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Birth of Martin Luther King Jr.
Michael King, later known as Martin Luther King, Jr., is born at 501 Auburn Ave. in Atlanta, Georgia. -
Montgomery bus boycott
The Montgomery bus boycott was a protest campaign against racial segregation on the public transit system in Montgomery, Alabama. The protest began on December 1, 1955, after African-American Rosa Parks was arrested for refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. -
Browder vs. Gayle
The U.S. Supreme Court affirms the lower court opinion in Browder vs. Gayle declarying that Alabama and Montgomery segregated bus laws were unconstitutional. -
Montgomery bus boycott officially ended
An appeal kept segregation intact until December 20, 1956, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the district court's ruling. The boycott's official end signaled one of the civil rights movement's first victories and made King one of its central figures. -
The Albany Movement
The Albany movement was a coalition formed in November 1961 in Albany, Georgia, to protest city segregation policies. Dr. King joined in December, planning only to counsel the protesters for one day. Instead he was jailed during a mass arrest of peaceful demonstrators, and he declined bail until the city changed its segregation policies. -
The Birmingham Campaign
The Birmingham campaign was a strategic effort started by Dr. King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference to end discriminatory economic policies in the Alabama city. Some of the protests included boycotting certain businesses that hired only white people or that had segregated restrooms. By the end of the campaign, many segregation signs at Birmingham businesses came down, and public places became more open to all races. -
Bloody Sunday
Dr. King and several other civil rights leaders organized three marches from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, in a bid for voting rights for all. On March 7, 1965, nearly 600 protesters marched east from Selma on U.S. Highway 80, led by Jon Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Rev. Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Mob and police violence caused the march to be aborted on that "bloody Sunday." -
March on Washington for jobs and Freedom
Dr. King's most famous act as a civil rights leader came during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, on August 28, 1963. This was the largest political rally ever seen in the U.S., it drew between 200,000 and 300,000 police and participants, to who King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The speech advocated racial harmony and economic rights for African Americans. -
Chicago
After being successful in the south, Dr. King and other civil rights leaders wanted to spread the movement north. They chose Chicago as their next destination to take on black urban problems, especially segregation. Dr. King spoke at the Chicago peace march on March 25, 1967, seven months after 30 protesters were injured while demonstrating against housing segregation in the city. -
Vietnam War Opposition
Dr. Kin was an opponent of the Vietnam War. His first speech on the war itself, was called "Beyond Vietnam" and was delivered exactly one year before his assignation. In his speech, he criticized the U.S. government, insisting it was "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." -
The Assassination
Martin Luther King, Jr. was fatally shot at the Lorrain Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968 at 6:01 pm. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital where he died at 7:05 pm.
