Martin Luther King | His Life
1929 | January 15th
Martin Luther King Jr. is born to Reverend Martin Luther King Sr.
1947
Martin Luther King Jr. is licensed to preach and becomes his fathers' assistant at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta Georgia.
1948 | February 25th
Martin Luther King Jr. is ordained to the Baptist ministry June Martin Luther King graduates with a B.A. degree in sociology September Martin Luther King enters Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester Pennsylvania where he studies the life and teachings of Mahatma Ghandi
The NinEteen Fifties
1951 | June
Martin Luther King Jr. graduates with a B.D. degree
1953 | June 18th
Martin Luther King Jr. marries Coretta Scott in Marion Alabama.
1954 | October 31st
The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. is installed as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Church, Montgomery, Alabama.
1955 | June 5th
Martin Luther King Jr. receives a Ph.D. degree in Systematic Theology from Boston University.
1955 | November 17th
The King's first child, Yolanda Denise is born in Montgomery, Alabama.
1955 | December 5th
The first day of the Montgomery bus boycott takes place, in support of Rosa Parks, a forty two-year-old seamstress who refuses to give up her seat to a white man, she was subsequently arrested. Dr. King is elected President of an organisation named the Montgomery Improvement Association.
1956 | January 26th
Dr. King is arrested on a charge of travelling thirty miles per hour in a twenty-five miles per hour zone in Montgomery. He is later released.
1956 | January 30th
A bomb is thrown onto the porch of Dr. King's home in Montgomery. No one is injured.
1956 | February 21st
Dr. King is indicted with others, in the Montgomery bus boycott on charges of being party to a conspiracy to hinder and prevent the operation of business without "just or legal cause."
1956 | August 10th
Dr. King speaks before the platform committee of the Democratic Party in Chicago.
1956 | December 21st
Montgomery buses are integrated.
1957 | January 27th
An unexploded bomb is found on the front porch of the King's home.
1957 | February
Dr. King is elected President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
1957 | February 18th
Time magazine features Dr. King on its front cover.
1957 | May 17th
Dr. King gives a speech entitled "Give us the Ballot" at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. to celebrate the third anniversary of the Supreme Court's desegregation decision.
1957 | June 13th
Dr. King holds a conference with the Vice President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon.
1957 | October 23rd
A second child, Martin Luther III is born to Dr. and Mrs. King.
1958 | September 3rd
Dr. King is released on $100 bond after being arrested for loitering - although this was later changed to failure to obey an officer.
1958 | September 4th
Dr. King is convicted after pleading "not guilty" to the charge of failure to obey an officer. Montgomery Police Commissioner, Clyde C. Sellers, paid the fine, whilst Dr. King objected.
1958 | September 17th
Publication of Dr. King's book "Stride towards Freedom"
1958 | September 20th
Dr. King is stabbed in the chest whilst autographing copies of his book in Harlem by forty two year old Mrs. Izola Curry. His condition was serious, not critical.
1959 | January 30th
Dr. King meets President of the United Auto Workers Union, Walter Reuther, in Detroit.
1959 | February 2nd - March 10th
Dr. and Mrs. King spend time in India as guests of Prime Minister Nehru, studying the non-violence teachings of Ghandi.
The NinEteen Sixties
1960 | January 24th
The King family relocates to Atlanta, where Dr. King becomes co-pastor with his father, of the Ebenezer Baptist Church.
1960 February 17th
An arrest warrant is issued for Dr. King's arrest on charges that he had falsified his 1956 and 1958 Alabama state income tax returns.
1960 | May 28th
Dr. King is acquitted of the tax evasion charge.
1960 | June 24th
Dr. King has a conference with John F. Kennedy, candidate for President of the United States regarding racial issues.
1960 | October 19th
Dr. King is arrested on a charge of violating the state's trespass law, whilst at an Atlanta sit-in.
1960 | October 22nd - 27th
The demonstrators are released except for Dr. King, who is held on a charge of violating a probated sentence in a traffic arrest case. He is transferred to Reidsville State Prison, then later released on a $2000 bond.
