A Timeline of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

A Timeline of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

A Timeline of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. January 15, 1929 — Martin Luther King Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia.

1948 — At the age of 19, King graduates from Morehouse College with a B.A.

In sociology.

1951 — King graduates from Crozer Theological Seminary with a B.Div.

Degree.

June 18, 1953 — King marries Coretta Scott in Heiberger, Alabama.

June 6, 1955 — Dr. King receives his Ph.D.

Degree in systematic theology at Boston University.

December 1, 1955 — Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott.

Dr. King leads the 385 day boycott — enduring arrest and a house bombing — resulting in the end of racial segregation on all Montgomery public buses.

September 20, 1958 — Dr. King is stabbed in the chest by a mentally ill woman in a Harlem department store during a book signing.

April, 1963 — Dr. King is arrested for the 13th time during the Birmingham campaign.

He composes his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail.

August 28, 1963 — Dr. King delivers his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial during the March on Washington.

The speech helped the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

October 14, 1964 — Dr. King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

March 25, 1965 — During the march from Selma to Montgomery, King declared, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." April 15, 1967 — King speaks against the Vietnam War, stating, "I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement." April 4, 1968 — Dr. King is assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN.