This Timeline was created to celebrate the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., an influential American civil rights leader. Known for his campaigns to end racial segregation on public transport and for racial equality in the United States.
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Join MemoriesMary Carr Michael King, later known as Martin Luther King, Jr., is born at 501 Auburn Ave. in Atlanta, Georgia.
Mary Carr Martin Luther King Jr.'s alma mater Morehouse College in 1944.
Mary Carr 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."
Mary Carr King graduates from Morehouse College in Atlanta. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology.
Mary Carr King enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He devotd his life to God, enrolling in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Mary Carr Martin Luther King, Jr with his wife Coretta Scott King. King married Coretta Scott on June 18, 1953, on the lawn of her parents' house in her hometown of Heiberger, Alabama. During their marriage, King limited Coretta's role in the civil rights movement.
Mary Carr Martin Luther King Jr. with Rosa Parks at dinner given in her honor during the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Mary Carr King was elected the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association. After Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man on a bus and is arrested, Montgomery African Americans refuse to ride the buses. A group called the Montgomery Improvement Association forms and elects 26 year-old Martin as its president.
Mary Carr At the invitation of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, King visits India for a month, meeting with social reformers, government officials, and associates of the late Mahatma Gandhi, whose acts of civil disobedience to free the country from British rule inspired King’s own approach to bringing about change
Mary Carr King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Mary Carr King publishes and writes a book about the Montgomery bus boycotts and "Stride Toward Freedom" is published.
Mary Carr King in Harlem Hospital, where he had emergency surgery in order to save his life.
Mary Carr King was stabbed by a woman outside a New York department store while autographing copies of a book he was promoting.
Mary Carr Martin Luther King, Jr during the celebration of his 30th birthday at Yale. Together with him in this picture is student host David George Ball. Ball is the author of "A Marked Heart", a memoir that recounts the impact King and his visit had on Ball's life and work
Mary Carr Martin Luther King, Jr day is a federal holiday in the US that celebrates the life and legacy of the late civil rights activist. Celebrated during the 3rd Monday of January, the nation's capital, Washington D.C., celebrates MLK day with a variety of events around famous sites in DC. Here is an image of him taken on January 1, 1960, at Washington D.C.
Mary Carr King was arrested while participating at a protest called a "sit-in" at a department store in Atlanta. He had a traffic ticket earlier in the year, so a judge sent him to state prison, but Robert Kennedy called the judge and Martin was later released on October 27.
Mary Carr The historic March on Washington took place. The march was organized by King and other civil rights leaders. More than 200,000 people participated in the demonstration. Near the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C., King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The march influenced the subsequent passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Mary Carr King's original "I have a dream" speech.
Mary Carr While protesting in Birmingham, Alabama, King is arrested for protesting without a permit. This makes Birmingham the focus of the Civil Rights Movement and King writes his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail.
Mary Carr Martin Luther King's iconic "I have a dream" speech, delivered at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Mary Carr Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, sit with three of their four children in their Atlanta, Ga, home, on March 17, 1963.
Mary Carr On May 11, 1963, the home of Martin Luther King's brother Reverend A. D. King was bombed.
Mary Carr Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King. She was an American author, activist, civil rights leader, and the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. An advocate for African-American equality, she was a leader for the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Mary Carr King wins Nobel Peace Prize, he was the youngest to receive the honour. In keeping with his purpose, he donated the $54,123 in prize money to furthering the civil rights movement.
Mary Carr The historic Selma March also called the Selma to Montgomery March, took place. It is a political march from Selma, Alabama, to the state’s capital, Montgomery. King led the march as part of an effort to register Black voters in the state.
Mary Carr The funeral service for Martin Luther King, this service was for family, close friends and other invitees at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King and his father served as senior pastors.
Mary Carr The night before his assassination in Memphis, Martin Luther King, Jr led a group of striking sanitation workers in Memphis. He believed that the struggle in Memphis exposed the need for economic equality and social justice. Here is an image of Martin Luther King Jr during a civil rights march in Memphis, Tennessee.
Mary Carr Speaking at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee, King gives a speech about the Memphis Sanitation Strike. In the speech, which has come to be known as "I've Been to the Mountaintop," he speaks about the possibility that he may not live to see the end of discrimination against African Americans.
Mary Carr Martin Luther King was shot and killed while in Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by sanitation workers. He was staying at a nearby motel.