By 1962, King had become, by the media's reckoning, the new civil rights leader.

In high school, I discovered myself. I was interested in race relations and the legal profession. I read about Lincoln and that he believed the law to be the most difficult of professions.

A Negro who does not vote is ungrateful to those who have already died in the fight for freedom. ... Any person who does not vote is failing to serve the cause of freedom - his own freedom, his people's freedom, and his country's freedom.

My father kept his distance from working-class American blacks.

By 1962, King had become, by the media's reckoning, the new civil rights leader.

Lack of encouragement never deterred me. I was the kind of person who would not be put down.

We African Americans have now spent the major part of the 20th Century battling racism