King's supposed promiscuity caused him "painful and at times overwhelming guilt".<ref>{{cite book| title =Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference| url =https://archive.org/details/bearingcross00davi|last=Garrow|first=David| url-access =registration|year=1986|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bearingcross00davi/page/375 375–476] | publisher=William Morrow & Co| isbn =978-0-688-04794-8}}</ref> King's wife Coretta appeared to have accepted his affairs with equanimity, saying once that "all that other business just doesn't have a place in the very high-level relationship we enjoyed."{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=67}} Shortly after ''Bearing the Cross'' was released, civil rights author [[Howell Raines]] gave the book a positive review but opined that Garrow's allegations about King's sex life were "sensational" and stated that Garrow was "amassing facts rather than analyzing them".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/07/nnp/garrow.html|title=Driven to Martyrdom|author=Raines, Howell|work=The New York Times|date=November 30, 1986|access-date=July 12, 2013|archive-date=May 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170502213225/http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/07/nnp/garrow.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Awards and recognition ==
[[File:Martin Luther King Jr with medallion NYWTS.jpg|thumb|upright|King showing his medallion, which he received from Mayor Wagner, 1964]]
King was awarded at least fifty honorary degrees from colleges and universities.<ref name=merv>{{cite book | title=King Came Preaching: The Pulpit Power of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | page=[https://archive.org/details/kingcamepreachin0000warr/page/79 79] | last=Warren | first=Mervyn A. | isbn=0-8308-2658-0 | year=2001 | publisher=InterVarsity Press | url=https://archive.org/details/kingcamepreachin0000warr/page/79 }}</ref> On October 14, 1964, King became the youngest winner of the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], which was awarded to him for leading nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1014.html|title=Martin Luther King Wins The Nobel Prize for Peace|date=October 15, 1964|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 13, 2018|archive-date=January 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119090618/http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1014.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Makers of Modern Culture: Makers of Culture | last=Wintle | first=Justin | page=272 | publisher=Routledge | year=2001|isbn=0-415-26583-5}}</ref> In 1965, he was awarded the American Liberties Medallion by the [[American Jewish Committee]] for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty."<ref name=merv /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=843719&ct=1052921|publisher=American Jewish Committee|title=Commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.: Presentation of American Liberties Medallion|last=Engel|first=Irving M.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060604175417/http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=843719&ct=1052921|archive-date=June 4, 2006|access-date=March 15, 2018}}</ref> In his acceptance remarks, King said, "Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free."<ref>{{cite web|title=Commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.: Response to Award of American Liberties Medallion|last=King|first=Martin Luther Jr.|publisher=American Jewish Committee|url=http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=843719&ct=1052923|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060609075301/https://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=843719&ct=1052923|archive-date=June 9, 2006|access-date=March 15, 2018}}</ref>

In 1957, he was awarded the [[Spingarn Medal]] from the [[NAACP]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.naacp.org/pages/spingarn-medal-winners |title=Spingarn Medal Winners: 1915 to Today |publisher=NAACP |access-date=January 16, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802063355/http://www.naacp.org/pages/spingarn-medal-winners |archive-date=August 2, 2014 }}</ref> Two years later, he won the [[Anisfield-Wolf Book Award]] for ''Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Martin Luther King Jr.|url=http://www.anisfield-wolf.org/books/stride-toward-freedom-the-montgomery-story/?sortby=author&auth=KINGJR.MARTINLUTHER|publisher=[[Anisfield-Wolf Book Award]]s|access-date=October 2, 2011|archive-date=April 2, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402001549/http://www.anisfield-wolf.org/books/stride-toward-freedom-the-montgomery-story/?sortby=author&auth=KINGJR.MARTINLUTHER|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1966, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America awarded King the [[Margaret Sanger Awards|Margaret Sanger Award]] for "his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity."<ref name=PP>{{cite web|title=The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. upon accepting The Planned Parenthood Federation Of America Margaret Sanger Award| publisher= [[Planned Parenthood|PPFA]]| url= http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/the-reverend-martin-luther-king-jr.htm|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080224104928/http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/the-reverend-martin-luther-king-jr.htm|archive-date=February 24, 2008| access-date=August 27, 2008}}</ref> Also in 1966, King was elected as a fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]].<ref name="King AAAS fellow">{{cite web|title=SCLC Press Release|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/sclc-press-release|publisher=SCLC via the King Center|access-date=August 31, 2012|date=May 16, 1966|archive-date=December 15, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121215172223/http://www.thekingcenter.org/archive/document/sclc-press-release|url-status=dead }}</ref> In November 1967, he made a 24-hour trip to the UK to receive an honorary [[Doctor of Civil Law|Doctorate in Civil Law]] from [[Newcastle University]], becoming the first African American the institution had recognized in this way.<ref name="Ward" /> In an impromptu acceptance speech,<ref name="Newcastle ceremony" /> he said:
<blockquote>There are three urgent and indeed great problems that we face not only in the United States of America but all over the world today. That is the problem of racism, the problem of poverty and the problem of war.</blockquote>

