Biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Success Amid Struggle

Despite danger and disappointment, Dr. King continued to lead protests during 1964. He also continued to defend the civil rights movement in speeches and his new book Why We Can't Wait. He met with U.S. senators who supported integration and with Black Separatist Malcolm X. He went to jail in Florida for demanding service at a whites-only restaurant and watched as President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He launched a nationwide campaign to encourage citizens to vote and denounced the FBI for failing to protect the lives of civil rights workers. His efforts attracted international attention, and on December 10 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. Only 35 years old at the time, Dr. King was the youngest person ever to receive this honor.

On January 3 1965, civil rights worker Samuel Younge, Jr., was murdered for attempting to use a whites-only restroom at an Alabama gas station. On February 1, Dr. King and 770 others demonstrators were arrested in Selma, Alabama. On February 21, Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City. On March 7, leaders of the SCLC and SNCC were beaten as they tried to march from Selma to Montgomery. On August 11, riots erupted in Watts, a mainly African American area of Los Angeles, and continued for five days. Thirty-four people died, more than a thousand were injured, and almost four thousand were arrested.

Even in the midst of this injustice and bloodshed, the civil rights movement made strides. In March 1965, a United States district judge upheld the right of protesters to conduct an orderly demonstration, and Dr. King and his followers completed the march from Selma to Montgomery. On August 6, Dr. King and other African American leaders watched as President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and on November 15, the Supreme Court of the United States called for the desegregation of public schools with "all deliberate speed."