1961 | January 30th
The King's third child, Dexter Scott is born in Atlanta.
1961 | December 15th
Dr. King arrives in Albany, Georgia in response to desegregate public facilities.
1961 | December 16th
Dr. King is arrested in Albany at a demonstration. He is charged with obstructing the sidewalk and parading without a permit.
1962 | February 27th
Dr. King is convicted in Albany for leading the demonstration.
1962 | May 2nd
Dr. King is invited to join the Birmingham, Alabama protests, supporting the Freedom Riders, who were arrested in Jackson Mississippi and sentenced to spend forty to sixty days in Parchman Penitentiary.
1962 | July 27th
Dr. King is arrested in Albany at a church prayer vigil and jailed on charges of failure to obey a police officer, obstructing the sidewalk and disorderly conduct.
1962 | October 17th
Dr. King has a one-hour conference with President John F. Kennedy at the White House.
1963 | March 28th
Bernice Albertine, the King's fourth child is born.
1963 | March - April
Dr. King is arrested in Birmingham, Alabama during a demonstration against segregation of eating facilities.
1963 | April 16th
Dr. King writes the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" whilst imprisoned. June Dr. King's book "Strength to Love" is published.
1963 | August 28th
Dr. King delivers his "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington at the first large integrated protest march. He later meets with President John F. Kennedy.
1964 | May - June
Dr. King is jailed in St. Augustine, Florida, whilst demonstrating for the integration of public accommodation. June Dr. King's book "Why we can't wait" is published.
1964 | July 2nd
Dr. King attends the signing of the Public Accommodations Bill, part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
1964 | September
Mayor Willy Brandt invites Dr. King and Reverend Ralph Abernathy to West Berlin.
1964 | September 18th
Dr. King has an audience with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican.
1964 | December 10th
Dr. King travels to Oslo, Norway, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
1965 | March 21st - 25th
Dr. King gives an address to the twenty five thousand marchers who have walked from Selma to Montgomery Alabama, undergoing beatings and even murder whilst on their journey.
1965 | March 25th
Dr. King visits Chicago as the SCLC joins forces with the Co-ordinating Council of Community Organisations.
1966 | February
Dr. King rents an apartment in the black ghetto of Chicago
1966 | February 23rd
Dr. King meets the leader of the Black Muslims, Elijah Muhammad in Chicago.
1966 | March
The owner of a Chicago slum sues Dr. King for occupying the building. Spring Dr. King helps elect black candidates during a tour of Alabama.
1966 | May 16th
Dr. King reads an anti-war statement at a large Washington rally to protest at the war in Vietnam. Dr. King agrees to serve as co-chairman of Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam.
1966 | July 10th
Dr. King launches a campaign to encourage Chicago to become an "open city" in regards to housing.
August 5th
Dr. King is stoned by angry whites during a march in the south-west side of Chicago.
1967 | January
Whilst in Jamaica, Dr. King writes his book "Where do we go from here?"
1967 | March 25th
Dr. King attacks the government's Vietnam policy during a speech at the Chicago Coliseum.
1967 | April 4th
Dr. King gives his "Beyond Vietnam" speech at the Riverside Church, New York City.
1967 | July 26th
Dr. King along with other prominent black leaders, appeal for the end of the recent riots throughout the USA, "which have proved ineffective and damaging to the civil rights cause and entire nation."
1967 | October 30th
Dr. King is jailed to serve a four-day sentence along with seven other black leaders who led marches in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 after contempt of court convictions were upheld.
1967 | November 27th
Dr. King proclaims that formation by the SCLC of a Poor People's Campaign, with the aspiration of representing the issues and problems of poor blacks and whites.
1968 | March 28th
Dr. King leads six thousand striking protesters on a march in downtown Memphis in support of the striking sanitation workers.
Fifty people are injured and one, sixteen year old is killed.
1968 | April 3rd
Dr. King delivers his last speech "I've been to the Mountain Top" at the Memphis Masonic Temple.
1968 | April 4th
Dr. King is assassinated as he stands on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
He dies later in St. Joseph's Hospital from gunshot wounds.