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Board of Education |publisher=W. W. Norton & Co |year=2004 |isbn=0-393-05897-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/alldeliberatespe00ogle/page/138 138]}}</ref><ref name="bf"/><ref name="bio" /> Michael Jr. had an older sister, [[Christine King Farris]], and a younger brother, [[A. D. King|Alfred Daniel "A. D." King]].{{sfn|King|1992|p=76}} Alberta's father, Adam Daniel Williams,<ref name="The King Center">{{Cite web |title=Upbringing & Studies |url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/upbringing-studies |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122161058/http://www.thekingcenter.org/upbringing-studies |archive-date=January 22, 2013 |access-date=September 2, 2012 |publisher=The King Center}}</ref> was a minister in rural [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], moved to Atlanta in 1893,<ref name="bio">{{cite web |title=Martin Luther King Jr. |url=https://www.biography.com/activist/martin-luther-king-jr |date=March 9, 2015 |website=Biography |publisher=A&E Television Networks, LLC |access-date=January 22, 2020 |archive-date=March 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200310135126/https://www.biography.com/activist/martin-luther-king-jr |url-status=live }}</ref> and became pastor of the [[Ebenezer Baptist Church (Atlanta, Georgia)|Ebenezer Baptist Church]] in the following year.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=6}} Williams married Jennie Celeste Parks.<ref name="bio"/> Michael Sr. was born to [[sharecroppers]] James Albert and Delia King of [[Stockbridge, Georgia|Stockbridge, Georgia;]]<ref name="bf">{{cite web |title=Birth & Family |url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/birth-family |website=The King Center |publisher=The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change |access-date=January 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122161032/http://www.thekingcenter.org/birth-family |archive-date=January 22, 2013}}</ref><ref name="bio"/> he was of African-[[Irish American|Irish]] descent.<ref>{{cite web|title=King, James Albert|url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_king_james_albert_1864_1933/|access-date=June 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217012826/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_king_james_albert_1864_1933/|archive-date=December 17, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Nsenga|first=Burton|title=AfricanAncestry.com Reveals Roots of MLK and Marcus Garvey|date=January 13, 2011|url=https://www.theroot.com/africanancestry-com-reveals-roots-of-mlk-and-marcus-gar-1790862357|access-date=May 29, 2020|archive-date=January 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118095620/https://www.theroot.com/africanancestry-com-reveals-roots-of-mlk-and-marcus-gar-1790862357|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Alondra|last=Nelson |author-link=Alondra Nelson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W5nhDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA160 |title=The Social Life of DNA | quote= "Kittles informed King that his Y-chromosome DNA analysis traced to Ireland and his mtDNA analysis associated him with the Mende." |pages=160–161 |date=2016 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-2718-9}}</ref> As an adolescent, Michael Sr. left his parents' farm and walked to Atlanta, where he attained a high school education,{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=11}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=10}}{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=2}} and enrolled in [[Morehouse College]] to study for entry to the ministry.{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=2}} Michael Sr. and Alberta began dating in 1920, and married on November 25, 1926.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=12}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}} Until Jennie's death in 1941, their home was on the second floor of Alberta's parents' [[Victorian house]], where King was born.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=4}}{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=12}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}} Shortly after marrying Alberta, Michael King Sr. became assistant pastor of the Ebenezer church.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}} Senior pastor Williams died in the spring of 1931{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}} and that fall Michael Sr. took the role. With support from his wife, he raised attendance from six hundred to several thousand.<ref name="bio"/>{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}}{{sfn|Eig|2023|p=43}} In 1934, the church sent King Sr. on a multinational trip, one of the stops on the trip was [[Berlin]] for the Congress of the [[Baptist World Alliance]] [BWA]).<ref name="deneen">{{cite news|first=DeNeen L.|last=Brown|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=January 20, 2019|title=The story of how Michael King Jr. became Martin Luther King Jr.|date=January 15, 2019|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/01/15/story-how-michael-king-jr-became-martin-luther-king-jr/|archive-date=December 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231120621/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/01/15/story-how-michael-king-jr-became-martin-luther-king-jr/|url-status=live}}</ref> He also visited sites in [[Germany]] which are associated with the [[Reformation]] leader [[Martin Luther]].<ref name="deneen"/> In reaction to the rise of [[Nazism]], the BWA made a resolution saying, "This Congress deplores and condemns as a violation of the law of [[God]] the [[God the Father|Heavenly Father]], all racial animosity, and every form of oppression or unfair discrimination toward the Jews, toward colored people, or toward subject races in any part of the world."