Martin Luther King Jr.

By Serena Hartford

  • The Beginning

    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."

  • African-American Civil Rights Movement

    African-American Civil Rights Movement
    MLK led social movements in the United States whose goals were to end racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and to secure legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights enumerated in the Constitution and federal law.

  • Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Montgomery Bus Boycott
    MLK led this boycott which was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama.

  • Southern Christian Leadership Conference

    MLK put together this conference, which is an African-American civil rights organization.

  • Washington March

    MLK helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

  • The Title

    MLK is named "Man of the Year" by Time Magazine.

  • Nobel Peace Prize

    MLK received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence.

  • Selma Marches

    In 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, and the following year he and SCLC took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregated housing.

  • Beyond Vietnam

    MLK expanded his focus to include poverty and speak against the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled "Beyond Vietnam".

  • Poor People's Campaign

    King and the SCLC organized the "Poor People's Campaign" to address issues of economic justice. King traveled the country to assemble "a multiracial army of the poor" that would march on Washington to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol until Congress created an "economic bill of rights" for poor Americans.

  • Awarded many medals

    King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, and as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986.

  • Honored for his life

    Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, and as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington State was also renamed for him. the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, and as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986.