One other thing that might surprise you about King-- he was a republican. The King family were upper class wealthy (relative to most of his parishioners at least) and staunch republicans and King voted GOP all his life up until 1960 when Robert F. Kennedy interceded to help King get out of jail. This caused King Sr. and the rest of the family to switch parties and support the Kennedys. The reasons for their being republicans were fairly obvious-- the corrupt racist southern politicians and authorities they were constantly fighting in the south were all democrats. Some southern states democratic parties wouldn't at that time even seat black delegates to state and national party conventions, nor actively encourage registration of black voters.