When he was born in 1929, Martin Luther King Jr.’s name was Michael King Jr. He was named after his father, Reverend Michael King who was the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
In 1934, Ebenezer Baptist Church sent “Daddy King” to Berlin for a Baptist World Alliance meeting. During his time in Europe, Dr. King Sr. toured extensively. Germany was the birthplace of Martin Luther and the protestant reformation, and during his tours Dr. King Senior visited many of the sites linked to Luther’s life and legacy.
It was Luther’s audacity to defy authority that caught the reverend’s attention. The original Martin Luther had seen wickedness and corruption growing within the Church of his day. He saw wrongs that needed to be made right and courageously took a stand. When Dr. King Sr. was in Germany in 1934, he also saw the beginnings of Nazism taking root. Back home Daddy King experienced the first hand ills of racial discrimination and prejudice. He saw the need for a new generation with the courage of Martin Luther to arise and take a stand against the wrongs in the world.
That’s why upon his return to Atlanta, he changed both his and his son’s name from Michael King to Martin Luther King. His son grew up to become one of the most prolific civil rights leaders of all time and to embody his namesake in many ways. While theologically, the two Martin Luthers differed significantly, both men are remembered for their willingness to confront authority and to follow what they believed was God's will - even at the risk of grave personal consequences. It was for this reason that both Martin Luther of 1483 and Martin Luther of 1929 are known as rebels who changed the world.
