Biography

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

1929
Born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15 to Alberta Williams King and
Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr.

1935-1944
Dr. King attended and finished his early education at David T.
Howard Elementary School and Atlanta University Laboratory School.
He attended Booker T. Washington High School and left before graduation
due to his acceptance and early admission in Atlanta's Morehouse
College program for advanced placement In the Fall of 1944. He was 15
years of age.

1942
James Farmer organized C.O.R.E. (The Congress of Racial Equality),
Spring, 1942.

1943
The first lunch counter sit-ins took place in Chicago, Illinois at Jack
Spratt's Coffee Shop, May 14, 1943.

1945
The Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945, ending World War II.
Ebony magazine published its first issue on November 1, 1945.

1946
The U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in interstate bus
travel on June 3, 1946.
Race riots occurred in Athens, Alabama on Aug 10 and in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania on September 29, 1946.
The National Committee on Civil Rights was created by President
Harry Truman to investigate racism in America, December 5, 1946.

1947
"Freedom Riders" made up of an interracial group tested the laws
of interstate bus travel in the segregated South, April 9, 1947.
Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play major league
baseball as a third baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers club, April 15, 1947.
Dr. King decided to become a minister and delivered his first prepared
sermon in his father's church, Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, at age
18 in the Summer of 1947.
President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights condemned racial injustices
towards Blacks in America. A report was issued on October 29, 1947,
entitled "To Secure These Rights."

1948
A. Philip Randolph pointed the way for nonviolent protest to
segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces, March 31, 1948.
Dr. King was ordained as a Baptist minister and received his B.A.
degree in Sociology from Morehouse College in June at the age of 19.
In September he entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Inspired by the preachings of Dr. A.J. Muste and Dr. Mordecai Johnson
on the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King was moved to study
intensely Gandhi's writings and movement while still a student at Crozer
Theological Seminary, September 1948 - June 1951.

1949
William L. Dawson, Democratic Congressman from Illinois, became the
first Black to head a standing committee in Congress as Chairperson
of the House Expenditures Committee, January 18, 1949.

Judge William H. Hastie was named Judge of U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, October 15, 1949.

1950
Dr. Charles Drew, the father of the blood bank, died April 1, 1950.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the father of black history, died April 3, 1950.
Gwendolyn Brooks was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her poetry, May 1, 1950.
Dr. Ralph J. Bunche received the Nobel Peace Prize for his mediations
in the Palestine dispute. He became the first Black to receive a Nobel
citation, September 22, 1950.

1951
Dr. King graduated from Crozer Theological Seminary with his B.D.
degree at age 22 in June, 1951.
Dr. Ralph J. Bunche was appointed Undersecretary of the United Nations,
the highest ranking American in the U.N. Secretariat, December 25, 1951.

1953
Dr. King married Coretta Scott, June 18, 1953.
The first bus boycott started in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in
this year on June 19, 1953.
Riots erupted in Chicago at Thrumbull Park Housing project site on August 4, 1953.

1954
On May 17, 1954, the U.S Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, ruled
unanimously in Brown vs Board of Education that racial segregation in the
public schools of America was unconstitutional.
Mary Church Terrell, outstanding black civil rights activist,
died on July 24, 1954.
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. became first black general in the U.S. Air Force,
October 27, 1954.
Dr. King became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Church in Montgomery, Alabama on
October 31, 1954.

1955
Marion Anderson became the first black to sing at the Metropolitan Opera
House in New York City, January 7, 1955.
Roy Wilkins became the executive director of the NAACP on April 11, 1955,
succeeding Walter White, who died on March 21, 1955.
Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and civil rights leader, died on May 18, 1955.
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered desegregation of the public schools "with all
deliberate speed" on May 31, 1955. This order implemented the May 17, 1954
decision.
Dr. King received his Ph.D in Systematic Theology from Boston University on
June 5, 1955.
Emmett Till, age 14, was lynched and brutally defaced in Money, Mississippi
on August 28, 1955.
Dr. King's first child was born - Yolanada Denise (born in Montgomery,
Alabama, November 17, 1955).
The Interstate Commerce Commission banned segregation in buses and
all waiting rooms involved in interstate travel, November 25, 1955.
Mrs. Rosa Parks, a 42 year old seamstress, refused to give up her seat
to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus and was arrested. Dr. King became
involved in the incident. As a means of protest the Montgomery Improvement
Association was organized, December 4, 1955. Dr. King was elected president.
On December 5, 1955, the famous boycott was started. This was the catalytic
event which started Dr. King on the road to become America's crusader and
most famous civil rights leader.

