1. January 15, 1929 — Martin Luther King, Jr. (originally named Michael King) is born in Atlanta, GA.
2. February 25, 1948 — King is ordained and is appointed associate pastor to his father, Martin Luther King, Sr., the pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
3. June 8, 1948 — King graduates from Morehouse College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology.
4. June 22, 1952 — While attending graduate school at Boston University, King is initiated into the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
5. June 18, 1953 — King marries Miss Coretta Scott. They later have four children: Yolanda, Martin III,
Dexter and Bernice.
6. May 17, 1954 — The U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that racial segregation in public schools
is unconstitutional in Brown vs. the Board of Education.
7. Dec. 20, 1956 — Buses in Montgomery are integrated after federal injunctions are issued against many city
and bus company officials. In the months before, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds an earlier ruling declaring bus segregation laws unconstitutional.
8. Feb. – Mar. 1959 — Dr. and Mrs. King spend a month in India as guests of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru,
studying Mohandas K. Gandhi’s techniques of nonviolent resistance.
9. Oct. 16, 1962 — Dr. King meets with President John F. Kennedy at the White House, urging him to support civil rights.
10. Mar. – Apr. 1963 — Dr. King is arrested during a demonstration in Birmingham. On April 16, he writes his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” in which he describes the need for nonviolent, direct action.
11. May 3-5, 1963 — At a protest in Birmingham, young demonstrators are attacked with dogs and assaulted with water from fire hoses. Media coverage provokes a national outcry.
12. Aug. 28, 1963 — At the historic March on Washington, the first large integrated protest march, Dr. King delivers his famous “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
13. Sept. 15, 1963 — The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama is bombed, killing four young girls and injuring many worshippers. Dr. King delivers a eulogy for the girls.
14. July 2, 1964 — Dr. King attends the signing of the Public Accommodations Bill, a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
15. Dec. 10, 1964 — Dr. King accepts the Nobel Prize for Peace in Oslo, Norway.
16. Feb. 9, 1965 — Dr. King meets with President Johnson and other leaders to discuss voting rights for African-Americans.
17. Mar. 21-25, 1965 — More than three thousand march from Selma to Montgomery under the protection of federal troops. Along the way, their numbers increased to 25,000.
18. Aug. 6, 1965 — President Johnson signs the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
19. Apr. 4, 1968 — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
20. Nov. 2, 1983 — The Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday bill, declaring King’s birthday a national holiday. However, the first legal holiday nationwide does not occur until January 20, 1986.
21. January, 1984 — Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity is the catalyst to propose building a national memorial to Dr. King. Their proposal is presented at the Fraternity’s Board of Director’s meeting.
22. Nov. 12, 1996 – President Clinton signs legislation proposing the establishment of a memorial in the District of Columbia to honor the legacy of Dr. King.
23. Mar. 7, 1998 – Coretta Scott King agrees to serve as chairperson of the memorial project’s Executive Leadership Cabinet.
24. May 28, 1998 — Charter for the Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc. is approved and the Memorial Foundation is established.