[[File:Martin Luther King Jr Newcastle University 1967.jpg|thumb|King after receiving his honorary doctorate from [[Newcastle University]]]]

In addition to his nominations for three Grammy Awards, King posthumously won for [[Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album|Best Spoken Word Recording]] in 1971 for "Why I Oppose The War In Vietnam".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/did-you-know-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-won-grammy|title=Did You Know That Martin Luther King Won A GRAMMY?|date=January 17, 2019|website=GRAMMY.com|language=en|access-date=January 21, 2019|archive-date=April 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426230630/https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/did-you-know-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-won-grammy|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1977, President [[Jimmy Carter]] posthumously awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] to King. The citation read:

<blockquote>Martin Luther King Jr. was the conscience of his generation. He gazed upon the great wall of segregation and saw that the power of love could bring it down. From the pain and exhaustion of his fight to fulfill the promises of our founding fathers for our humblest citizens, he wrung his eloquent statement of his dream for America. He made our nation stronger because he made it better. His dream sustains us yet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=7784 |title=Presidential Medal of Freedom Remarks on Presenting the Medal to Dr. Jonas E. Salk and to Martin Luther King Jr. |author=Carter, Jimmy |date=July 11, 1977 |publisher=The American Presidency Project |access-date=January 4, 2013 |archive-date=May 1, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501191835/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=7784 |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

King and his wife were also awarded the [[Congressional Gold Medal]] in 2004.<ref>{{cite web| title=Congressional Gold Medal Recipients (1776 to Present)| publisher=Office of the Clerk: U.S. House of Representatives| url=http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/goldMedal.html| access-date=June 16, 2008| archive-date=January 5, 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070105010516/http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/goldMedal.html| url-status=live}}</ref>

King was second in [[Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1999|last1=Gallup|first1=George|first2=Alec Jr.|last2=Gallup |page=249|isbn=0-8420-2699-1|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield | year= 2000}}</ref> In 1963, he was named [[Time Person of the Year|''Time'' Person of the Year]], and, in 2000, he was voted sixth in an online "Person of the Century" poll by the same magazine.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-24394267.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514041705/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-24394267.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 14, 2013 |title=Time Names Einstein as Person of the Century |author=Harpaz, Beth J. |date=December 27, 1999 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=January 20, 2013}}</ref> King placed third in ''[[The Greatest American]]'' conducted by the [[Discovery Channel]] and [[AOL]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Reagan voted 'greatest American'|date=June 28, 2005|access-date=August 27, 2008|publisher=BBC|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4631421.stm|archive-date=January 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112031450/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4631421.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Five-dollar bill ===
On April 20, 2016, Treasury Secretary [[Jacob Lew]] announced that the $5, $10, and $20 bills would all undergo redesign prior to 2020. Lew said that while Lincoln would remain on the front of the $5 bill, the reverse would be redesigned to depict various historical events that had occurred at the Lincoln Memorial. Among the planned designs are images from King's "I Have a Dream" speech.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/04/20/report-lew-considered-anthony-10-bill/83274530/ |title=Anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman to replace Jackson on the front of the $20 bill |first=Gregory |last=Korte |newspaper=USAToday.com |date=April 21, 2016 |access-date=August 28, 2017 |archive-date=April 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423150303/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/04/20/report-lew-considered-anthony-10-bill/83274530/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Memorials ===
[[File:Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial (NHQ202501050005).jpg|thumb|[[Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
{{Main|List of memorials to Martin Luther King Jr.}}