<ref name="ajc">{{cite news |last1=Nancy Clanton |first1=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |title=Why Martin Luther King Jr.'s father changed their names |url=https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/why-martin-luther-king-father-changed-their-names/5ClNJ60MUtgsAZyCB4A4IN/ |access-date=February 3, 2020 |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |date=January 17, 2020 |language=en |archive-date=January 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200120172044/https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/why-martin-luther-king-father-changed-their-names/5ClNJ60MUtgsAZyCB4A4IN/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After returning home in August 1934, Martin Sr. changed his name to Martin Luther King Sr. and his five-year-old son's name to Martin Luther King Jr.<ref name="deneen"/>{{sfn|King|1992|pp=30–31}}{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=12}}{{efn|King Jr's birth certificate was later altered to read "Martin Luther King Jr." on July 23, 1957, when he was 28 years old.<ref name="deneen"/><ref name="ajc"/>{{sfn|King|1992|p=31}}}} ===Early childhood=== [[File:Martin Luther King's Boyhood Home.jpg|thumb|left|King's childhood home in [[Atlanta]]]] At his childhood home, Martin King Jr. and his two siblings read aloud the [[Bible]] as instructed by their father.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=5}} After dinners, Martin Jr.'s grandmother Jennie, whom he affectionately referred to as "Mama" told lively stories from the [[Bible]].{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=5}} Martin Jr.'s father regularly used [[whipping]]s to discipline his children,{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=8}} sometimes having them whip each other.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=8}} Martin Sr. later remarked, "[Martin Jr.] was the most peculiar child whenever you whipped him. He'd stand there, and the tears would run down, and he'd never cry."{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=14}} Once, when Martin Jr. witnessed his brother A.D. emotionally upset his sister Christine, he took a telephone and knocked A.D. unconcious with it.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=8}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}} When Martin Jr. and his brother were playing at their home, A.D. slid from a banister and hit Jennie, causing her to fall unresponsive.{{sfn|Oates|1983|pp=8–9}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}} Martin Jr. believing her dead, blamed himself and attempted [[suicide]] by jumping from a second-story window,{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=9}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}} but rose from the ground after hearing that she was alive.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=9}} Martin King Jr. became friends with a white boy whose father owned a business across the street from his home.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}} In September 1935, when the boys were about six years old, they started school.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. |first=Alan |last=Pierce |url=https://archive.org/details/assassinationofm0000pier |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/assassinationofm0000pier/page/14 14] |year=2004 |publisher=Abdo Pub Co |isbn=978-1-59197-727-8 }}</ref> King had to attend a school for black children, Yonge Street Elementary School,{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=13}} while his playmate went to a separate school for white children only.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=13}} Soon afterwards, the parents of the white boy stopped allowing King to play with their son, stating to him, "we are white, and you are colored".{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}}{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=4}} When King relayed this to his parents, they talked with him about the history of [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] and [[Racism in the United States|racism in America]],{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=14}} which King would later say made him "determined to hate every white person".{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=10}} His parents instructed him that it was his [[Christians|Christian]] duty to love everyone.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=14}} Martin King Jr. witnessed his father stand up against [[Racial segregation in the United States|segregation]] and [[Discrimination based on skin color|discrimination]].{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=15}} Once, when stopped by a police officer who referred to Martin Sr. as "boy", responded sharply that Martin Jr. was a boy but he was a man.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=15}} When Martin Jr's father took him into a shoe store in downtown Atlanta, the clerk told them they needed to sit in the back.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=9}} Martin Sr. refused asserting "we'll either buy shoes sitting here or we won't buy any shoes at all", before leaving the store with Martin Jr.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=10}} He told Martin Jr. afterward, "I don't care how long I have to live with this system, I will never accept it."{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=10}} In 1936, Martin Sr. led hundreds of African Americans in a [[civil rights]] march to the [[city hall]] in Atlanta, to protest [[voting rights]] discrimination.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=8}} Martin Jr. later remarked that Martin Sr. was "a real father" to him.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=12}} Martin King Jr. memorized [[hymns]] and Bible verses by the time he was five years old.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=9}} Beginning at six years old, he attended church events with his mother and sing hymns while she played piano.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=9}} His favorite hymn was "I Want to Be More and More Like Jesus"; his singing moved attendees.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=9}} King later became a member of the junior choir in his church.