Text Box: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Time Line

Text Box: 1929 Martin Luther King, Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia. 1944 M.L.K. admitted to Morehouse College. 1948 February 25 – King ordained as a minister. June – King admitted to Crozer Theological Seminary. Mahatma Gandhi assassinated. 1951 King graduates from Crozer and wins scholarship to Boston University. 1953 June 18 – King marries Coretta Scott. 1954 Supreme Court outlaws school segregation. September 1 – King arrives in Montgomery, Alabama. King begins work as a new minister for Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. 1955 King receives Doctor of Philosophy degree. King leads boycott against Montgomery bus company. 1956 January 30 – King home bombed. November 13 – U.S. Supreme Court rules segregation on buses unconstitutional. 1958 September – King stabbed at bookstore in Harlem. 1959 December – Family moves to Atlanta, where King becomes his father’s assistant at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. King also serves as SCLC President. 1960 February – First sit-in, Greensboro, North Carolina. October 19 – King arrested in Atlanta. Senator John F. Kennedy, a candidate for President, helps get King released. November – Kennedy wins presidential election. 1962 King and other SCLC leaders start campaign against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. 1963 April 13 – First march on Birmingham. King arrested. King writes “Letters from a Birmingham Jail.” May 2 – First children’s march in Birmingham. Many children arrested and jailed. May 5 – Police and firemen let marchers pass. Birmingham leaders finally agree to end segregation. Two days later, motel where King stayed is bombed. June – President Kennedy proposed passage of anti-segregation law. August 28 – King delivers “I Have A Dream” speech. November 22 – President Kennedy assassinated. King tells his wife that he thinks he will be shot too. December – King accepts Nobel Peace Prize. 1964 President Johnson signs Civil Rights Act. Martin Luther King stands behind Johnson at ceremony. 1965 January 2 – King announces SCLC campaign to win voting rights in Selma, Alabama. Marches begin in Selma and people are jailed for seven weeks. March 7 – First attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery. Police attack marchers. March 9 – Second march to Montgomery. King turns march around to avoid violence. Later, white minister, James Reed, is beaten and killed. August 6 – President Johnson signs Voting Rights Act. Five days later, rioting breaks out in black neighborhood of Los Angeles. 1966-67 Blacks riot in ghettos of several northern cities. Vietnam war continues. King speaks against the war. 1968 April 3 – King leads peaceful march in Memphis. Twenty-four hours later, King is assassinated. 1983 U.S. Congress established federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

HOME      HISTORY     EVENTS     PHOTO GALLERY  SCHOLARSHIPS   

AD-PAGE   WORSHIP   CONTACTS