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92-735: Until September 2015, the museum was located in the Yerba Buena Gardens cultural district of San Francisco , in the South of Market neighborhood. It reopened in October 2017, in a new location in the Fisherman's Wharf area of San Francisco . The Museum was founded in 1984 by comic art enthusiasts, with its primary founder being Malcolm Whyte , the publisher of Troubador Press . CAM's first incarnation had no fixed location, instead organizing showings at other local museums and corporate spaces. In 1987, with

184-703: A Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1948, aged nineteen. King enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania , and took several courses at the University of Pennsylvania . At Crozer, King was elected president of the student body. At Penn, King took courses with William Fontaine , Penn's first African-American professor, and Elizabeth F. Flower , a professor of philosophy. King's father supported his decision to continue his education and made arrangements for King to work with J. Pius Barbour ,

276-415: A Children's Crusade . 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 news, shocking many white Americans and consolidating black Americans behind the movement. Not all of the demonstrators were peaceful, despite the avowed intentions of

368-668: A civil rights march to the city hall in Atlanta, to protest voting rights discrimination. Martin Jr. later remarked that Martin Sr. was "a real father" to him. Martin King Jr. memorized hymns and Bible verses by the time he was five years old. Beginning at six years old, he attended church events with his mother and sang hymns while she played piano. His favorite hymn was "I Want to Be More and More Like Jesus"; his singing moved attendees. King later became

460-405: A B-plus average. The high school was the only one in the city for African-American students. Martin Jr. was brought up in a Baptist home; as he entered adolescence he began to question the literalist teachings preached at his father's church. At the age of 13, he denied the bodily resurrection of Jesus during Sunday school . Martin Jr. said that he found himself unable to identify with

552-458: A church filled with white congregants. 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". He played freshman football there. The summer before his last year at Morehouse, in 1947, the 18-year-old King chose to enter the ministry . He would later credit

644-511: 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." Other friends, including Harry Belafonte , said Betty had been "the love of King's life." King graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1951. He applied to the University of Edinburgh for

736-445: A classroom and a bookstore. 37°47′14″N 122°24′03″W  /  37.787088°N 122.400940°W  / 37.787088; -122.400940 Yerba Buena Gardens Yerba Buena Gardens is the name for two blocks of public parks located between Third and Fourth, Mission and Folsom Streets in the South of Market (SoMA) neighbourhood of San Francisco, California. The first block bordered by Mission and Howard Streets

828-779: A doctorate in the School of Divinity but ultimately chose Boston instead. In 1951, King began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University , and worked as an assistant minister at Boston's historic Twelfth Baptist Church with William Hunter Hester. Hester was an old friend of King's father and was an important influence on King. 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. At

920-436: A family friend and Crozer alumnus who pastored at Calvary Baptist Church in nearby Chester, Pennsylvania . 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. King reproved another student for keeping beer in his room once, saying they shared responsibility as African Americans to bear "the burdens of

1012-567: 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 ; 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." King married Scott on June 18, 1953, on

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1104-630: A group of other Morehouse College students to work in Simsbury, Connecticut , at the tobacco farm of Cullman Brothers Tobacco. This was King's first trip into the integrated north. 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." The farm had partnered with Morehouse College to allot their wages towards

1196-562: A high school education, and enrolled in Morehouse College to study for entry to the ministry. Michael Sr. and Alberta began dating in 1920, and married on November 25, 1926. Until Jennie's death in 1941, their home was on the second floor of Alberta's parents' Victorian house , where King was born. Michael Jr. had an older sister, Christine King Farris , and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel "A. D." King . Shortly after marrying Alberta, Michael King Sr. became assistant pastor of

1288-783: A manicured garden with plants representing each of San Francisco's sister cities and a view of the downtown skyline. Located in the Gardens proper are the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts , a contemporary arts center in the North block, and the Children's Creativity Museum , a children's museum in the South block. An ice skating rink , a bowling alley , and the LeRoy King Carousel -— a restored 1906 carousel by Charles I. D. Looff can also be found in