1956
Dr. King's home was bombed January 30, 1956 - no one was hurt.
On February 21, 1956, a suit was filed in U.S. District Court asking
that Montgomery's segregation laws be declared unconstitutional. On June
4 the U.S. District Court ruled that racial segregation on the city bus
line was unconstitutional. On November 13, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed
this ruling prohibiting segregation on buses by declaring Alabama's laws
unconstitutional. Montgomery's victory came on December 21, 1956 when, for
the first time, black passengers could legally take any seat on the city's
buses. Public buses were finally desegregated.
On Deceber 27, 1956, Tallahassee, Florida followed and desegregated its
buses after a six month boycott.

1957
An unexploded bomb was discovered on Dr. King's front
porch on January 27, 1957.
On January 12, mostly concerned ministers, labor leaders, lawyers,
and activists got together and formed the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC) in an effort to gain information and strategy for
ending segregation in their cities and towns. The meeting was held in New
Orleans, Louisiana, and Dr. King was elected president, February 14, 1957.
The Congress of the United States passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 on
September 9, 1957. This was the first civil rights legislation since 1875.
President Eisenhower sent in federal troops to enforce court-ordered
integration of Little Rock Arkansas' schools. Nine black students were
escorted into the school by court order on September 24 and 25, 1957.
Martin Luther King III was born on October 23, 1957.

1958
Dr. King published his book, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story
(New York: Harper and Brothers, September 17, 1958). Dr. King was almost
killed by a deranged black woman, who stabbed him as he was autographing
his new book in a department store in Harlem, New York, September 20, 1958.

1959
Dr. King and Coretta went to India as a guest of Prime Minister Nehru
in efforts to study and learn more about Gandhi's philosophy and
techniques of nonviolence from February 2 through March 10, 1959.
Dr. King published his book, The Measure of a Man (Philadelphia:
Christian Education Press, 1959).

1960
The sit-in demonstrations gained strength, with Greensboro, North
Carolina's Woolworth's lunch counter as their focal point,
February 1, 1960.
The city of San Antonio, Texas became the first major southern city to
integrate its lunch counters due to the sit-in demonstrations
on March 16, 1960.
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formally
organized, mainly as a college student protest group. Its founding
date was April 15, 1960 at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960
into law on May 6, 1960.
Dr. King was arrested for breaking the state of Georgia's trespassing
law while picketing. He was transferred to Reidsville State Prison but
was released on $2000 bond on October 19, 1960.

1961
Dexter Scott, Dr. King's third child was born January 30, 1961.
C.O.R.E. (Congress of Racial Equality) tested the newly established
interstate desegregation laws. An integrated group of Freedom Riders
left Washington, DC on Greyhound buses, and, upon arrival near Anniston,
Alabama, the bus was burned, and the riders were beaten, May 4, 1961.
Thurgood Marshall, chief counsel for the NAACP, was appointed to the
Second Circuit Court of Appeals by President John F. Kennedy on September
1, 1961.

1962
Riots broke out on the campus at the University of Mississippi,
requiring 12,000 federal marshals to restore order when James
Meredith enrolled at the Oxford Campus under court order on September
30, 1962.

1963
Dr. King's forth child, Bernice Albertine, was born March 28, 1963.
Birmingham, Alabama police chief, Eugene "Bull" Connor, became a symbol
of extreme racism when he broadcast to the entire world his methods of
stopping the Black protest movement. He used dogs and fire hoses on
peaceful marchers, among them young children and women, April 3, 1963.
Sit-in demonstrations were held in Birmingham, Alabama to protest public
accommodations in eating facilities. Dr. King was arrested during one
of the demonstrations, April 12, 1963.
In a moment of reflection, Dr. King, while in his Birmingham cell, wrote
about his concerns and criticism on the pace of justice in civil rights
for Black Americans. These thoughts were expressed in his moving "Letter
from a Birmingham Jail," April 16, 1963.
Governor George Wallace stood in the door of the University of Alabama,
refusing the entrance of Black students, June 11, 1963.
Civil Rights Leader Medgar Evers was assassinated in front of his
home in Jackson, Mississippi on June 12, 1963.
On August 28, 1963, after meeting with President John F. Kennedy,
Dr. King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps
of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd estimated at 250,000.
Dr. King published his book, The Strength to Love (Harper and Row
Publishers, September 1, 1963).
The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama became the
site of a viscous attack on Sunday, September 15, 1963. Four little
girls were killed when a bomb exploded inside the church where the
children were seated. Dr. King performed a eulogy for three of the
girls on September 18.
President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963.

