January 18, 2016

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day — the day we honor this outstanding American icon, and his heroic efforts to bring equality among the races and people of this country. He was a profound civil rights leader until his devastating assassination in 1968.

Nevertheless, his impact continues to live on, especially given the Black Lives Matter movements that have rocked our country recently, and brought issues of equality back to the foreground, showing the grave attention this matter needs and the long ways yet we’ve left to go.

Since many of us are out of school and work today, here is a little educational lesson you can share with your kids, featuring some unique facts you and your family may not know about Martin Luther King, Jr.

— MLK, Jr. wasn’t the only member of his family to be killed by gunshot. His mother was killed while playing the organ in church, by a gunman who was sent to kill his father. King’s mother became the ultimate target because she was closer. Although he was to be punished by the death penalty, he was sentenced in life imprisonment instead due to the King family’s opposition to capital punishment.

— Martin Luther Kin, Jr.’s national holiday makes him part of a storied elite: George Washington is the only other American to have had his birthday honored as a national holiday.

— His name was actually Michael! Close friends and family called him Mike. At a certain point his father changed his own name to Martin Luther, and it was then that his son’s name was changed as well. The dates when this happened aren’t entirely clear, but his family continued to call him Michael for the rest of his life.

— Martin Luther King, Jr. originally wanted to marry a white cafeteria worker, but was talked out of it by family and friends. Ironically, his father would not have approved of the bi-racial union and it is said that he never recovered from the heartbreak of having to end this relationship. His father wasn’t a huge fan of King’s chosen wing, Coretta Scott, either. He would have preferred King married opera singer Mattiwilda Dobbs, whose father founded the Atlanta Civic League and the Atlanta Negro Voters League.

—King’s ultimate assassination wasn’t the first attempt on the civil rights leader’s life. In 1958, King was singing copies of his newest book, Stride Towards Freedom, at a department store in Harlem when someone approached him said she’d been looking for him for five years. She then tried to kill him by stabbing him with a letter opener, which nearly punctured his aorta. While in the hospital, he affirmed his belief for nonviolent principles.

Sources: History channel, alternet.org