1380-575: 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 . In September 1940, at the age of 11, King was enrolled at the Atlanta University Laboratory School for the seventh grade . While there, King took violin and piano lessons and showed keen interest in history and English classes. On May 18, 1941, when King had sneaked away from studying at home to watch

1472-404: A member of the junior choir in his church. He enjoyed opera, and played the piano. King garnered a large vocabulary from reading dictionaries. He got into physical altercations with boys in his neighborhood, but oftentimes used his knowledge of words to stop or avoid fights. King showed a lack of interest in grammar and spelling, a trait that persisted throughout his life. In 1939, King sang as

1564-611: A parade, he was informed that something had happened to his maternal grandmother. After returning home, he learned she had a heart attack and died while being transported to a hospital. 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. King jumped out of a second-story window at his home but again survived. 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. Martin Jr. struggled with this. Shortly thereafter, Martin Sr. decided to move

1656-564: 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. 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. 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. He told Martin Jr. afterward, "I don't care how long I have to live with this system, I will never accept it." In 1936, Martin Sr. led hundreds of African Americans in

1748-451: A second-story window, but rose from the ground after hearing that she was alive. Martin King Jr. became friends with a white boy whose father owned a business across the street from his home. In September 1935, when the boys were about six years old, they started school. King had to attend a school for black children, Yonge Street Elementary School, while his playmate went to a separate school for white children only. Soon afterwards,

1840-469: A situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation." 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. Newsweek called this strategy

1932-477: A six-year hiatus, the award was again presented in 2007. The most recent Sparky Award was given in 2022. The Sparky Award has been presented at various venues, including San Diego Comic-Con and the New York Comic Con . List of Sparky Award winners : The Museum hosts nine to 12 major exhibitions annually, along with classes for children and adults. It also offers lectures and operates a research library,

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2024-452: A time when both 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 personal visit from Jackie Robinson requesting his intervention. Nixon's opponent John F. Kennedy called the governor (a Democrat) directly, enlisted his brother Robert to exert more pressure on state authorities, and, at

2116-666: A year later, during late October 2017, the Cartoon Art Museum finally reopened its doors at its new location with three new exhibitions, including a retrospective of the San Francisco cartoonist Raina Telgemeier , a tribute exhibition of Mike Mignola 's Hellboy , and the emerging artist showcase featuring Nidhi Chanani . Over the years, the Museum has presented the Sparky Award (after the nickname of Charles M. Schulz ), in honor of

2208-404: Is at the mercy of the meanest white man." King was selected as the winner of the contest. 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. The driver of the bus called King a "black son-of-a-bitch". King initially refused but complied after his teacher told him that he would be breaking the law if he did not. As all

2300-498: 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'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 , Atlanta's largest department store, and was among the many arrested that day. The authorities released everyone over

2392-456: The Bible as instructed by their father. After dinners, Martin Jr.'s grandmother Jennie, whom he affectionately referred to as "Mama", told lively stories from the Bible . Martin Jr.'s father regularly used whippings to discipline his children, sometimes having them whip each other. Martin Sr. later remarked, "[Martin Jr.] was the most peculiar child whenever you whipped him. He'd stand there, and

2484-674: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1965 Voting Rights Act . The SCLC used tactics of nonviolent protest with great 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. On September 20, 1958, King was signing copies of his book Stride Toward Freedom in Blumstein's department store in Harlem when Izola Curry —a mentally ill black woman who thought that King

2576-693: The Missouri State Penitentiary , was convicted of the assassination, though the King family believes he was a scapegoat ; the assassination remains the subject of conspiracy theories . King's death was followed by national mourning , as well as anger leading to riots in many U.S. cities . King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2003. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

2668-619: The Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards 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 , a fugitive from

2760-962: The Reformation leader Martin Luther . In reaction to the rise of Nazism , the BWA made 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." 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. At his childhood home, Martin King Jr. and his two siblings read aloud