Many memorial sites, buildings and sculptures have been created to honor Martin Luther King Jr, including the [[Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library]] in Washington, D.C.,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dclibrary.org/node/741 | title=The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library History | date=July 23, 2009 | access-date=January 16, 2023 | archive-date=January 16, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116014246/https://www.dclibrary.org/node/741 | url-status=dead }}</ref> the [[Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library]] in [[San Jose, California|San Jose]], California, and the [[Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial]] in [[West Potomac Park]] next to the [[National Mall]] in Washington, D.C.

=== Honorary doctorates ===
King has received several [[honorary doctorates]].<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Louisiana State University|url=https://guides.lib.lsu.edu/c.php?g=353667&p=2385250|title=Martin Luther King, Jr. Honorary Degrees|access-date=June 5, 2023|archive-date=June 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230620214545/https://guides.lib.lsu.edu/c.php?g=353667&p=2385250|url-status=live}}</ref>
* 1957: [[Doctor of Humane 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 (Pennsylvania)|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 of America|Jewish Theological Seminary]]; [[Doctor of Laws]], [[Yale University]]; [[Doctor of Divinity]], [[Springfield College]]
* 1965: [[Doctor of Laws]], [[Hofstra University]]; [[Doctor of Humane Letters]], [[Oberlin College]]; [[Doctor of Social Science]], [[Amsterdam Free University]]; [[Doctor of Divinity]], [[Saint Peter's University|St. Peter's College]]
* 1967: [[Doctor of Civil Law]], [[University of Newcastle upon Tyne]]; [[Doctor of Laws]], [[Grinnell College]]

== Works ==
* ''[[Stride Toward Freedom]]: The Montgomery Story'' (1958) {{ISBN|978-0-06-250490-6}}
* ''The Measure of a Man'' (1959) {{ISBN|978-0-8006-0877-4}}
* ''[[Strength to Love]]'' (1963) {{ISBN|978-0-8006-9740-2}}
* ''[[Why We Can't Wait]]'' (1964) {{ISBN|978-0-8070-0112-7}}
* ''[[Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?]]'' (1967) {{ISBN|978-0-8070-0571-2}}
* ''[[Conscience for Change|The Trumpet of Conscience]]'' (1968) {{ISBN|978-0-8070-0170-7}}
* ''A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.'' (1986) {{ISBN|978-0-06-250931-4}}
* ''The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.'' (1998), ed. [[Clayborne Carson]] {{ISBN|978-0-446-67650-2}}
* ''"All Labor Has Dignity"'' (2011) ed. [[Michael Honey]] {{ISBN|978-0-8070-8600-1}}
* ''"Thou, Dear God": Prayers That Open Hearts and Spirits''. Collection of King's prayers. (2011), ed. [[Lewis Baldwin]] {{ISBN|978-0-8070-8603-2}}
* ''MLK: A Celebration in Word and Image'' (2011). Photographed by [[Bob Adelman]], introduced by [[Charles R. Johnson|Charles Johnson]] {{ISBN|978-0-8070-0316-9}}

== Discography ==

=== Albums ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Charted albums by Martin Luther King Jr.
!scope="col" rowspan="2" |Title
!scope="col" rowspan="2" |Year
!scope="col"|Peak
|-
!scope="col" | [[Billboard 200|US]]<br /><ref name=":0">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/rev-martin-luther-king-jr/|title=Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.|access-date=March 24, 2022|magazine=Billboard|archive-date=March 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220324220953/https://www.billboard.com/artist/rev-martin-luther-king-jr/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|scope="row"|''The Great March to Freedom''
| rowspan="3" |1963
|141
|-
|scope="row"|''The March on Washington''
|102
|-
|scope="row"|''Freedom March on Washington''
|119
|-
|scope="row"|''I Have a Dream''
| rowspan="4" |1968
|69
|-
|scope="row"|''The American Dream''
|173
|-
|scope="row"|''In Search of Freedom''
|150
|-
|scope="row"|''In the Struggle for Freedom and Human Dignity''
|154
|}