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King Jr.: Young Man with a Dream|first=Dharathula H.|last=Millender|pages=[https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00mill_0/page/45 45–46]|year=1986|isbn=978-0-02-042010-1|publisher=Aladdin|url=https://archive.org/details/martinlutherking00mill_0/page/45}}</ref> He enjoyed opera, and played the piano.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=13}} King garnered a large vocabulary from reading dictionaries.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}} He got into physical altercations with boys in his neighborhood, but oftentimes used his knowledge of words to stop or avoid fights.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}}{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=13}} King showed a lack of interest in grammar and spelling, a trait that persisted throughout his life.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=13}} In 1939, King sang as a member of his church choir dressed as a [[slave]], for the all-white audience at the Atlanta premiere of the film ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]''.<ref name="katznelson">{{cite book| last=Katznelson| first=Ira| page=[https://archive.org/details/whenaffirmativea00katz/page/5 5]| title=When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America| isbn=0-393-05213-3| year=2005| publisher=WW Norton & Co| url=https://archive.org/details/whenaffirmativea00katz/page/5}}</ref>{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=11}} In September 1940, at the age of 11, King was enrolled at the Atlanta University Laboratory School for the [[seventh grade]].{{sfn|Boyd|1996|p=23}}<ref>{{cite web |title=King enters seventh grade at Atlanta University Laboratory School |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-enters-seventh-grade-atlanta-university-laboratory-school |website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=September 17, 2020 |date=June 12, 2017 |archive-date=April 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427032434/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-enters-seventh-grade-atlanta-university-laboratory-school |url-status=live }}</ref> While there, King took violin and piano lessons and showed keen interest in history and [[English studies|English]] classes.{{sfn|Boyd|1996|p=23}} On May 18, 1941, when King had sneaked away from studying at home to watch a parade, he was informed that something had happened to his maternal grandmother.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=12}} After returning home, he learned she had a heart attack and died while being transported to a hospital.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}} He took her death very hard and believed that his deception in going to see the parade may have been responsible for God taking her.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}} King jumped out of a second-story window at his home but again survived.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}}{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=14}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=15}} His father instructed him that Martin Jr. should not blame himself and that she had been called home to God as part of God's plan.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=16}} Martin Jr. struggled with this.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}} Shortly thereafter, Martin Sr. decided to move the family to a two-story brick home on a hill overlooking downtown Atlanta.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=13}} ===Adolescence=== [[File:Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta.jpg|thumb|The high school that King attended was named after African-American educator [[Booker T. Washington]].]] As an adolescent, he initially felt resentment against whites due to the "racial humiliation" that he, his family, and his neighbors often had to endure.<ref>{{cite news|last=Blake|first=John|title=How MLK became an angry black man|date=April 16, 2013|work=[[CNN]]|url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/us/king-birmingham-jail-letter-anniversary/|access-date=May 29, 2020|archive-date=July 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713045959/https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/us/king-birmingham-jail-letter-anniversary/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1942, when King was 13, he became the youngest assistant manager of a newspaper delivery station for the ''[[Atlanta Journal]]''.{{sfn|King|1992|p=82}} In the same year, King skipped the ninth grade and enrolled in [[Booker T. Washington High School (Georgia)|Booker T. Washington High School]], where he maintained a B-plus average.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=16}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} The high school was the only one in the city for African-American students.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=7}} Martin Jr. was brought up in a [[Baptist]] home; as he entered adolescence he began to question the [[biblical literalism|literalist]] teachings preached at his father's church.{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=16}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=14}} At the age of 13, he denied the [[Resurrection of Jesus|bodily resurrection of Jesus]] during [[Sunday school]].<ref name="Autobiography">{{cite web|url=http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/kingweb/publications/papers/vol1/501122-An_Autobiography_of_Religious_Development.htm|title=An Autobiography of Religious Development|website=The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute|publisher=Stanford University|archive-url=https://swap.stanford.edu/20141218230444/http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/kingweb/publications/papers/vol1/501122-An_Autobiography_of_Religious_Development.htm|archive-date=December 18, 2014|url-status=dead|access-date=November 15, 2018}}</ref>{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=14}} Martin Jr. said that he found himself unable to identify with the emotional displays from congregants which were frequent at his church; he doubted if he would ever attain personal satisfaction from religion.