2852-595: The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts . Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy operates the property on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco. Yerba Buena was the name of the town in the Mexican territory of Alta California that became the city of San Francisco , California , after it was claimed by the United States in 1846. It was itself named after the yerba buena ( Micromeria douglasii ) plant which used to be abundant in

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2944-404: The entrance examination . As World War II was underway many black college students had been enlisted, so the university aimed to increase their enrollment by allowing juniors to apply. In 1944, aged 15, King passed the examination and was enrolled at the university that autumn. In the summer before King started at Morehouse, he boarded a train with his friend—Emmett "Weasel" Proctor—and

3036-638: The right to vote , desegregation , labor rights , and other civil rights . He oversaw the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and later became the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). As president of the SCLC, he led the unsuccessful Albany Movement in Albany, Georgia , and helped organize some of the nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama . King was one of

3128-506: The Albany effort proved a key lesson in tactics for King and the national civil rights movement, 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. In April 1963,

3220-637: The Ebenezer church. Senior pastor Williams died in the spring of 1931 and that fall Michael Sr. took the role. With support from his wife, he raised attendance from six hundred to several thousand. In 1934, the church sent King Sr. on a multinational trip; one of the stops on the trip was Berlin for the Congress of the Baptist World Alliance [BWA]). He also visited sites in Germany that are associated with

3312-459: 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. 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

3404-477: 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. The FBI , under written directive from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy , began tapping King's telephone line in the fall of 1963. Kennedy was concerned that public allegations of communists in

3496-575: The Negro race". For a time, he was interested in Walter Rauschenbusch 's "social gospel". In his third year at Crozer, King became romantically involved with 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, advised against it, saying that an interracial marriage would provoke animosity from both blacks and whites, potentially damaging his chances of ever pastoring

3588-479: 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

3680-424: 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 nonviolent civil rights movement through a more effective means of fundraising. King served as honorary president of this organization, named the "Gandhi Society for Human Rights". In 1962, King and

3772-404: The SCLC would derail the administration's civil rights initiatives. He warned King to discontinue these associations and later felt compelled to issue the written directive that authorized the FBI to wiretap King and other SCLC leaders. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover feared the civil rights movement and investigated the allegations of communist infiltration. When no evidence emerged to support this,

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3864-431: 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. King was arrested and jailed early in the campaign—his 13th arrest out of 29. From his cell, he composed

3956-711: The South block. The Mexican Museum is (as of 2021) planned to inhabit the lower several floors of a building across Mission Street as part the 53-story 706 Mission / Four Seasons Residence tower. The project is planned to cost $ 500 million ($ 30 million of which for the museum) and will complete the "Yerba Buena district" redevelopment area, which apart from the Yerba Buena Gardens includes the Metreon and Moscone Center. Martin Luther King Jr. Campaigns Death and memorial Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr. ; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

4048-794: The age of 25 in 1954, King was called as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama . 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 . An academic inquiry in October 1991 concluded that portions of his doctoral dissertation had been plagiarized and he had acted improperly. However, "[d]espite its finding,

4140-571: The area. The plant's common name, yerba buena , is an alternate form of the Spanish hierba buena (meaning "good herb"). The idea of a conference center named the Yerba Buena Center itself first emerged in the early 1960s. At that time there was a concern about how development could occur in the downtown area. The South of Market area offered hundreds of acres of flat land at low land prices. Various corporate committees were founded to lobby for

4232-473: The audience was hostile and frustrated. King then gave an impassioned speech calling participants to resist the "cancerous disease of disunity", helping to calm tensions. 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 every aspect of segregation in

4324-720: The building program. After John Elberling, of the Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (TODCO) protested the removal of a bowling alley from the plans, the San Francisco Development Agency (SFRA) backed down and the bowling alley was re-included and eventually built. The original block opened in 1993 contains several public art installations. One cornerstone is the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and Fountain. The King memorial, titled "Revelations," consists of large, etched glass excerpts of King's speeches in

