Honoring Dr Martin Luther King Jr
Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog called "Honoring Dr Martin Luther King Jr". Actually tomorrow is the day that we celebrate his birthday though technically his actual birthday is January 15th though this year we honor it on my cousin Jerry's birthday this year. What's to know and honor about Dr King Jr. First let's start at his humble beginnings. First of all he was born on January 15th as Michael King Jr to a Baptist pastor named Michael King Sr (born 1899 died 1984) and his wife Alberta King (born 1903 died 1974) a church organist. King Jr had two other siblings and older sister Christine King Farris (born 1927 died 2023) and AD (born 1930 died 1969.) and they were born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. King Jr came from a family lineage of pastors from his mom's side of the family and the church he grew up attending was "Ebenezer Baptist Church ". He grew up during the Great Depression yet the family prospered during that time. He grew up during the "Jim Crow years" especially in the South because way back then blacks and whites in the South were separated. That meant that blacks and whites in the South couldn't go to the same schools, couldn't work the same jobs, couldn't live in the same neighborhoods, couldn't use the same bathroom, couldn't drink from the same water fountain, couldn't eat the same restaurants, and couldn't even go to the same church if y'all could believe that! That sounds terrible now but that's how it was for many many years. It wouldn't be until 1934 while still during the "Great Depression" Reverend King Sr traveled overseas to Germany where he learned about Protestant Reformation leader, 95 thesis writer, and hymn writer to "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" Martin Luther how he changed the world left a lasting impression on him. When Reverend King Sr returned back to the United States, he changed his name from Michael King Sr to Martin Luther King Sr! He also changed his five year old son Michael King Jr to Martin Luther King Jr! Dr King Jr was a very sensitive child and sang at his church growing up and took violin and piano lessons. Dr King Jr was so smart that he skipped ninth grade and twelfth grade and graduated from high school when he was fifteen years old in 1944! That was unusual both then and now! King Jr decided to attend ''Morehouse College'' (a college that his dad attended years earlier) and graduated from there with his bachelor's in 1948 at the age of nineteen years old! He later attended ''Crozer Theological Seminary'' and graduated at 22 years old in 1951 and attended ''Boston University'' and graduated from there when he was 26 years old in 1955. It would be during his college years that he met a wonderful Christian man named Benjamin Mays who was a mentor to him, explained the gospel of Christ to him, and he got saved. It would be eventually Dr King Jr relocated to Boston, Massachusetts is where he met Coretta Scott through a mutual friend. Coretta was up there attending ''New England Conversatory Of Music'' and it would be on their first date, King Jr knew he would marry her. They got married in 1953 when King Jr was 24 years old while Coretta was 26 years old and remained married until his brutal death at 39 years old in 1968. While they were married they had four children. Their names were Yolanda ''Yokie'' Deniese King, (Born 1955 died 2007) Dr Martin Luther King 3, (born 1957) Dexter King, (born 1961 died 2024) and Berniece King (born 1963) whom many of them would follow their father's footsteps to becoming ministers. The bus boycott started in 1955 when the late Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and got arrested. Dr King Jr had an idea for blacks to refuse to ride buses and walk to work until all buses could be racially integrated. It worked and that's how the Civil rights movement began. It wasn't easy though. When Dr King Jr was at a meeting, his wife, baby girl Yolanda, and a friend were at the house and someone shot a bomb in their living room. Someone had to help Dr King Jr get home to make sure his family was okay and to his relief knew his loved ones were okay. There would be many times that the FBI followed Dr King Jr around and he got unjustly arrested a number of times. Many times his family didn't know where he was until one day President John F Kennedy heard about the situation and demanded Dr King Jr get out of jail and give him his freedom. At times the late evangelist Dr Billy Graham sometimes gave bail money to help Dr King Jr out of jail too. Dr King Jr led many marches leading some of those who marched for freedom got arrested while the firefighters used water hoses to try to stop them. Dr King Jr believed in peaceful protests instead of violence because he believed ''Violence leads to more violence''. Dr King Jr met many Presidents and even befriended the late Dr Billy Graham and was asked to pray for one of his crusades in the North. Dr King Jr was also a minister and gave great speeches one of the most famous speeches was called ''I Have A Dream''. He shared in the speech that his dream was for blacks and whites to hold hands and for his children to be known for the content of their character versus the color of their skin. He gave that speech in 1963 when he was 34 years old at Washington DC that was viewed by millions all across television in America and all over the world. The following year in 1964 he won the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 35 years old and politicians passed the ''Civil Rights Act'' outlawed discrimination on race, religion, sex, or national origin restaurants, theaters, hotels, education, or employment. Dr King Jr suffered blood, sweat, tears, and prayers doing all he can to bring whites and blacks together despite the many different challenges that occurred because of that. Also many famous people supported him such as the late gospel artist Mahalia Jackson and the late ''Queen Of Soul'' Aretha Franklin who often sang and supported his marches as well too. In Spring of 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee on top of the balcony ''Lorraine Motel'' and many mourned when he died but his legacy lives on. Not long after he died the ''King Museum'' was founded not long after that and Dr Martin Luther King Day became a national holiday in 1986 every third Monday in the month of January. His wife Coretta continued fighting for her late husband's cause until the day she died in her seventies in 2006. Ladies I know without a doubt that Dr King Jr had the heart of our Heavenly King King Jesus willing to do all he could to bring unity when there was division. There's still alot of division in our nation right now and I pray we in the body of Christ be people of peace. I believe in racial equality and believe that the gospel needs to get out to blacks and whites as well as all cultures. It's my prayer to keep Dr King's dream alive and to keep Christ's dream alive too. I absolutely hate racism to the core and from time to time tried to rear its ugly head but prayer can stop that as well standing up for justice and truth. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. Let's honor Dr King Jr today and tomorrow (as well as February being ''Black History Month'') and do our best to carry on his legacy as well as the gospel out to all. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Lord's day, happy Dr King Jr Day, and have a blessed week!