=== Singles ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Charted singles by Martin Luther King Jr.
!scope="col" rowspan="2" |Title
!scope="col" rowspan="2" |Year
!scope="col"|Peak
!scope="col" rowspan="2" |Album
|-
!scope="col" | [[Billboard Hot 100|US]]<br /><ref name=":0" />
|-
|scope="row"|"I Have a Dream"
{{Small|([[Gordy Records|Gordy]] 7023 – b/w [[We Shall Overcome]], [[Liz Lands]])}}
|1968
|88
|''I Have a Dream'' (1968)
|}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Biography|Civil rights movement|Georgia (U.S. state)|Evangelical Christianity|Saints|Society|United States}}
* {{anl|African American founding fathers of the United States}}
* {{anl|Civil rights movement}}
* [[Civil rights movement in popular culture]]
* {{anl|Equality before the law}}
* [[List of civil rights leaders]]
* [[List of peace activists]]
* [[List of streets named after Martin Luther King Jr.]]
* {{anl|Martin Luther King Jr. Day}}
* [[Memorials to Martin Luther King Jr.]]
* [[Sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.]]
* {{anl|Violence begets violence}}

== References ==

=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|25em}}

=== Sources ===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book|last=Abernathy|first=Ralph|author-link=Ralph Abernathy|title=And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: An Autobiography|publisher=Harper & Row|year=1989|isbn=0-06-016192-2|url=https://archive.org/details/andwallscametumb00aber}}
* {{cite book |last1=Boyd |first1=Herb |title=Martin Luther King, Jr. |year=1996 |publisher=Baronet Books |isbn=0-86611-917-5}}
* {{Cite book|last=Branch|first=Taylor|author-link=Taylor Branch|title=At Canaan's Edge: America In the King Years, 1965–1968|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2006|isbn=0-684-85712-X|url=https://archive.org/details/atcanaansedgeame00bran}}
* {{cite book|last1= Cohen|first1= Adam Seth|first2= Elizabeth|last2= Taylor|publisher= Back Bay|year= 2000|isbn= 0-316-83489-0|title= Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley: His Battle for Chicago and the Nation|url= https://archive.org/details/americanpharaohm00adam}}
* {{Cite book|last=Davis|first=Joshua C.|title=Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2025|isbn=978-0-6912-3883-8|url-access=registration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lxOEQAAQBAJ&q=police+against+the+movement}}
* {{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Kenneth C. |title=Don't Know Much About Martin Luther King Jr. |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-06-442129-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LcR-m3rDLngC |access-date=September 17, 2020 |language=en |year=2005 }}
* {{Cite book |last= Eig |first= Jonathan |author-link= Jonathan Eig |year= 2023 |title= [[King: A Life]] |publisher= Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn= 978-0-374-27929-5 }}
* {{cite book|last=Fleming|first=Alice|title=Martin Luther King Jr.: A Dream of Hope|year=2008|publisher=Sterling|isbn=978-1-4027-4439-6|url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000flem/}}
* {{cite book |last=Frady |first=Marshall |author-link=Marshall Frady |title=Martin Luther King Jr.: A Life |year=2002 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-303648-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dOR4QpEE0g8C }}
* {{Cite book |last=Garrow |first=David J. |author-link=David Garrow |title=The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr |publisher=Penguin Books |url=https://archive.org/details/fbimartinlutherk0000garr |year=1981 |isbn=0-14-006486-9 }}
* Garrow, David. ''[[Bearing the Cross]]: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference'' (1989). Pulitzer Prize. {{ISBN|978-0-06-056692-0}}
* "James L. Bevel, The Strategist of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement", a 1984 paper by Randall Kryn, published with a 1988 addendum by Kryn in Prof. [[David Garrow]]'s ''We Shall Overcome, Volume II'' (Carlson Publishing Company, 1989).
* {{cite book| last= Glisson| first=Susan M.| title= The Human Tradition in the Civil Rights Movement| isbn=0-7425-4409-5 | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2006}}
* {{cite book |last=Herst |first=Burton |title=Bobby and J. Edgar: The Historic Face-off Between the Kennedys and J. Edgar Hoover that Transformed America |year=2007 |publisher=Carroll & Graf |isbn=978-0-7867-1982-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/bobbyjedgarhisto00hers }}
* {{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Thomas F.|title=From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Struggle for Economic Justice|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-8122-3969-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/fromciv_jac_2007_00_0872}}