4416-413: The bus boycott transformed him into a national figure and the best-known spokesman of the civil rights movement. In 1957, King, Ralph Abernathy , Fred Shuttlesworth , Joseph Lowery , and other civil rights 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

4508-584: The church's pastor, King became known for his oratorical preaching in Montgomery and the surrounding region. In March 1955, Claudette Colvin —a fifteen-year-old 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 United States that enforced racial segregation . Nine months later on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks

4600-472: 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." 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. King returned in July 1962 and

4692-514: The college's president, Baptist minister Benjamin Mays , with being his "spiritual mentor". 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." King graduated from Morehouse with

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4784-566: 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." 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. Significant debate exists on how to interpret King's plagiarism. While studying at Boston University, he asked

4876-552: The daily indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment of civil rights supporters, produced a wave of sympathetic public opinion that convinced the majority of Americans that the civil rights movement was the most important issue in American politics in the early 1960s. King organized and led marches for blacks' right to vote , desegregation , labor rights , and other basic civil rights. Most of these rights were successfully enacted into law with

4968-548: The developers did not figure on the persistence of the local community, the vast majority of which were aged, male, ex-industrial workers who lived alone in the many cheap hotels in the area. Together the latter formed the Tenants and Owners in Opposition to Redevelopment (TOOR). Their demand was to be rehoused in the area in low-rent housing. The case went to court where the judge, Stan Weigel, judged in favor of TOOR. Things changed with

5060-399: The development of San Francisco from the 1950s to the 1990s Chester Hartman recounts that the entire Yerba Buena project was long drawn out over 3 decades, born of a local struggle that included evictions and harassment of the previous tenants in the area, most of them old and poor, but who had joined to fight for their rights. Even during the final design stages there were struggles regarding

5152-463: The election of a new city mayor, George Moscone , in 1976, who spearheaded construction. The Gardens was later built as part of a deal by Mayor Moscone with developers to "set aside land and funds for cultural institutions such as museums, exhibits, and theaters." In 1999 the Yerba Buena Gardens received the Gold Medal of the biannual Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence . In praising the design of

5244-806: The emotional displays from congregants who were frequent at his church; he doubted if he would ever attain personal satisfaction from religion. He later said of this point in his life, "doubts began to spring forth unrelentingly." In high school, Martin King Jr. became known for his public-speaking ability, with a voice that had grown into an orotund baritone . He joined the school's debate team. King continued to be most drawn to history and English , and chose English and sociology as his main subjects. King maintained an abundant vocabulary . However, he relied on his sister Christine to help him with spelling, while King assisted her with math. King also developed an interest in fashion, commonly wearing polished patent leather shoes and tweed suits, which gained him

5336-587: The family to a two-story brick home on a hill overlooking downtown Atlanta. 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. In 1942, when King was 13, he became the youngest assistant manager of a newspaper delivery station for the Atlanta Journal . In the same year, King skipped the ninth grade and enrolled in Booker T. Washington High School , where he maintained

5428-481: The help of an endowment from cartoonist Charles Schulz , it established a home on the second floor of the San Francisco Call-Bulletin Building in the South of Market (SoMa) area. In late 1994 the museum temporarily closed while it moved locations again, re-opening in the summer of 1995. Primary founder Malcolm Whyte retired from the museum's board of directors around the same time. In 1997,

5520-438: The languages of San Francisco's sister cities. The entire memorial was a collaborative project between sculptor Houston Conwill , poet Estella Majoza and architect Joseph De Pace. Conwill said Revelations is “a sacred space … meant to be experienced as a cultural pilgrimage and a journey of transformation.” The act of entering the fountain from the Gardens, reading of the text from North wall to East then, South Wall while beneath

