-
Birth
On January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, Michael Luther King Jr. (later known as Martin Luther King Jr.) was born. His parents were Martin Luther King Sr., a Baptist minister, and Alberta King, a schoolteacher. Later his father changed his name to Martin to respect the German Protestant, Martin Luther.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr#ref3915 -
College
King joined Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1944, at age 15, under a special wartime plan intended to improve attendance by accepting talented high school students such as Martin. However, King spent the summer at a tobacco farm in Connecticut before attending college. He was surprised at the way the races merged peacefully in the North.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr#ref3915 -
The Letter
The summer's experience deepened King’s growing hatred of racial segregation. During the summer after his sophomore year at Morehouse, King wrote a letter to the editor of Atlanta’s largest newspaper. The letter published by the Atlantic Constitution was about the rights of minorities.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/kick-dust-letter-editor-atlanta-constitution -
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
On 1 December 1955, in which Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, refused to give her bus seat to a white passenger and was arrested for breaking the city's law on segregation. To boycott the transit system, activists founded the Montgomery Improvement Association and elected King as their representative. Four days later, he spoke to 5,000 people at Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery.
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1955-martin-luther-king-jr-montgomery-bus-boycott/ -
"I Have a Dream"
At the Lincoln Memorial, King gives his popular "I have a dream" speech to over 200,000 demonstrators at the Washington march for jobs and democracy. King urged America to "make the promises of democracy true." To illustrate both the need for reform and the possibility for hope in American society, King summarized elements of his previous speeches.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/i-have-dream-address-delivered-march-washington-jobs-and-freedom -
Nobel Peace Prize.
At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., becomes the youngest man to have won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his peaceful response to racial discrimination in America. He declared that, when told of his pick, he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the advancement of the civil rights movement. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/summary/ -
The Last Speech
The popular name of the last speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. is "I've Been to the Mountaintop" King spoke on April 3, 1968. On Wednesday, King had arrived in Tennessee to train for a march on behalf of protesting Memphis sanitation employees on the following Monday, King claimed the disturbances in Memphis revealed the need for economic prosperity and social justice that he wished for struggling people.
http://www.thekinglegacy.org/content/king-years -
Death
Martin Luther King was shot dead on Thursday, April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. This caused massive acts of racial violence, causing more than 40 deaths nationwide. On March 10, 1969, the accused assassin was identified as James Earl Ray. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination
