BRITS AND BEYOND – LEADER, VISIONARY AND CULTURAL ICON: 6 FACTS ABOUT MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

By Samuel Conley, (Language Assistant Year 2024-25)
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (colloquially known as “MLK) was an activist who, during the 1950s and 1960s, worked diligently to raise public awareness about racism in the United States, and sought to dismantle social and economic barriers for African Americans—a population which, for decades, had faced severe mistreatment. Today, many students in the United States learn about the 50s and 60s as the time period in which the American Civil Rights Movement primarily took place. The movement had many leaders such as Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and others. However, most Americans recognize Martin Luther King as the greatest of them all. King, along with his fellow activists, publicly called for the end of racial segregation in the United States. Racial segregation consisted of laws and policies that systematically required black people to use public spaces and facilities which were physically separate from those of white people. Racial segregation was present in most parts of the United States, but it was most prominent in the South.
Today, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is held annually as a public holiday in the United States. This means that, on this day, most people don’t have to go to work, students don’t go have to go school, and most businesses remain closed until the next day. Although MLK was born on January 15th, 1929, the official “observed” holiday is always on the third Monday of January. So, depending on the year, this observed date can be as early as January 15th, and as late as January 21st. This year, in 2025, the holiday is celebrated on Monday, January 20th.
As we approach the 100th anniversary of MLK’s birth, let’s take some time to remember the many things MLK promoted and accomplished for the American people. Here are 6 interesting things to know about Martin Luther King Jr.
1. King had many political opponents
In the 1950s and 1960s, the FBI secretly monitored MLK using wiretaps and spies. J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI at the time, believed that MLK was sympathetic to communists and their attempts to infiltrate the United States (https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/federal-bureau-investigation-fbi).
2. He was inspired by Mahatma Ghandi
Ghandi used methods of peaceful protest as a means to end British rule in India. MLK wanted to follow Ghandi’s example and, using the same methods, achieve racial equality in the United States (https://www.npr.org/2009/01/16/99480326/martin-luther-king-recording-found-in-india)
3. He won the Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Committee awarded the prize to MLK in 1964 “for his non-violent struggle for civil rights for the Afro-American population” (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/facts/).
4. He believed in nonviolence.
MLK stated in his own words that “nonviolence is… to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression” (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/acceptance-speech/). It stood in contrast to the methods of his other civil rights contemporaries, such as Malcolm X, who famously declared the need to achieve rights for African Americans “by any means necessary” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/malcolm-xs-by-any-means-necessary-speech/2015/02/20/16fecd00-b955-11e4-bc30-a4e75503948a_video.html).
5. He gave the “I have a dream” speech
About 250.000 people were present when MLK spoke from the Lincoln memorial, in Washington D.C., on August 28th, 1963. Even more people saw it on television. Millions of Americans applauded and cheered when they heard MLK say his famous words:
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal’” (https://www.newsweek.com/martin-luther-king-jr-i-have-dream-full-speech-video-lincoln-memorial-march-1297091).
5. He was assassinated
In April 1968, during his stay at a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, MLK had been standing outside on the balcony around 6 o’clock at night when, all of a sudden, a man fired at him with a sniper and killed him. A suspect named James Earl Ray later confessed to the crime. Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison and died in 1998, almost thirty years later (https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/assassination-martin-luther-king-jr).
