Life
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia
January 15, 1929. His father was a minister and his mother was a teacher. He
had an older sister, Willie Christine, and a younger brother, Alfred Daniel. He
learned early in his life that because of his skin many things were closed to
him. Like else where in the United States, Atlanta had white only signs all
over the city. When he was six years old he was told that some of his friends
could not play with him any more because they were white and he was black. This
upset him greatly and he could not understand why the color of your skin
matters. His family told him that he was as good as anyone.
Once
when he and Alfred Daniel were sliding down the banister at his house Alfred
hit their grandmother. Martin thought they had killed her and jumped out of his
window to the ground 12 feet below but landed safely and was revitalized when
he saw that his grandmother was completely unharmed. When Martin was 12 his
grandmother died of a heart attack. He responded by jumping out the window
again. Like the first time he remained physically unharmed.
Martin was a good student and by the time he was 15
he was in college. He met Coretta Scott in Boston, and in June 18, 1953 he
married her. He had 4 children, Yolanda (1955), Martin Luther III (1957),
Dexter (1962), and Bernice (1963).