1 of 4 Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, USA Photo: GETTY IMAGES Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, USA Photo: GETTY IMAGES
On August 28, the United States commemorates the 60th anniversary of one of the speeches that shaped that nation, Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I have a dream.”
The leader of the black civil rights movement delivered this speech during the socalled March on Washington, which brought together thousands of people mostly African Americans in the US capital under the motto “Jobs, Justice and Peace”.
Even today there are many facts about one of the most important men of the 20th century that are not so well known.
For example, when he was born on January 15, 1929, he was named after his father, Michael King.
But six years later, King’s father visited Germany, where he learned about the life of Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation.
It was later said he was so thrilled that he returned home and officially changed his name and that of his eldest son to Martin Luther King.
King was just 39 years old when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968. He had suffered other assassinations before. And after his death, his mother was also to be murdered.
He campaigned for civil rights and racial equality for about 13 years, during which time he was arrested 30 times, mostly for petty crimes and also for leading protests.
But according to the King Center, he made more strides toward racial equality in the United States in that short time than in the previous 350 years.
2 of 4 Portraits taken in one of Martin Luther King’s many prisons Photo: GETTY IMAGES Portraits taken in one of Martin Luther King’s many prisons Photo: GETTY IMAGES
He was arrested in October 1960 after a protest at an Atlanta department store and held at Georgia State Prison.
From then on, he wrote to his wife Coretta, saying he hoped that “the excessive suffering now afflicting our family will help make Atlanta a better city, Georgia a better state, and America a better country.” .”
These are some facts about Martin Luther King’s life and struggle that you may not know.
1. “I have a dream” was improvised
It was August 1963 and the black leader was delivering his most famous speech when gospel singer Mahalia Jackson exclaimed, “Tell them about the dream, Martin!”
This prompted King to change his original speech and return to a previously delivered sermon in which he described an “American Dream” equal and accessible to all citizens.
“I have a dream that one day my four children will live in a nation where they are judged not by the color of their skin but by their character. Today I have a dream,” King said.
3 of 4 The speech later known as “I Have a Dream” was given on August 28, 1963 in Washington DC Photo: GETTY IMAGES The speech later known as “I Have a Dream” was given on August 28, 1963 in Washington DC — Photo: GETTY IMAGES
Her dream of equality is American through and through, says Lerone Martin, director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Institute for Research and Education at Stanford University.
“Despite all the insults he suffered, King did an excellent job, constantly trying to show how his efforts were in line with American ideals.”
2. He helped a woman who almost killed him
In September 1958, King was approached by a mentally ill woman while in New York signing copies of his latest book, Stride Toward Freedom.
She approached him and stabbed him.
During his hospital stay, doctors told him he was “one sneeze away from death” because the gun was buried too close to his aorta, according to the King Institute.
After learning the woman had a mental illness, King said, “I have no grudges against her,” instead asking that she be treated.
On June 30, 1974, six years after King’s assassination, a 23yearold man shot dead the black leader’s mother, Alberta Williams King, while she was playing the organ during a service at the Ebenezer Baptist Church.
The attacker was found guilty and sentenced to death.
The sentence was subsequently returned to life imprisonment, in part due to the King family’s opposition to the death penalty.
3. He was a “Star Trek” fan
During his lifetime, King wrote five books and published numerous collections of his letters and sermons.
His 1964 book Why Can’t We Wait chronicled the events leading up to Birmingham, Alabama’s historic campaign to end racial segregation.
But his status as a social pioneer and thinker did not alienate him from other phenomena of his time such as science fiction and television episodes.
Nichelle Nichols, the actress best known for her role as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on Star Trek, was once introduced to someone who claimed to be “her biggest fan”: it was Martin Luther king jr
When she informed King that she was planning to leave the cast of the series, King insisted that she could not give up this iconic role.
“For the first time, we’re being seen on TV the way we’re meant to be seen every day, as smart, highquality, beautiful people… who can go into space,” the leader told him, according to Nichols.
“I stood there and reflected that every word he said was true. In that moment, the world changed for me.”
She stayed in that role for years.
4. The King family paid for the birth of Julia Roberts
In an interview with journalist Gayle King that went viral, actress Julia Roberts confirmed a littleknown fact about the day she was born.
“The King family paid my hospital bills,” she said, adding that the Roberts and King families became close because their parents welcomed the King children to their Atlanta drama school.
The actress recalled that Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King, called her mother, Betty Lou Bredemus, to find out if the couple’s children could attend the academy because they were having trouble finding a place to go could study acting.
The journalist, who shares the same last name but is not related to the civil rights activist, recalled in the interview that in the 1960s it was difficult to see children from black families studying alongside children from white families.
Later, when Julia was born and her family couldn’t pay the hospital bills, “King and Coretta helped us get out of a tight spot,” the actress said.
4 of 4 Julia Roberts arrives at the fourth edition of the InStyle Awards at the Getty Center in Los Angeles Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Julia Roberts arrives at the fourth edition of the InStyle Awards at the Getty Center , in Los Angeles Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP