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PRINTER'S NO. 1607
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
309
Session of
2018
INTRODUCED BY HUGHES, MARCH 27, 2018
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, MARCH 27, 2018
A RESOLUTION
Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
WHEREAS, Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15,
1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, to the Reverend Martin Luther King,
Sr., and Alberta Williams King; and
WHEREAS, Martin Luther King, Jr., grew up in Atlanta and
attended Morehouse College, graduating in 1948; and
WHEREAS, During Dr. King's final semester at Morehouse, he
was ordained; and
WHEREAS, During that time, Dr. King took his first steps
toward political activism by responding through a letter to the
editor regarding the postwar wave of anti-black violence; and
WHEREAS, After leaving Morehouse, Dr. King continued his
progression of faith by attending Crozer Theological Seminary in
Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, After completing his time at the seminary in 1951,
Dr. King enrolled in a doctoral program at Boston University;
and
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WHEREAS, During his time in Boston, Dr. King met and courted
Coretta Scott; and
WHEREAS, Dr. King and Coretta Scott were married in June of
1953 in Alabama and had four children, Yolanda Denise, Martin
Luther III, Dexter Scott and Bernice Albertine; and
WHEREAS, Through the 1950s and 1960s, drawing inspiration
from his Christian faith and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi,
Dr. King led a nonviolent movement to achieve legal equality for
African Americans in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Dr. King used the power of words and acts of
nonviolent resistance such as protests, grassroots organizing
and civil disobedience to achieve seemingly impossible goals;
and
WHEREAS, In addition to leading the movement to achieve legal
equality for African Americans, Dr. King lead campaigns against
poverty and international conflict; and
WHEREAS, In 1955, Dr. King served as the spokesman for the
Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was a campaign by the African-
American population of Montgomery, Alabama, to integrate the
city's bus lines; and
WHEREAS, Three hundred eighty-two days after near-universal
participation by the African-American citizens of Montgomery,
the Supreme Court of the United States ruled racial segregation
in transportation to be unconstitutional; and
WHEREAS, Dr. King was elected president of the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference in 1957; and
WHEREAS, Dr. King served as head of that organization,
designed to provide new leadership for the civil rights
movement, until he was assassinated in 1968; and
WHEREAS, In 1963, Dr. King led a coalition of civil rights
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groups in a nonviolent campaign aimed at Birmingham, Alabama,
which at the time was described as "the most segregated city in
America"; and
WHEREAS, The brutality of the city's police force in
Birmingham, Alabama, was highlighted by vivid television images
that led to national outrage and unprecedented civil rights
legislation; and
WHEREAS, Dr. King was a driving force behind the March on
Washington for Jobs and Freedom, commonly known as the "March on
Washington"; and
WHEREAS, The March on Washington drew more than a quarter of
a million people to the National Mall in Washington, DC; and
WHEREAS, At the march, Dr. King delivered his famous "I Have
a Dream" speech; and
WHEREAS, Due in part to the power of the March on Washington,
the Congress of the United States enacted the Voting Rights Act
of 1965; and
WHEREAS, In 1964, at 35 years of age, Dr. King became the
youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize at the time; and
WHEREAS, Between 1965 and 1968, Dr. King shifted his focus
toward economic justice, which culminated in the "Poor People's
Campaign"; and
WHEREAS, The Poor People's Campaign was a broad effort to
assemble a multiracial coalition of impoverished Americans who
would advocate for economic change; and
WHEREAS, On April 4, 1968, less than 13 years after he took a
leading role in advocacy through nonviolent means, Dr. King was
assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee; and
WHEREAS, Dr. King was laid to rest in his hometown of
Atlanta, Georgia; and
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WHEREAS, Dr. King specifically had an instrumental influence
on American morality during a crucial time in our country's
history when, to many, morals seemed less than absolute; and
WHEREAS, Since his assassination, Dr. King has continued to
inspire countless individuals of all races and ethnicities to
stand for and demand change; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate recognize the 50th anniversary of
the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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