* {{cite book | last=King | first=Martin Luther Jr. | title=Autobiography | editor-last=Carson | editor-first=Clayborne | publisher=Warner Books | year=1998 | isbn=0-446-52412-3 | url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofm00king }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Carson|editor1-first=Clayborne|editor2-last=Luker|editor2-first=Ralph E.|editor3-last=Russell|editor3-first=Penny A.|editor4-last=Harlan|editor4-first=Louis R.|title=The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume I: Called to Serve, January 1929 – June 1951 | publisher=University of California Press| year=1992| isbn=0-520-07950-7|ref={{harvid|King|1992}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Kotz|first=Nick|isbn=0-618-08825-3|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books|year=2005|title=Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws that Changed America|url=https://archive.org/details/judgmentdayslynd00kotz}}
* {{cite book | last1= Lawson|first1=Steven F.|first2=Charles M.|last2=Payne|first3=James T.|last3=Patterson| title =Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945–1968| isbn= 0-7425-5109-1 | publisher =Rowman & Littlefield|year=2006}}
* {{cite book|last=Manheimer|first=Ann S.|title=Martin Luther King Jr.: Dreaming of Equality|year=2004|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books|isbn=1-57505-627-5|url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking0000manh/}}
* {{cite book |last1=Muse |first1=Clyde |title=The Educational Philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr |publisher=University of Oklahoma |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i5waAQAAIAAJ |access-date=September 17, 2020 |year=1978 |language=en }}
* {{cite book |last1=Patterson |first1=Lillie |title=Martin Luther King, Jr.: man of peace |publisher=Garrard Publishing Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L0okAQAAMAAJ |access-date=September 17, 2020 |year=1969 |isbn=978-0-8116-4555-3 |archive-date=April 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408171417/https://books.google.com/books?id=L0okAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book|first=Stephen B.|last=Oates|title=Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr|url=https://archive.org/details/lettrumpetsound00step|date=1983|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-452-25627-9}}
* {{cite book| last= Robbins|first= Mary Susannah | title= Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists | isbn=978-0-7425-5914-1 | publisher= Rowman & Littlefield|year= 2007}}
* {{cite book |last1=Rowland |first1=Della |title=Martin Luther King, Jr: The Dream of Peaceful Revolution |publisher=Silver Burdett Press |isbn=978-0-382-24062-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EE3hAAAAMAAJ |access-date=September 17, 2020 |language=en |year=1990 |archive-date=April 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408171414/https://books.google.com/books?id=EE3hAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last1=Schuman |first1=Michael A. |title=The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Leader for Civil Rights |publisher=Enslow Publishers, Inc. |isbn=978-0-7660-6149-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LRiDDwAAQBAJ |access-date=October 18, 2020 |language=en |year=2014 |archive-date=April 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405045410/https://books.google.com/books?id=LRiDDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book|last= Washington|first= James M.|title= A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.|year= 1991|publisher= HarperCollins|isbn= 0-06-064691-8|url= https://archive.org/details/testamentofhope00mart}}
* {{cite book |last1=White |first1=Clarence |title=Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Contributions to Education as a Black Leader (1929–1968) |publisher=Loyola University of Chicago |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWZCAAAAIAAJ |access-date=October 18, 2020 |language=en |year=1974 |archive-date=April 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408171415/https://books.google.com/books?id=NWZCAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ayton |first=Mel |title=A Racial Crime: James Earl Ray and the Murder of Martin Luther King Jr |publisher=Archebooks Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=1-59507-075-3 |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |author-link=Taylor Branch |last=Branch |first=Taylor |title=Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–1963 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1988 |isbn=0-671-46097-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/partingwatersame01bran |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |last=Branch |first=Taylor |title=Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963–1965 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1998 |isbn=0-684-80819-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/pillaroffireamer00bran |ref=none}}
* {{Cite book |author-link=Coretta Scott King |last=King |first=Coretta Scott |title=My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr |publisher=Henry Holth & Co |orig-year=1969 |year=1993 |isbn=0-8050-2445-X |url=https://archive.org/details/mylifewithmartin00king_2 |ref=none}}