{{sfn|King|1998|p=14}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=14}} He later said of this point in his life, "doubts began to spring forth unrelentingly."{{sfn|King|1998|p=6}}<ref name=Autobiography/>{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=14}} In high school, Martin King Jr. became known for his public-speaking ability, with a voice that had grown into an orotund [[baritone]].{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=8}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} He joined the school's debate team.{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=8}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} King continued to be most drawn to history and [[English studies|English]],{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} and chose English and [[sociology]] as his main subjects.{{sfn|Patterson|1969|p=25}} King maintained an abundant [[vocabulary]].{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} However, he relied on his sister Christine to help him with spelling, while King assisted her with math.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=15}} King also developed an interest in fashion, commonly wearing polished [[patent leather]] shoes and [[tweed]] suits, which gained him the nickname "Tweed" or "Tweedie" among his friends.{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=17}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Davis|2005|p=18}}{{sfn|Muse|1978|p=17}} He liked flirting with girls and dancing.{{sfn|Davis|2005|p=18}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Rowland|1990|p=23}} His brother A.D. later remarked, "He kept flitting from chick to chick, and I decided I couldn't keep up with him. Especially since he was crazy about dances, and just about the best jitterbug in town."{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}} On April 13, 1944, in his [[eleventh grade|junior year]], King gave his first public speech during an [[Original Oratory|oratorical contest]].<ref name="Elks"/>{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}<ref>{{cite news |last1=Fraser |first1=C. Gerald |title=Thousands of Black Elks in City To Attend Annual Convention |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/11/archives/thousands-of-black-elks-in-city-to-attend-annual-convention.html |access-date=October 12, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=August 11, 1974 |archive-date=March 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316022147/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/11/archives/thousands-of-black-elks-in-city-to-attend-annual-convention.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="crenshaw">{{cite news |last1=Crenshaw |first1=Wayne |title=King's 'journey to the mountain top' started in Dublin |url=https://www.macon.com/news/local/article224559455.html |access-date=October 12, 2020 |work=Macon Telegraph |date=January 18, 2019 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126184221/https://www.macon.com/news/local/article224559455.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In his speech he stated, "black America still wears chains. The finest negro is at the mercy of the meanest white man."{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=17}}<ref name="Elks">{{cite web |title=The Negro and the Constitution |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/negro-and-constitution |website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=October 12, 2020 |language=en |date=December 9, 2014 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> King was selected as the winner of the contest.<ref name="Elks"/>{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}} On the ride home to Atlanta by bus, he and his teacher were ordered by the driver to stand so that white passengers could sit.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=9}} The driver of the bus called King a "black son-of-a-bitch".{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}} King initially refused but complied after his teacher told him that he would be breaking the law if he did not.{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=9}} As all the seats were occupied, he and his teacher were forced to stand the rest of the way to Atlanta.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}} Later King wrote of the incident: "That night will never leave my memory. It was the angriest I have ever been in my life."{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=9}} ===Morehouse College=== During King's junior year in high school, [[Morehouse College]]—an all-male [[Historically black colleges and universities|historically black college]] that King's father and maternal grandfather had attended{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=19}}{{sfn|Davis|2005|p=10}}—began accepting high school juniors who passed the [[entrance examination]].{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Schuman|2014|loc=chpt. 2}}{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=9}} As [[World War II]] was underway many black college students had been enlisted,{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Schuman|2014|loc=chpt. 2}} so the university aimed to increase their enrolment by allowing juniors to apply.{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Schuman|2014|loc=chpt. 2}}{{sfn|Fleming|2008|p=9}} In 1944, aged 15, King passed the examination and was enrolled at the university that autumn.{{efn|There is some disagreement in sources regarding precisely when King took and passed the entrance exam in 1944. Oates (1993) and Schuman (2014) state that King passed the exam in the spring of 1944 before graduating from the eleventh grade and then being enrolled in Morehouse that fall. Manheimer (2005) states that King graduated from the eleventh grade, then applied and took the entrance exam before going to Connecticut, but did not find out he had passed until August 1944 when he was admitted. White (1974) states he took and passed the exam upon his return from Connecticut in 1944.