Martin Luther King Biography and Timeline

Birth of Martin Luther King

Birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., born to teacher Alberta King and Baptist minister Michael Luther King

Pastor

Appointed Pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The Montgomery Bus Boycott, urged and planned by ED Nixon (head of the Montgomery NAACP chapter and a member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters) and led by Martin Luther King follows Rosa Parks arrest

Education

Receives Ph.D in systematic theology from Boston University

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The boycott lasts for 381 days, the situation becoming so tense that King's house is bombed, King is arrested during this campaign, which ends with a United States Supreme Court decision outlawing racial segregation on all public transport

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The US. Supreme Court ruling prompts Montgomery to desegregate buses

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

King is an adherent of the philosophies of nonviolent civil disobedience used successfully in India by Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi, and applies this philosophy to the protests organized by the SCLC. King helps found Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), reated to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests in the service of civil rights reform

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Writes "Stride Toward Freedom", about the bus boycott

Civil Disobedience

Visits India to study nonviolence and civil disobedience

The Measure of A Man

Writes "The Measure of A Man", from which the piece "What is Man?", an attempt to sketch the optimal political, social, and economic structure of society, is derived

What is Man?

Writes "The Measure of A Man", from which the piece "What is Man?", an attempt to sketch the optimal political, social, and economic structure of society, is derived

Pastor

Joins his father as co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta

FBI

The FBI begins wiretapping King fearing that Communists are trying to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement, when no such evidence emerges, the bureau uses incidental details caught on tape over six years in attempts to force King out of the SLCLC

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

The FBI begins wiretapping King fearing that Communists are trying to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement, when no such evidence emerges, the bureau uses incidental details caught on tape over six years in attempts to force King out of the SLCLC

Birmingham Campaign Begins

King helps launch coordinated demonstrations against segregation in Birmingham.

Project C

King and Southern Christian Leadership Conference organisers begin Project C in Birmingham.

Arrest during Birmingham Campaign

Police arrest King for participating in nonviolent demonstrations without a permit.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

King completes his defence of nonviolent direct action while imprisoned in Birmingham.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

Writes Letter from Birmingham Jail, defending nonviolent civil disobedience against unjust laws.

Birmingham Truce Negotiations

King supports negotiations that produce commitments to desegregate Birmingham businesses.

Demonstrations

250,000 civil rights supporters join the "March on Washington"

Speech

Makes the "I have a dream speech"

Demonstrations

Demands include an end to racial segregation in public school; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality & a $2 minimum wage

Demonstrations

More than a quarter million people of diverse ethnicities attend the event, sprawling from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial onto the National Mall and around the reflecting pool.

Demonstrations

The Leaders and organisations comprising the Big Six were are ML King, Roy Wilkins, NAACP; Whitney Young, Jr. , Urban League; A. Philip Randolph, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; John Lewis, SNCC & James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality.

Civil Disobedience

King, representing the SCLC, is among the leaders of the so-called "Big Six" civil rights organisations who are instrumental in the organisation of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

Civil Disobedience

Delivers "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington attended by 200,000 protesters, creates powerful image, builds momentum for civil rights legislation

Demonstrations

At the time, it the largest gathering of protesters in Washingtons history, King's "I Have a Dream" speech electrified the crowd.

Demonstrations

King, representing the SCLC, is among the leaders of the so-called "Big Six" civil rights organisations who are instrumental in the organisation of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Demonstrations

Martin Luther King delivers "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington attended by 200,000 protesters, creates powerful image, builds momentum for civil rights legislation.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

King, representing the SCLC, is among the leaders of the so-called "Big Six" civil rights organisations who are instrumental in the organisation of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

Nobel Prize

The youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States

Civil Rights

Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment

Legislation

Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment

Civil Rights Act

Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment

Reform of Civil Rights

Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment

Why We Cant Wait

Publishes "Why We Cant Wait"

Bloody Sunday

Learns that marchers have been attacked in Selma.

Role range: 1965-1965 – 1965-1965

Bloody Sunday

Is absent when local civil rights leaders march from Selma and are attacked.

Role range: 1965-1965 – 1955-1968

Bloody Sunday

SCLC supports the voting rights campaign, but King is not on the first march.

Role range: 1965-1965 – 1955-1968