* {{cite book |first=Martin Luther Jr. |last=King |editor-first=Cornel |editor-last=West |editor-link=Cornel West |title=The Radical King |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHAOBAAAQBAJ |year=2015 |publisher=[[Beacon Press]] |isbn=978-0-8070-1282-6 |ref=none |access-date=June 17, 2015 |archive-date=January 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240123124044/https://books.google.com/books?id=PHAOBAAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}
* King, Martin Luther Jr. (1986), ''Testament of Hope. The essential writings and speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.'' (Harper & Row), edited by [[James Melvin Washington|J. M. Washington]]; reissued by Harper in 1992 as I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World.
* Kirk, John A., ed. (2007). ''Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement: Controversies and Debates''.
* Schulke, Flip; McPhee, Penelope (1986). ''King Remembered'', Foreword by Jesse Jackson. {{ISBN|978-1-4039-9654-1}}.
* Waldschmidt-Nelson, Britta (2012). ''Dreams and Nightmares: Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X, and the Struggle for Black Equality''. University Press of Florida. {{ISBN|0-8130-3723-9}}.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Sister project links |wikt=no |commons=Martin Luther King, Jr. |b=no |n=no |q=Martin Luther King Jr. |s=Author:Martin Luther King |v=Ethics/Nonkilling/Leadership/Martin Luther King, Jr. |species=no |voy=no |d=y}}
* [https://thekingcenter.org/ The King Center] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130085918/https://thekingcenter.org/ |date=January 30, 2023 }}
* [https://morehouse.edu/life/campus/martin-luther-king-jr-collection/ Martin Luther King Jr. Collection at Morehouse College] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824161426/https://morehouse.edu/life/campus/martin-luther-king-jr-collection/ |date=August 24, 2023 }}
* [https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/ The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011101838/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/ |date=October 11, 2016 }}, Stanford University
* [https://archives.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/resources/scpc-cdg-a-king_jr_martin_luther Martin Luther King, Jr. Collected Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130085929/https://archives.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/resources/scpc-cdg-a-king_jr_martin_luther |date=January 30, 2023 }} held by the [https://www.swarthmore.edu/peace-collection Swarthmore College Peace Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200904094745/https://www.swarthmore.edu/peace-collection |date=September 4, 2020 }}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Martin Luther King Jr.}}
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1964 ''The quest for peace and justice''
* [https://crdl.usg.edu/events/mlk_nobel_prize/ Martin Luther King Jr.'s Nobel Peace Prize] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329233216/https://crdl.usg.edu/events/mlk_nobel_prize |date=March 29, 2023 }}, Civil Rights Digital Library
* [http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/collection/LIB-UA015/ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Buffalo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618073512/http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/collection/LIB-UA015/ |date=June 18, 2015 }}, digital collection of King's visit and speech in Buffalo, New York on November 9, 1967, from the [[University at Buffalo Libraries]]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lgzyl BBC ''Face to Face'' interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224120511/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00lgzyl |date=February 24, 2020 }} with Martin Luther King and [[John Freeman (British politician)|John Freeman]], broadcast October 29, 1961.
* FBI file on Martin Luther King Jr.: [https://vault.fbi.gov/Martin%20Luther%20King%2C%20Jr./Martin%20Luther%20King%2C%20Jr.%20Part%201%20of%202/view Part 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116235612/https://vault.fbi.gov/Martin%20Luther%20King,%20Jr./Martin%20Luther%20King,%20Jr.%20Part%201%20of%202/view |date=January 16, 2023 }} and [https://vault.fbi.gov/Martin%20Luther%20King%2C%20Jr./Martin%20Luther%20King%2C%20Jr.%20Part%202%20of%202/view Part 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130085929/https://vault.fbi.gov/Martin%20Luther%20King,%20Jr./Martin%20Luther%20King,%20Jr.%20Part%202%20of%202/view |date=January 30, 2023 }}

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{{s-bef|before=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]]<br />and<br />[[International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies|League of Red Cross Societies]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Nobel Peace Prize]] Laureate|years=1964}}
{{s-aft|after=[[UNICEF]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{Martin Luther King|state=expanded}}
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