Martin Luther King Jr. Finds Freedom, Religious Calling in Connecticut

Did you know that Connecticut helped inspire Dr Martin Luther King Jr. to become a man that changed the world and fought for equality?

It was in Simsbury, Connecticut where King first experienced life without segregation when and discovered his religious calling.

A video posted on Connecticut History.org, documents the civil rights leader’s experience in Simsbury in 1944 and 1947 when he worked at a nearby tobacco farm in the summer to pay for his tuition at Morehouse College.

The documentary was created in 2011 by students from Simsbury High School in collaboration with the Simsbury Free Library. It has been featured by the Associate Press, CBS Evening News and Channel 3 Eyewitness News.

Summers of Freedom: the Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Connecticut from Simsbury History Scholars on Vimeo.

According to the documentary, King wrote to his parents about the sense of freedom he found in Connecticut where he was allowed to talk to white women without being arrested, attend shows, eat in fancy restaurants, go to church and ride on public transportation with white people ‑ unlike his home in the South.

King eventually became a religious leader at his dormitory in Simsbury. Both King’s sisters and wife confirmed that Connecticut is where King decided he would become a minster, the documentary reports.

King’s application to enter the Crozer Theological Seminary stated that it was in 1944 where he had an “inescapable urge to serve society” and felt it was “a responsibility he could not escape.”

Check out the documentary above for more on King’s time in Connecticut.