Martin Luther King Action Figure

Portrait:

Bio: Martin Luther King Jr. (Michael Luther King Jr.) was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta
Georgia. He was the grandson and son of pastors from the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
King would go on to act as a copastor at the church. Martin went to school at a segregated public
school in Georgia. He graduated from high school at the age of 15. He then received his B.A.
Degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished African American institution in
Atlanta. His father and Grandfather both graduated from this college. He received his B.D. in
Crozier Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania in 1951. He then enrolled in the graduate studies
program at Bostin University, completing his residency for his doctorate in 1953 and receiving
his degree in 1955. He met and married Coretta Scott in Boston. They had two sons and a
daughter together. King was a member of the executive committee of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People. In 1955 he became the leader of the first great Negro
nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States. This included a bus
boycott that lasted 382 days. During the bus boycott King was arrested, him home bombed and
he received personal abuse but he continued to work towards the cause. He emerged from this
boycott as a Negro leader of the first rank. The ruling of the Supreme Court from this case was
that segregated buses were outlawed. He was elected the president of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference. In eleven years between 1957 and 1968 King traveled six million miles
and spoke over twenty-five hundred times. He wrote five books and numerous articles. He also
led a massive protest in Birmingham Alabama. This inspired his Letter from a Birmingham Jail
manifesto on the Negro revolution. He directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C.
including 250,000 people. He delivered his I Have a Dream speech at this Protest. At thirty-
five he received the Nobel Peace Prize. He gave the $54,000 prize to the furtherance of the civil
rights movement. He was killed on April 4, 1968 while giving a speech of the balcony of his
hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee.
Accessories: A Nobel peace prize because he was awarded with one at the age of 35. A paper
and pencil because he wrote and gave many speeches in his time. A book because he wrote five
books and several articles in his life. A microphone because he gave thousands of speeches in his
lifetime.

Alternate Costume: A clergy robe because that is what Martin Luther King Jr. wore when he
preached at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in
Montgomery, Alabama.

Collect-Them-All: Martin Luther King Jr. is part of the Civil Rights collect. He gave
speeches and participated in protests for civil rights. He went to jail protesting for non-
segregated bus seating. He played a huge part in the March on Washington where he gave his I
Have a Dream speech.

Theme Song: I Have a Dream Common feat. Will.i.am. I choose this song because it was
written based on his I Have a Dream speech. It includes parts of his speech and how they affect
people of color today.

Futuristic Version: Martin Luther King Jr. played a huge part in the Civil Rights Movement.
His participating in protests for non-segregated buses allow us to all ride together as citizens. His
speeches helped push for civil rights for allow. Today we live in a desegregated country where
little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls
as sisters and brothers.

Special Talents: Martin Luther King Jr. has a talent for speaking to people. His speeches
motivated others to make the change that he wanted to see in the word. His other talent was
organization. He could help organize successful protests such as the March on Washington and
the Bus Boycotts. He could organize large groups of people together for a common purpose.

Sources:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1964/king-bio.html
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

(Figurine on the next page with accessories above.)