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Martin Luther King ,Jr. Birth
King was born in Atlanta, Georgia. -
Montgomery bus Boycott
It was a civil rights protest during which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. Is regarded as the first large-scale U.S. demonstration against segregation. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Recognizing the need for a mass movement to capitalize on the successful Montgomery action, King set about organizing the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). King lectured in all parts of the country and discussed race-related issues with religious and civil rights leaders at home and abroad. -
King gives his first national address “Give Us the Ballot” at the Lincoln Memorial.
Is a speech advocating voting rights for African Americans in the United States. King delivered the speech at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom gathering at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. -
King writes his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” while in jail
King composed a letter from his prison cell in Birmingham in response to local religious leaders criticisms of the campaign. -
“I Have a Dream”
Is a speech, delivered by Martin Luther King ,Jr., and it remains as one of the most famous speeches in history. King used universal themes to depict the struggles of African Americans before closing with an improvised riff on his dreams of equality. The speech was immediately recognized as a highlight of the successful protest, and has endured as one of the signature moments of the civil rights movement. -
The march on Washington
Also known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the event aimed to draw attention to continuing challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation. -
King receives the Nobel Peace Prize
Dr. Martin Luther King ,Jr., is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in America. At 35 years of age, he the youngest person ever to receive the award. -
Selma voting rights movement and "Bloody Sunday"
The events in Selma galvanized public opinion and mobilized Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act, which President Johnson signed into law on August 6, 1965. Today, the bridge that served as the backdrop to “Bloody Sunday” still bears the name of a white supremacist, but now it is a symbolic civil rights landmark. -
“Beyond Vietnam”
King delivered his seminal speech at Riverside Church condemning the Vietnam War. He described the war’s deleterious effects on both America’s poor and Vietnamese peasants and insisted that it was morally imperative for the United States to take radical steps to halt the war through nonviolent means. -
“I’ve been to the Mountaintop”
Is the last speech delivered by Martin Luther King ,Jr. King calls for unity, economic actions, boycotts, and nonviolent protest, while challenging the United States to live up to its ideals. At the end of the speech, he discusses the possibility of an untimely death. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King ,Jr.
At 6:05 P.M. on Thursday, 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. News of King’s assassination prompted major outbreaks of racial violence, resulting in more than 40 deaths nationwide and extensive property damage in over 100 American cities.