}}{{sfn|Oates|1983|p=16}}{{sfn|Schuman|2014|loc=chpt. 2}}{{sfn|Manheimer|2004|p=19}}{{sfn|White|1974|p=25}} In the summer before King started at Morehouse, he boarded a train with his friend—Emmett "Weasel" Proctor—and a group of other Morehouse College students to work in [[Simsbury, Connecticut]], at the [[tobacco farm]] of Cullman Brothers Tobacco.<ref name="tewa">{{cite news |last1=Tewa |first1=Sophia |title=How picking tobacco in Connecticut influenced MLK's life |url=https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/How-picking-tobacco-in-Connecticut-influenced-12802478.php |access-date=October 18, 2020 |work=Connecticut Post |date=April 3, 2018 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124043013/https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/How-picking-tobacco-in-Connecticut-influenced-12802478.php |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ctnbc">{{cite news |title=MLK Worked Two Summers on Simsbury Tobacco Farm |url=https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/mlk-worked-two-summers-on-simsbury-tobacco-farm/1947510/ |access-date=October 18, 2020 |work=NBC Connecticut |date=January 19, 2015 |archive-date=November 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129041936/https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/mlk-worked-two-summers-on-simsbury-tobacco-farm/1947510/ |url-status=live }}</ref> This was King's first trip into the [[Racial integration|integrated]] north.<ref name="jc"/><ref name="mk">{{cite news |last1=Kochakian |first1=Mary |title=How a Trip To Connecticut Changed Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life |url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2000-01-17-0001181153-story.html |access-date=October 18, 2020 |work=The Hartford Courant |date=January 17, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230030434/https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2000-01-17-0001181153-story.html |archive-date=December 30, 2019}}</ref> In a June 1944 letter to his father King wrote about the differences that struck him: "On our way here we saw some things I had never anticipated to see. After we passed Washington there was no discrimination at all. The white people here are very nice. We go to any place we want to and sit anywhere we want to."<ref name="jc"/> The farm had partnered with Morehouse College to allot their [[salaries]] towards the university's [[tuition]], housing, and fees.<ref name="tewa"/><ref name="ctnbc"/> On weekdays King and the other students worked in the fields, picking tobacco from 7:00am to at least 5:00pm, enduring temperatures above 100 [[Fahrenheit|°F]], to earn roughly USD$4 per day.<ref name="ctnbc"/><ref name="jc">{{cite news |last1=Christoffersen |first1=John |title=MLK Was Inspired by Time in Connecticut |url=https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/mlk-was-inspired-by-time-in-connecticut/1885278/ |access-date=October 18, 2020 |work=NBC Connecticut |date=January 17, 2011 |archive-date=May 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513091409/https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/mlk-was-inspired-by-time-in-connecticut/1885278/ |url-status=live }}</ref> On Friday evenings, the students visited downtown Simsbury to get milkshakes and watch movies, and on Saturdays they would travel to [[Hartford, Connecticut]], to see theatre performances, shop and eat in restaurants.<ref name="ctnbc"/><ref name="mk"/> On Sundays they attended church services in Hartford, at a church filled with white congregants.<ref name="ctnbc"/> King wrote to his parents about the lack of segregation, relaying how he was amazed they could go to "one of the finest restaurants in Hartford" and that "Negroes and whites go to the same church".<ref name="ctnbc"/><ref name="brindley">{{cite news |last1=Brindley |first1=Emily |title=Martin Luther King Jr.'s time in Connecticut was pivotal, but has never been thoroughly documented; that's about to change |url=https://www.courant.com/community/simsbury/hc-news-simsbury-martin-luther-king-jr-tobacco-20191113-mcp3mzoevbf37io2yixwp4fojq-story.html |access-date=October 19, 2020 |work=courant.com |date=November 13, 2019 |archive-date=July 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724083647/https://www.courant.com/community/simsbury/hc-news-simsbury-martin-luther-king-jr-tobacco-20191113-mcp3mzoevbf37io2yixwp4fojq-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="jc"/> He played freshman football there. The summer before his last year at Morehouse, in 1947, the 18-year-old King chose to enter the [[Christian ministry|ministry]]. He would later credit the college's president, [[Baptists|Baptist]] minister [[Benjamin Mays]], with being his "spiritual mentor".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kelly|first=Jason|date=January 1, 2013|title=Benjamin Mays found a voice for civil rights|url=https://www.uchicago.edu/features/benjamin_mays/|access-date=June 6, 2020|website=The University of Chicago|language=en|archive-date=March 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309041036/https://www.uchicago.edu/features/benjamin_mays/|url-status=dead}}</ref> King had concluded that the church offered the most assuring way to answer "an inner urge to serve humanity", and he made peace with the Baptist Church, as he believed he would be a "rational" minister with sermons that were "a respectful force for ideas, even social protest."{{sfn|Frady|2002|p=18}} King graduated from Morehouse with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] in sociology in 1948, aged nineteen.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Finkelman|first=Paul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UVgKAgAAQBAJ&q=MLK+BA+sociology&pg=PA889|title=Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-94704-0|language=en}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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