ebsequtes 
jflarttn JLutbtr J!tng 3fr. 
TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 1968 
10:30 A.M. 
iEbrntltr 1iuptist Qiqurr4 
2:00P.M. 
W'4.r <t!umpus .nf.:!lnr.r4nus.r <t!nll.rg.r 
ATLANTA, GEORGIA 
 
 !lartin iGutqrr 1King 3Jr. 
1929. 1968 
MARTIN LuTHER KING JR. is like the great Yggdrasil tree, 
"whose roots," a poet said, "are deep in earth but in whose upper branches the stars of heaven are glowing and astir." 
His roots went deeply into the inferno of slavery, this black baby born January 15, 1929, to Alberta Williams King and Martin Luther King Sr. Now the roots have grown to those upper branches, and he is indeed among the stars of heaven, this beautiful man, husband, father, pastor, leader. 
He is free and he is home, and the world has come to his home to honor him and hopefully, to repent the sins against him and all humanity. 
Martin Luther King came of a deeply religious family tradition. His great grandfather was a slave exhorter. His maternal grandfather, the Rev. Adam Daniel Williams, was the second pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church where for eight years, Dr. King and his father were co-pastors. 
This lineage which permeated his life was an enormous influence on him and what he would ultimately become. 
His father, born at the turn of the century in Stockbridge, Georgia, came to Atlanta in 1916. In 1925, Martin Luther King Sr. married Alberta Williams. They were blessed with a daughter and two sons. The youngest <;on is the Reverend .Alfred Daniel Williams King of Louisville, Kentucky, who went to Memphis, Tennessee, one infamous day "to help my brother." The daughter is Christine King Farris of Atlanta, who went to a home that night to comfort her brother's wife. The other son was Martin Luther King, Jr. 
Reared in a home of love, understanding, and compassion, young Martin was to find 501 Auburn Avenue a buffer against the rampant injustices of the "sick society" for which he would become the physician. 
 
 A serious student, student at !\.Iorehouse 
 
Martin College 
 
Luther King was an early in Atlanta, fr.om which he 
 
admissions graduated 
 
with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948. 
 
His great "wrestling inside with the must have been prophetic of .the many 
 
problem of a vocation" agonizing hours which 
 
would eventually characterize his life. 
 
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gave himself to the ministry. 
 
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He was student body, 
 
the first and this 
 
Negro began 
 
to be elected president of Crozer's what would become a series of firsts 
 
for this son whose roots were in slavery. 
 
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In Boston, he met Caretta Scott, an equally concerned and tJMdaaurnleanedarnemttiben1sed,8in,LNnguo1e9ttwhh5iee3nrEr, nchaKgoutnlisanhcbngeead,rrntidJCMz'rison.angrdsi,Seiosrhbncveui,apttlAwoeirlnaayfsbrsosailtmnmaugtdaeienr"nghMtototomfhnreeortegmassoohlmintezhgeeesbreyhSoceofatruomftrhheeMi.egMdohOonermssnt.t- 
 
gomery." 
 
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bertine, born March 28, 1963. 
 
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pastorate September 1, 1954. 
 
The cradle racial injustice, Branch NAACP 
 
of the Confederacy was and this grandson of a was asked to assume the 
 
a seething cauldron of founder of the Atlanta presidency of the Mont- 
 
gomery Branch NAACP. Again the wrestle. 
 
Finally, he answered negatively, but on December 1, 1955, 
 
the refusal of Mrs. on a Montgomery affirmatively when 
 
Rosa Parks to give up her seat to a white man bus made the young, erudite minister answer asked to chair the newly formed Montgomery 
 
Improvement Association. 
 
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their loyalty has never known the midnight. 
 
Now, shaped his 
 
the life 
 
myriad religious would be put to 
 
and philosophical forces which had the test and this selfless, compassion- 
 
ate man would "forget himself into immortality." 
 
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conscience of the world. 
 
On April 4, 1968, an assassin took the earthly life of Martin 
 
Luther King, Jr. 
 
Profound, but unpretentious; gentle, but valiant; Baptist, but 
 
ecumenical; loving justice, this Great Spirit resolved 
 
but the 
 
hating injustice; the agonizing wrestling 
 
deep and 
 
roots gave 
 
of all  
 
mankind new hope for a bright tomorrow. 
 
lives 
 
It to 
 
is, now, for us, the living to dedicate the Cause which Martin Luther King 
 
and rededicate our so nobly advanced: 
 
He Had a Dream. 
 
