Where in the World

Michael King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was born to Michael King Sr. and Alberta King, the second of three children. At age the age of 5, Michael's name was changed to Martin Luther after his father made a visit to Germany and was inspired by the work of the 16th century reformation leader Martin Luther.

In 1948, King graduated Morehouse College in Atlanta at age 19 with a BA degree in sociology.

King was a student at Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania from 1948 to 1951, graduating with a Bachelor of Divinity degree.

King attended Boston University for his Doctoral studies and recieved his PhD in 1955.

King married Coretta Scott at her birth home in Heiberger, Alabama on June 18, 1953.

Dr. King was pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama from 1954 to 1960. Here, he would help organize the Montogomery bus boycott in his basement office in the church.

The King family home was bombed in 1956 during the Montgomery bus boycott. The family lived there from 1954 to 1960.

Dr. King was co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta from December 1959 to his death.

Dr. King participated in sit-ins, in which people occupy an area for protest, such as lunch counters. The Atlanta sit-in in which Dr. King participated occurred at Rich's department store. Dr. King was arrested and sentenced to 4 months of hard labor, but was released days later. The store is no longer there, but this is the approximate location of where it stood.

Dr. King participated in the Birmingham Campaign in 1963. The campaign used non-violent sit-ins and marches to bring attention to integration efforts in Birmingham. Dr. King was arrested and wrote his famous 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' while in custody, which contained this line 'We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.'.

The March on Washington took place on August 28th in 1963 in Washington D.C. At the March, Dr. King delivered his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech in front of up to 300,000 people. The March influenced the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, both outlawing discrimination based on color.

On April 4th in 1967, Dr. King gave a speech titled 'Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence' at the Riverside Church in New York City. Previoulsy avoiding giving speeches on the Vietnam War, in this speech he spoke strongly against the role of the U.S. in the war and calling the U.S. the 'greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.' He also discussed the large sums of money that are used in military spending that could be used to help people.

Dr. King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39. He was in Memphis to show support for African-American city sanitation workers. The day before, he gave his 'I've Been to the Mountaintop' speech, which included these lines 'Somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I said, we aren't going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around. We aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on.'

Dr. King and his wife Coretta have their final resting place at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic park in Atlanta, Georgia.