5612-593: The lawn of her parents' house, in Heiberger, Alabama . They had four children: Yolanda King (1955–2007), Martin Luther King III (b. 1957), Dexter Scott King (1961–2024), and Bernice King (b. 1963). King limited Coretta's role in the civil rights movement, expecting her to be a housewife and mother. The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church was influential in the Montgomery African-American community. As

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5704-700: The leaders of the 1963 March on Washington , where he delivered his " I Have a Dream " speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial , and helped organize two of the three Selma to Montgomery marches during the 1965 Selma voting rights movement. 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 . There were several dramatic standoffs with segregationist authorities, who often responded violently. King

5796-499: The lifetime achievement of prominent creators in the fields of cartooning and animation who "embody the talent, innovation and humanity of Schulz." The award, which is co-sponsored by the Charles M. Schulz Museum , includes a statuette of Snoopy holding a pen and leaning on an inkwell . (The CAM Sparky Award is not connected to the award of the same name presented at the Slamdance Film Festival .) The award debuted in 1998, and multiple winners were announced each year until 2001. After

5888-402: The museum moved to a ground-floor location at 655 Mission Street in SoMa, which had been vacated by the Friends of Photography Ansel Adams Center . It closed the location in mid-September 2015 after the lease expired; the owners more than doubled the rent. In late 2016, the museum signed a 10-year lease on a historic, 8,000-square-foot brick building a block away from Ghiradelli Square . Almost

5980-402: The museum suffered through serious financial difficulties, and was almost forced to close—this was despite a new endowment fund from the Schulz Foundation . Jenny E. Robb served as curator of the Cartoon Art Museum from 2000 to 2005. (Robb is now curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum in Columbus, Ohio.) Current curator Andrew Farago took over from Robb in 2005. In 2001,

6072-432: The 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. Many students were disappointed at the compromise. In a large meeting on March 10 at Warren Memorial Methodist Church,

6164-498: The next few days, except for 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 . The arrest and harsh sentence drew nationwide attention. Many feared for King's safety, as he started a prison sentence with people convicted of violent crimes, many of them White and hostile to his activism. Both Presidential candidates were asked to weigh in, at

6256-495: The nickname "Tweed" or "Tweedie" among his friends. He liked flirting with girls and dancing. 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." On April 13, 1944, in his junior year , King gave his first public speech during an oratorical contest . In his speech he stated, "black America still wears chains. The finest negro

6348-410: The now-famous " Letter from Birmingham Jail " that responds to 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 ". 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

6440-414: The oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." 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'." Walter Reuther , president of the United Auto Workers , arranged for $ 160,000 to bail out King and his fellow protestors. "I have almost reached

6532-519: The parents of the white boy stopped allowing King to play with their son, stating to him, "we are white, and you are colored". When King relayed this to his parents, they talked with him about the history of slavery and racism in America , which King would later say made him "determined to hate every white person". His parents instructed him that it was his Christian duty to love everyone. Martin King Jr. witnessed his father stand up against segregation and discrimination . Once, when stopped by

6624-418: The personal 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. After the October 19 sit-ins and following unrest, a 30-day truce was declared in Atlanta for desegregation negotiations. However,

6716-524: The redevelopment, which would also include high-rise office buildings, a vast parking garage, and a sports center. At the center of operations was the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA) first headed by Joseph Alioto , who would go on to become mayor of the city in 1968. The area of the development was regarded as a blighted area of the city, even referred to by local media, local business and city officials as ' skid row '. However,

6808-615: 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

6900-524: The request of the SCLC. 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. On May 4, 1960, King drove writer Lillian Smith to Emory University when police stopped them. King

6992-433: The seats were occupied, he and his teacher were forced to stand the rest of the way to Atlanta. Later King wrote of the incident: "That night will never leave my memory. It was the angriest I have ever been in my life." During King's junior year in high school, Morehouse College —an all-male historically black college that King's father and maternal grandfather had attended —began accepting high school juniors who passed

