-
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents were Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. His father was a pastor of the Ebenezer Baptish church, and his mother helped her husband with his job and also the church community. -
King is ordained as a Baptist Minister on this day and became an assistant pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. -
He graduated from Crozer with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. He was first in his class and became the valedictorian. In the following months, he started doctoral studies in Boston University -
He married Coretta Scott in Marion, Alabama where her home was. -
He received his Ph.D. on this day after completing his dissertation. -
Yolanda Denise, King's first child, is born on this day. -
The start of the Montgomery bus boycott after Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving her seat up to a white person. King was made the President for the Montgomery Improvement Association and led the boycott for 381 days. As a result, the United States District Court ruled segregation on Alabama City bus lines as unconstitutional on June 4th of the following year. -
On this day, King's house was bombed. Fortunately, nobody was injured. -
On June 4th, the United Stated District Court deemed racial segregation on Alabama's City bus lines as unconstitutional. -
On October 23rd, King's second child, Martin Luther III, is born in Alabama. -
King formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) on January 9th and 10th with more than sixty African-American ministers. He became the President of the organization. The main goal was to stop segregation and make African Americans have better voting rights. -
On September 9th, Congress passed the 1957 Civil Rights Act in order to improve the rights for voting for African Americans. -
On this day, Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed by a lady in a department store when he was signing his new book "Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story". -
Martin Luther King Jr. visited India for a month. The then Prime Minister, Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru took him as a guest. Together, they studied and remembered the different techniques Mahatma Gandhi, a person King looked up to, had on nonviolence and standing up for freedom. -
King was arrested with a warrant because of an accusation that he did not pay his state income taxes in 1956 and 1958. He went to trial but was then freed after jury decision. -
King meets Kennedy in order to talk about racism and how to fix them in the future. -
On January 30th, Dexter Scott, King's third child, is born. -
On this day, King went to Albany Georgia in order to support the movement of stopping the segregation in public facilities. -
On March 28th, Bernice Albertine, King's fourth child is born. -
From April 3rd 1963, a lot of people started to protest against the segregation of public facilities. -
On this day, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in Birmingham was unconstitutional. -
A march, the largest in history with more than 250,000 people marching for civil rights was held in Washington D.C. At the Lincoln Memorial, King gave a speech “I Have a Dream” which became quite famous. This speech helped promote the civil rights movement even more. -
President Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas. This led to his Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson to become the President. -
On this day, the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed by President Johnson. It helped with voting rights of African Americans, and reduced segregation in schools and public facilities. -
On this day, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. He became the youngest person to be awarded the prize at that time. He was awarded $54,123 which he used for helping the civil rights movement. -
People were marching and before being able to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were attacked by officers with tear gas and weapons. -
King led a march from Selma to Montgomery. 300 people were allowed to cross the Edmund bridge unlike on March 7th, when people were attacked by the local police officers. Hence, they were escorted by police officers. They met with another 25,000 marchers when they reached Montgomery. -
King made a plan to make Chicago an "open city". This was done in order to end segregation and the city's discrimination. This led to rioting in the city. -
President Johnson suggested the 1967 Civil Rights Act to Congress, but it was not passed. -
There were riots boiling up in the Roxbury section of the city, which led to a lot of people getting injured and arrested. -
King talks and announces the starting of the Poor People's Campaign on this day. Its goals were to help poor people with their jobs and freedom. -
A day after his speech at the Memphis Masonic Temple, he was shot in the neck on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel located in Memphis. The murderer, James Earl Ray, was found guilty and sentenced to 99 years in prison. After the news of his assassination, people started to riot. -
The 1968 Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress on April 11th, banning racial discrimination in selling or leasing properties.