Martin Luther King Jr for Kids

Today we are going to learn about Martin Luther King Jr. And you might be thinking, I recognize that name. I've seen that name on a road or on a bridge or on a statue. Well, there's an important reason for that. Martin Luther King Jr. Changed the course of American history. And there's so much that we can learn by looking at his life. And so that's what we're going to do in this video. Martin Luther King Jr. Was a minister who became the leader of the civil rights movement. He fought for the equal rights of African-Americans who were so poorly treated in his day through segregation and discrimination. He believed in equality, that America should be fair to everyone, regardless of their race. OK, we hope you're ready. Let's learn about his life. Here is where our story begins. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15th, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. This is obviously a picture of him when he was a young boy. We didn't have any baby pictures. So this is this is as close as we're going to get. OK, it would be cool if we had the baby pictures of Martin Luther King Jr. We just don't. So here's a picture of him as a young man who was born 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. Now, this is very interesting. It's something that a lot of people don't know at birth. He was given the name Michael King Jr. He was named after his father. So when he was born, his name was Michael King Jr. That's pretty fascinating. All right. So when did his name change? When did he change his name from Michael King Jr. to Martin Luther King Jr.? Those names are really different. Well, there's a really cool story behind that name change. Well, Martin Luther King Jr.'s dad was a Christian minister and his faith was very, very important to him. In 1934, Martin Luther King Jr.'s dad went to Germany for an important religious meeting. The trip inspired him greatly, and one of the heroes of the Christian faith, a man named Martin Luther, was the inspiration behind the name change. Martin Luther King's dad changed both his name and young Michael King Jr.'s name as well. So he became known as Martin Luther King Jr. The same as we know him today. He was named after the Christian reformer Martin Luther. Here was Martin Luther King Jr.'s family growing up. Here's his father, Martin Luther King Sr. His mother, her name was Alberta. His grandmother, Jenny, his little brother, Alfred, his big sister, Christine, and of course, here is Martin Luther King Jr. as a kid. And this is his family. Isn't that amazing? Now, this is cool. Young Martin loved to sing. His mother was a choir director and would have Martin travel with her and sing. He was very gifted. Do you enjoy music and do you enjoy singing? OK. The King family lived in this home. Martin learned from a young age about faith and standing up for what you believe in. It was in this house that Martin grew up and learned all the values he carried throughout his life. Then, as a teenager, Martin attended Booker T. Washington High School. He was known for being a gifted speaker and was part of the school's debate team. He was so gifted that in his junior year, he won a speech contest in Dublin, Georgia. But on his way back to Atlanta, he was forced to stand up during the bus ride just because he was an African-American. It was so unfair. He later said it was the angriest he had ever been. You see, African-Americans suffered discrimination. They were treated poorly simply because of the color of their skin. And if that sounds really unfair, that's because it is. This man and this boy, they're having to stand during the bus ride and it's not fair. And this is something that needed to change because discrimination is wrong. Part of the discrimination against African-Americans was something called segregation. Segregation means separated by race. When Martin Luther King Jr. was growing up, this was a big part of the culture. African-Americans had to use their own schools, their own trains, their own theaters, sometimes even their own hospitals, their own restrooms, their own libraries, their own lunch counters, all kinds of things. And it was not fair because the ones they had to use were usually not as nice. And the only reason they weren't allowed to use the other one was because of their race. Now, after high school, Martin Luther King Jr. continued his education, getting degrees at Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, and finally getting his doctorate at Boston University. He studied to be a minister. A doctorate, also known as a Ph.D., is the highest educational degree you can receive. That means Martin Luther King Jr. got the highest educational degree you can possibly receive. That is so incredible. He loved education. His formal title became Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And even though doctor's in front of his name, it doesn't mean that he was a medical doctor. It means that he got his doctorate or his Ph.D. And for the rest of this video, we're going to be simply shortening that to Dr. King. It was around this time that Dr. King started his own family, marrying Coretta Scott and having their first child the same year he received his doctorate. The King family had four children. Yeah, Dr. King had four kids. And this is awesome. After he got his doctorate, Dr. King began his life's work of fighting for equality. Dr. King was inspired by the example of Mahatma Gandhi. You can see him right here. Mahatma Gandhi was a civil rights leader who lived here in the country of India. Gandhi used peaceful protests to fight against discrimination, and that's exactly what Dr. King wanted to do, too. Dr. King led marches and protests. He made speeches and showed that change can happen without violence. There are peaceful ways to show that discrimination is wrong. Dr. King was arrested 29 times while fighting for equality. Even when people mistreated him, he refused to give up. He knew he was doing the right thing and he wasn't afraid to suffer for doing the right thing to stop discrimination. Now, during this time, Dr. King gave many speeches, but in 1963, he gave his most famous speech. He gave the speech on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington in front of two hundred and fifty thousand people. That's a lot of people. The speech was later called I Have a Dream. So if you ever hear that phrase, I have a dream. Think of Dr. King. It comes from Dr. King's speech. I have a dream. The speech shares the dream and vision that Dr. King had for an America where all people were treated with equality and respect. It is considered one of the greatest speeches in American history. I have a dream. And think back to when he was in high school, when he was making speeches and he won that contest in Dublin. And then on his way back, being so mistreated and getting upset about that. And later on in life, being able to make a speech in front of two hundred and fifty thousand people with the message of treating people with equality and with respect and one of the greatest speeches in American history. It's absolutely incredible. Then in nineteen sixty four, the Civil Rights Act was cited right there. You could see Dr. King was right there when it was signed and it made discrimination and segregation illegal in the eyes of the law. The civil rights movement that Dr. King led did what so many people thought it never could do. They changed the law of the land to make it more equal and to make it more fair. Then in nineteen sixty four, just months after the Civil Rights Act passed, Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest winner ever. He was only thirty five years old. Dr. King continued making speeches and holding protests. The Civil Rights Act was only the beginning. But on April 4th, nineteen sixty eight, while staying in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, Dr. King was shot and killed by someone who was trying to stop his message. He literally gave it all his whole life was given to the cause of equality and ending discrimination and segregation. Dr. King had made the ultimate sacrifice. The man that killed Dr. King tried to stop his message, but Dr. King's message could not be stopped. This was just the beginning. You see, Dr. King's life and mission has inspired countless millions of people. And this is awesome. The Lorraine Motel was later transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum, a place that you can visit and learn even more about the message of equality and civil rights. It's incredible. Dr. King's legacy of racial equality and justice continues to this day. And this is awesome. He has his own holiday since nineteen eighty six. Every third Monday in January is Martin Luther King Junior Day. We celebrate the life and legacy of a man who gave it all to fight for racial equality. And this is amazing. In 2011, a memorial was finished in Washington, D.C., honoring Dr. King. And this memorial is not far from where he gave his speech. I have a dream back in nineteen sixty three. That is the life and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior, a man who changed the course of American history, whose legacy of equality continues to this day. Thanks for watching this homeschool pop video on Dr. Martin Luther King Junior. We hope you learned a lot of new things that you could share with others and that you feel inspired and motivated to make a positive difference in other people's lives, too. We hope to see you next video.