Making dreams reality — the chronology of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
By C. Spencer Beggs
Scene Editor
Jan. 15, 1929 – Martin Luther King is born Michael Luther King to parents "Daddy" King and Alberta Christine King. "Daddy" King changed his name in 1935 to Martin Luther King; although the name change was never official, his son followed suit.
1944 – King enrolls at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga. after he passes the entrance exam. King leaves Booker T. Washington High School without graduating at the age of 15.
1947 – King receives his license to preach.
1948 – King graduates from Morehouse College with a bachelor degree in Sociology. The same year, he is ordained a Baptist minister and appointed as a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He begins Divinity school at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pa. He begins to study the writings of Gandhi.
1951 – King graduates from Crozer. Enters Boston University for graduate studies in theology.
1953 – King marries Corretta Scott.
1954 – King is appointed to Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.
1955 – Graduates with a Ph. D. in Systematic Theology from Boston University. King is elected to the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association on Dec. 5 after the Dec. 1st arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give her seat to a white man.
1956 – The United States Supreme Court declares bus segregation unconstitutional. Busses are integrated on Dec., 20.
1957 – The Southern Christen Leadership Conference is founded in February.
1958 – King's first book "Stride Toward Freedom: the Montgomery Story" is published in September. Three days after the release, King is stabbed in the chest by a deranged woman; he survives the serious injury.
1960 – King relocates to Atlanta where he is a pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. The first lunch counter sit-in held by up and coming student Civil Rights movements. King meets with a campaigning John F. Kennedy.
1962 – King helps lead the Birmingham protests.
1963 – King meets with the now President Kennedy. During further protest, King is jailed in Birmingham. He writes his famous "Letter From A Birmingham Jail" during his incarceration. King's second book "Strength to Love" is released and King leads the March on Washington; he delivers the famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
1964 – King and other SCLC leaders are jailed in Florida. Later in the year, King travels to divided Berlin and has a meeting with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican. King receives the Nobel Peace Prize on Dec. 10th.
1965 – King addresses marchers from Selma, Ala. in Montgomery. The Voting Rights Act is sign by President Johnson,
1966 – Poll taxes are declared unconstitutional. "Where do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?" King also begins anti-Vietnam War lecture circuit.
1968 – King goes to Memphis to aide striking sanitation workers. King delivers his last speech, "I've Been to the Mountain Top." On April 4th, King is shot in the neck by James Earl Ray as he stood on the balcony of the second floor of the Larraine Motel.
1986 – President Ronald Regan signs Public Law 98-144 making the third Monday of January a Federal Holiday in honor of King.
All Scene Stories for Monday, January 21, 2002
