-
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. He was originally named Michael King Jr., but his father changed both their names to Martin Luther in honor of the Protestant reformer. -
Grew up in a middle-class family in a segregated society. He attended Booker T. Washington High School, skipped two grades, and entered Morehouse College at age 15.
-
Sparked by Rosa Parks’ arrest, King was chosen to lead the Montgomery Improvement Association. The boycott lasted over a year and ended with a Supreme Court ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional -
King helped form the SCLC to coordinate civil rights activities and nonviolent protest throughout the South, emphasizing Christian ethics and moral persuasion. -
Delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, calling for federal action to protect Black voting rights. -
A strategic movement in one of America’s most racially divided cities; King was arrested and wrote a powerful defense of civil disobedience from jail, arguing that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” -
Over 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., for jobs and freedom. King’s speech became one of the most defining moments of the civil rights movement. -
At age 35, King became the youngest person to receive the prize. He donated the prize money ($54,123) to civil rights causes. -
After "Bloody Sunday," King and others led peaceful protest marches advocating for voting rights, culminating in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
Martin Luther King Jr. led a peaceful march in a white Chicago neighborhood to protest housing discrimination. The crowd responded violently, and King was hit with a rock. The event revealed how deeply racism existed in Northern cities. -
While supporting a sanitation workers' strike in Memphis, Tennessee, King was shot and killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, sparking nationwide riots and mourning.