1964
Time Magazine honored Dr. King as "Man of the Year" with a feature
story and cover photo, January 3, 1964.
Dr. King published his book, Why We Can't Wait (New American
Library Publishers, June 4, 1964).
A new plank in the civil rights movement started with Black and
White students, called the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO).
They initiated massive voter-registration drives in the Summer of 1964.
Dr. King was present at the White House while President Lyndon B. Johnson
signed the Public Accommodation and Fair Employment sections to the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, 1964.
Three civil rights workers, James Chaney (black) and Andrew Goodman and
Michael Schwerner (both white) were killed on a trip through Philadelphia,
Mississippi, August 4, 1964.
On December 10, 1964, Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in
Oslo, Norway.

1965
Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City on February 21, 1965.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge incident took place in Selma, Alabama. The
marchers were billy-clubbed, tear-gassed, and whipped with cattle prods
March 7, 1965.
The 1965 Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B.
Johnson, August 6, 1965.
The Watts Riots erupted in California, August 11 and 12, 1965. The
National Guard was called in to stop America's worst single racial
disturbance. Thirty-five people died.

1966
Robert C. Weaver became the first Black to serve in the cabinet of
our nation. He was sworn in as Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs,
January 13, 1966.
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that any poll tax
levied was unconstitutional, March 7, 1966.
Dr. King came out against our government's policy in Vietnam May 16, 1966.
James Meredith was shot on a 220 mile "March Against Fear" from Memphis,
Tennessee to Jackson Mississippi on June 6, 1966.
SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael used the then-militant term, "Black Power,"
in public for the first time in Greenwood, Mississippi, June 27, 1966.
The National Guard was called in when Summer Riots, between July 18-23,
1966, broke out in Omaha, Nebraska, Chicago, Illinois, Cleveland and
Dayton, Ohio.
Dr. King marched on the issue for open housing in Chicago
and was stoned by an angry crowd on August 6, 1966.
Edward Brooke, Republican of Massachusetts, was elected as a
United States Senator, the first Black senator since Reconstruction,
November 8, 1966.

1967
Dr. King published his book, Where Do We Go from Here? Chaos or
Community (Harper and Row Publishers, January 1967).
Summer riots took the lives of forty-three, including 324 injured in
Detroit, Michigan. Twenty-three died and 725 were injured in the Newark,
New Jersey riots. Dr. King, Roy Wilkins, and Whitney Young, Jr. came
out in an appeal to stop the riots that took place from May 1 through
October 1, 1967.
Thurgood Marshall was confirmed by United States Senate to sit as an
Associate Justice and first Black on the U.S. Supreme Court, June 23, 1967.

1968
The National Advisory Committee on Civil Disorders (known as the Kerner
Commission) came out with a statement concerning racism and riots in
America on March 2, 1968.
Dr. King went to Memphis, Tennessee to lead a march in support of
striking sanitation workers, April 3, 1968.
Dr. King delivered his last speech, entitled "I've Been to the
Mountain Top," at the Mason Temple, the national headquarters of
the Church of God in Christ, in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3, 1968.
On April 4, 1968, Dr. King's life was ended by an assassin's s bullet
while he was on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
On April 5, President Lyndon B. Johnson decreed that Sunday, April 7, 1968
be a day of national mourning in honor of Dr. King.
His body was viewed by mourners on the campus of Spelman College in
Atlanta, Georgia, April 7, 1968. His funeral was eulogized at Ebenezer
Baptist Church, Atlanta on April 9, 1968. He was laid to rest at the
South View Cemetery. More than 300,000 people marched through Atlanta
with his horse-drawn coffin, April 9, 1968.
In the midst of the sadness of 1968, President Johnson signed another
piece of civil rights legislation banning racial discrimination in the
sale and rental of housing to Blacks and minorities, April 11, 1968.
On June 5, 1968, Robert Kennedy, the brother of the late president, John
F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Los Angeles while campaigning for the
presidency of the United States.
Dr. King's assassin was identified as James Earl Ray, who was arrested
at a London airport on June 8, 1968. Ray was later sentenced to 99
years in prison for this crime on May 10, 1969. He died in prison of
liver failure on April 23, 1998.
Shirley Chisholm of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York became
the first black woman elected to Congress, November 5, 1968.

Reference