7084-486: The service of civil rights reform. The group was inspired by the crusades of evangelist Billy Graham , who befriended King, as well as the national organizing of the group In Friendship, founded by King allies Stanley Levison and Ella Baker . King led the SCLC until his death. The SCLC's 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom was the first time King addressed a national audience. Harry Wachtel joined King's legal advisor Clarence B. Jones in defending four ministers of

7176-540: The situation became so tense that King's house was bombed. King was arrested for traveling 30 mph in a 25 mph zone and jailed, which overnight drew the attention of national media, and greatly increased King's public stature. The controversy ended when the United States District Court issued a ruling in Browder v. Gayle that prohibited racial segregation on Montgomery public buses. King's role in

7268-420: The tears would run down, and he'd never cry." 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. 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. Martin Jr. believing her dead, blamed himself and attempted suicide by jumping from

7360-507: The university's tuition, housing, and fees. On weekdays King and the other students worked in the fields, picking tobacco from 7:00am to at least 5:00pm, enduring temperatures above 100  °F , to earn roughly USD$ 4 per day. 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. On Sundays they attended church services in Hartford, at

7452-603: The water, then exiting back out into the garden, represents 'a cultural pilgrimage and contemplative metaphorical journey of transformation,' parallel to the Southern tradition of baptism by full immersion in water common within Old School Baptist churches like those of King's grandfather, legendary minister Adam Daniel Williams. On the terrace level above the waterfall is the Sister Cities Garden, where visitors can see

7544-497: The work, the jury noted the process that led to the creation of the gardens, as well as its inclusiveness in terms of the population it serves and its neighborhood: "The mixed-use development enables cultural, social justice, and economic development agendas to coexist within a network of collaborative management practices." Furthermore, the jury "applauded the evolution of the project's development process to an inclusive model involving multiple constituencies." However, in his history of

7636-405: Was a minister in rural Georgia , moved to Atlanta in 1893, and became pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in the following year. Williams married Jennie Celeste Parks. Michael Sr. was born to sharecroppers James Albert and Delia King of Stockbridge, Georgia ; he was of African- Irish descent. As an adolescent, Michael Sr. left his parents' farm and walked to Atlanta, where he attained

7728-541: Was an American Baptist minister, activist , and political philosopher who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and nonviolent civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination . A black church leader, King participated in and led marches for

7820-429: Was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus. The two incidents led to the Montgomery bus boycott, which was urged and planned by Edgar Nixon and led by King. 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. The boycott lasted for 385 days, and

7912-492: 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. King paid a fine but was unaware that 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

8004-519: 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. King underwent emergency surgery by Aubre de Lambert Maynard , Emil Naclerio and John W. V. Cordice ; he remained hospitalized for several weeks. Curry was later found mentally incompetent to stand trial. In December 1959, after being based in Montgomery for five years, King announced his return to Atlanta at

8096-636: 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. Michael King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta ; he was the second of three children born to Michael King Sr. and Alberta King ( née  Williams ). Alberta's father, Adam Daniel Williams,

8188-447: Was given the option of forty-five days in jail or a $ 178 fine (equivalent to $ 1,800 in 2023); 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 ... ejected from churches ... and thrown into jail ... But for the first time, we witnessed being kicked out of jail." It

8280-459: Was jailed several times. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover considered King a radical and made him an object of the FBI's COINTELPRO from 1963 forward. FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties, spied on his personal life, and secretly recorded him. In 1964, the FBI mailed King a threatening anonymous letter , which he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide . On October 14, 1964 , King won

8372-494: Was later acknowledged by the King Center that Billy Graham was the one who bailed King out. 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. Though

8464-561: Was opened on October 11, 1993. The second block, between Howard and Folsom Streets, was opened in 1998, with a dedication to Martin Luther King Jr. by Mayor Willie Brown . A pedestrian bridge over Howard Street connects the two blocks, sitting on top of part of the Moscone Center convention center. The Yerba Buena Gardens were planned and built as the final centerpiece of the Yerba Buena Redevelopment Area which includes

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