 The Leadership Of 
MAR,.fiN LUTHER KING JR. 
 
1955-56 1\1ontgomery Bus Boycott 
 
1957 
 
Founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) 
 
1958 
 
Beg~nning of massive South-wide voter registration 
 
1959 
 
N?nviolent education programs; school integration drives 
 
1960 
 
Founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee; the sit-in movement 
 
1961 
 
Freedom Rides; the Albany Movement- Albany, Georgia 
 
1962 
 
Establishment of SCLC Citizenship Education Program and SCLC Operation Breadbasket 
 
1963 
 
The Birmingham Movement; The March on Washington 
 
1964 
 
The Nobel Prize for Peace; the Civil Rights Act of 1964 
 
1965 
 
The Selma-to-Montgomery March; The Voting Rights Act of 1965 
 
1966 
 
The Chicago Movement; the March Against Fear in Mississippi 
 
1967 
 
The war in Vietnam and the call for peace; the Cleveland Movement 
 
1968 The Poor People's Campaign; Memphis 
 
!lrmnrinl ~tntirt!i ilnrtbt 14ut4rr 1!\iug lfr. 
1!129- 1!168 
I. Ebenezer Baptist Church ------------------ Family and Faith II. Memorial March ------------ Commitment and Movement III. The Morehouse College Campus-------- Knowledge and 
Wisdom IV: Interment ------------------------------ "Free at last~ free at last! 
Thank God Almighty, I~m free at last!" 
Atlnntn, ~rnrgin April !1, 1!Ifill 
 
 I 
 
flrmnrinl ~rruittli 
 
!flttrtitt 1Jlut4rr !\ing 3lr. 
 
EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH 
10:30 A.M. 
The Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, Officiating 
 
PROCESSIONAL- ucortegi'" ---------------------------------------------------- Dupre HYMN- uwhen I Survey the Wondrous Cross-'' __ arr. Lowell Mason 
 
PRAYER ----------------------------------------------- The Reverend Ronald English 
Assistant Pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church 
 
HYMN- ccln Christ There Is No East or West" --------------------------------Alexander R. Reinagle 
 
OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE -------------------------------------------------- 
 
1 
 
The Reverend William H. Borders 
Pastor, Wheat Street Baptist Church 
 
I 
 
HYMN- uSoftly and Tenderly''--- ---------------------- Will L. Thompson 
NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE -------- The Reverend E. H. Dorsey 
Pastor, Tabernacle Baptist Church 
ID"'MN- uwhere He Leads Me" --------------------------------- J. S. Norris 
 
TRIBUTE ------------------------------------------------ Dr. L. Harold De_Wolfe 
Mentor of Dr. King 
 
SOLO.- ccMy Heavenly Father Watches Over Me'" ---------------------------Charles H. Gabri~l 
Mrs. Mary Gurley 
 
SERMON EXCERPTS SPIRITUAL- a Balm in Gilead" -------------------------------- Traditional RECESSIONAL- "Largo"' from ccNew World Symphony" ____ Dvorak 
 
Martin Luther IGng Jr. marched for freedom. 
We march today in grateful recognition of the freedom 
he has now achieved. 
 
 III 
 
~artin iGutqrr 1.King llr. 
 
The Campus of Morehouse College 
2:00P.M. 
The Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, Officiating 
 
PRELUDE 
 
---------------------------I--r~-provIimsaptrioovnissaotinon"'s"Woen 
 
Negro Spirituals Shall Overcomen 
 
PROCESSIONAL- u C ortegen ---------------------------- Dupre 
uo HYMN- God, Our Help In Ages Past',------------- Isaac Watts 
 
PRAYER ---------------------------------------- Dr. Gardner C. Taylor 
President, Progressive National Baptist Convention 
OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE----------- Rabbi Abraham Heschel Professor, .Tewish Theological Seminary of America 
 
SPIRITUAL- a Balm in Gilead,.,-------.------------------------- Traditional 
Morehouse College Glee Club 
NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE .. The Reverend Franklin C. Frye 
President, National Council of Churches 
 
SPIRITUAL- '"'Ain"'t Got Time to Die" ----------------- Traditional 
Ebenezer Baptist Church Choir 
 
TRIBUTES: 
 
THE HONORABLE IVAN ALLEN, JR. 
 
. 
 
