Martin
Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born
Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to
Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors
of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to
1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from
1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin
Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating
from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A.
degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro
institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather
had graduated. After three years of theological study at
Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected
president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded
the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in
graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the
doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he
met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon
intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters
were born into the family.
