Martin Luther King, Jr. and His Career as a Civil Rights Activist

By Ethan_lindstrom

  • Montgomery Bus Boycott

    After Rosa Parks is arrested after sitting in the front of a bus, King led a boycott of all Montgomery buses

  • His house is bombed

    At 9:15 p.m., while King speaks at a mass meeting, his home is bombed. His wife and daughter are not injured. Later King addresses an angry crowd that gathers outside the house, pleading for nonviolence.

  • Named chairman of the Southern Negro Leaders Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration

    Southern black ministers meet in Atlanta to share strategies in the fight against segregation where he is named chairman of this organization.

  • His first national address

    At the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., King delivers his first national address, "Give Us The Ballot," at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom.

  • Stabbed by Izola Ware Curry

    After he published a book 3 days earlier, King is stabbed by Izola Ware Curry at Blumstein’s Department Store in Harlem, New York. He is rushed to Harlem Hospital where a team of doctors successfully remove a seven-inch letter opener from his chest.

  • He is arrested.

    Arrested during a sit-in demonstration at Rich’s department store in Atlanta. He is sentenced to four months hard labor for violating a suspended sentence he received for a 1956 traffic violation. He is released on $2000 bond on 27 October.

  • Writes his "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

    Responding to eight Jewish and Christian clergymen’s advice that African Americans wait patiently for justice, King pens his "Letter from Birmingham Jail." King and Abernathy were arrested on 12 April and released on 19 April.

  • Delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech

    The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom attracts more than two hundred thousand demonstrators to the Lincoln Memorial. Organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, the march is supported by all major civil rights organizations as well as by many labor and religious groups. King delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech. After the march, King and other civil rights leaders meet with President John F. Kennedy and Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson in the White House.

  • He delivers the eulogy at the funerals of Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, and Cynthia Dianne Wesley

    Three of the four children that were killed during the 15 September bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Carole Robertson, the fourth victim, was buried in a separate ceremony.

  • He is arrested again

    King is arrested and jailed for demanding service at a white-only restaurant in St. Augustine, Florida.

  • He gets the Nobel peace prize

    King receives the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway. He declares that "every penny" of the $54,000 award will be used in the ongoing civil rights struggle.

  • He is gives his final speech

    King returns to Memphis, determined to lead a peaceful march. During an evening rally at Mason Temple in Memphis, King delivers his final speech, "I’ve Been to the Mountaintop." He is killed the next day.