January 2011
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first
published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and
republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source
as shown above.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1964
Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was used as a meeting-place
for civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Ralph David Abernathy and
Fred Shutterworth. Tensions became high when the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC) and the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) became involved
in a campaign to register African American to vote in Birmingham.
On Sunday, 15th September, 1963, a white man was seen getting out of a white
and turquoise Chevrolet car and placing a box under the steps of the Sixteenth
Street Baptist Church. Soon afterwards, at 10.22 a.m., the bomb exploded
killing Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14) and
Cynthia Wesley (14). The four girls had been attending Sunday school classes
at the church. Twenty-three other people were also hurt by the blast.
Follow the link to read more on the infamous day in American history.
Facts on the Birmingham Bombing
We are reading this poem in class; share it today with your friends and family.
"Ballad of Birmingham" Poem by Dudley Randall