Mayor, City of Atlanta 
 
MR. ROBERT J. COLLIER 
Chairman, Board of Deacons, Ebenezer Baptist Church 
MOST REVEREND JOHN J. WRIGHT 
Bishop of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania 
 
MRS. ROSA PARKS "Mother" of Montgomery Movement 
THE REVEREND J. E. LOWERY 
Chairman, Board of Directors, Southern Christian Leadership Conference 
THE REVEREND ANDREW J. YOUNG 
Executive Vice President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference 
 
SOLO_:_ aPrecious Lord, Take My Hand"----------- Thomas A. Dorsey 
Miss Mahalia Jackson 
 
EULOGY -------------------------------------------------- Dr. Benjamin E. Mays 
President Emeritus, Morehouse College 
HYMN- "'The Morehouse College Hymn" --------- J. 0. B. Mozeley 
"WE SHALL OVERCOME" 
 
BENEDICTION--------------------------------------- Bishop W. R. Wilkes 
Presiding Bishop, Third Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church 
RECESSIONAL-'"Largo"'"' fr<:>m uNew World Symphony"'' .... Dvorak 
 
1Jntrnnrnt 
South View Cemetery 
 
 THE DREAMS AND INSPIRATION 
OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. 
 
"History has thrust upon our generation an indescribably important 
 
destiny-to complete a process of democratization which our nation 
 
has too long developed too slowly. How we deal with with this crucial 
 
situation will determine our moral health as individuals, our cultural 
 
health as a region, our political health as a nation, and our prestige 
 
as a leader of the free world.'' 
 
-1958 
 
"Although I cannot pay the fine, I will willingly accept the alternative which you provide, and that I will do without malice." 
- Statement to an Alabama judge, 1958 
';It may get me crucified. I may even die. But I want it said even if I die in the struggle that 'He died to make men free'" . 
-1962 
 
''The question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremists will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice-or will we be extremists  
 
for the cause of justice? 
 
- Letter from a Birmingham Jail 
 
April, 1963 
 
"! have a dream that my jour little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the 
content of their character." - The March on Washington, August 28, 1963 
 
"Some of you have knives, and I ask you to put them up. Some of you have arms, and I ask you to put them up. Get the weapon of nonviolence, the breastplate of righteousness, the armor of truth and 
 
just keep marching." 
 
-1964 
 
"Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him that it is right.'' 
- On Taking a position against the war in Vietnam, 1967 
 
"Poor people'-s lives are disrupted and dislocated every day. We want to put a stop to this. Poverty, racism and discrimination cause families to be kept apart, men to become desperate, women to live in fear, and 
 
children to starve." 
 
- On the Poor People's Campaign, 1968 
 
"Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. 
 
But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will 
 
.. . .. I've looked over and I've seen the promised land. I may not get 
 
there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people 
 
will get to the promised land." 
 
-April 3, 1968 
 
 l;nnnrury Jallbrurrrs: 
Board of Deacons, Ebenezer Baptist Church S. C. L. C. Staff 
Men of the Clergy 
.Artiur Jallbrarrrs: 
1. Mr. Milton Cornelius 2. Mr. Jethro English 3. Mr. Arthur Henderson 4. Mr. Howard Dowdy 5. Reverend C. K. Steele 6. Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth 7. Reverend Jesse Jackson 8. Reverend Fred C. Bennette 
 
"I Tried to Love and Serve Humanity" 
 
"IF ANY OF YOU are around when I have to meet my day, I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell him not to talk too long ..... Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize. That isn't important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards. That's not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. I'd like somebody to mention that day, that 'Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others.' I'd like for somebody to say that day, that 'Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody.' I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. I want you to be able to say that day, that I did try to feed the hungry. And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. I want you to say on that day, that I did try, in my life, to visit those who 
were in prison. I want you to say that I tried to love and seive 
humanity ." 
 
-MARTIN LuTHER KING JR. 
 
Ebenezer Baptist Church 
 
Adanta, Georgia 
 
Sunday, February 4, 1968 
 
.\ 
 
 wn urJ'rirn~!i 
In this hour of sadness, we wish to acknowledge with deepest gratitude the great outpouring of sympathy and warm consolation we have received from our friends throughout the world. You have lifted our hearts, and with your help and the immortal guiding spirit of our son, husband, father, brother, martyred leader- MARTIN LuTHER KING 
JR.- We Shall Overcome. 
THE FAMILY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. 
Funeral Under the Direction of: HANLEY BELL STREET FUNERAL HOME MARCELLOUS THORNTON FUNERAL HOME 
Atlanta, Georgia