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Michael King, later known as Martin Luther King, Jr., is born at 501 Auburn Ave. in Atlanta, Georgia.
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King begins his freshman year at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
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The Atlanta Constitution publishes King’s letter to the editor stating that black people “are entitled to the basic rights and opportunities of American citizens.”
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King receives his bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Morehouse College.
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King and Coretta Scott are married at the Scott home near Marion, Alabama. -
Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to vacate her seat and move to the rear of a city bus in Montgomery to make way for a white passenger. Martin Luther King leads the bus boycott
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he receives a threatening phone call late in the evening, prompting a spiritual revelation that fills him with the strength to carry on in spite of persecution.
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At 9:15 p.m., while King speaks at a mass meeting, his home is bombed. His wife and daughter are not injured. Later, King addresses an angry crowd that gathers outside the house, pleading for nonviolence.
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The U.S. Supreme Court affirms the lower court opinion in Browder v. Gayle, declaring Montgomery and Alabama bus segregation laws unconstitutional.
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Southern black ministers meet in Atlanta to share strategies in the fight against segregation. King is named chairman of the Southern Negro Leaders Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration (later known as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC).
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During a book signing at Blumstein’s Department Store in Harlem, New York, King is stabbed by Izola Ware Curry. He is rushed to Harlem Hospital, where a team of doctors successfully remove a seven-inch letter opener from his chest.
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After the initial group of Freedom Riders seeking to integrate bus terminals is assaulted in Alabama, King addresses a mass rally at a mob-besieged Montgomery church.
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King delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech. -
King receives the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway. He declares that “every penny” of the $54,000 award will be used in the ongoing civil rights struggle. -
King, James Forman, and John Lewis lead civil rights marchers from Selma to Montgomery
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King delivers “Beyond Vietnam” to a gathering of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam at Riverside Church in New York City. He demands that the U.S. take new initiatives to end the war.
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King is shot and killed while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.