Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - Remembered

Welcome to this Web site about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Learn of Dr. King's work, life and the Holiday celebrating his legacy. From graduating high school at age 15, to becoming the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Martin Luther King Jr. was marked for greatness.

We also use the initials "MLK" when we talk about this great spiritual leader. Begin to understand why there is a National Day honoring him each third Monday in January.

A Short Biography

Birth Date: January 15, 1929

Undergraduate Education:

Graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, B.A. June, 1948.

Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, B.D. 1951

Ordained: A Baptist minister, February, 1948.

Married: Coretta Scott, June 18, 1953.

Graduate Study:

Received his Ph.D. in Theology from Boston University, June,1955.

Major Appointments:

President, Senior Class, Crozer Theological Seminary, Chester, Pennsylvania, 1951

Pastor, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, October, 1954

President, Montgomery Improvement Association, December 5, 1955,

leading a year long boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus system.

President, The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), January, 1957

Co-pastor (with his father) of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA, January, 1960

Major Travels and Events:

Went to India with his wife, Coretta Scott King, February, 1959. There they studied Mohandas K. "Mahatma" Gandhi and his methods of nonviolent civil protest. On April 12, 1963, during a civil rights march in Birmingham, Alabama, for the thirteenth time was arrested and jailed. There MLK wrote his famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."

Met with President John F. Kennedy. Dr. King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech from the Lincoln Memorial to 250,000 people demonstrating for civil rights in Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963.

Named 1963 Man of the Year by Time magazine. Received the Nobel Prize for Peace in Sweden, December, 1964.

With civil rights protesters attempting to march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, was beaten back by state police, March, 1965. At the White House when the Voting Rights Act was signed by President Johnson, August, 1965.

Led a march in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, March 28, 1968. Delivered his last speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," April 3, 1968. Shot in the face on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, Memphis TN. Martin died on April 4, 1968.

The Third Monday in January

On April 8, 1968, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. is first to submit legislation proposing King's birthday as a National holiday. On August 2, 1983 the U.S. House of Representatives approves legislation, 338 to 90, to make MLK birthday a National legal Holiday on the third Monday in January, beginning in 1986. The .U.S. Senate (defying efforts by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., to sidetrack legislation) approves King birthday measure 78 to 22, on October 19, 1983. Legislation for new National Holiday signed by President Ronald Reagan, November 2, 1983. First observance of Dr. King's birthday as a legal National Holiday, was on January 20, 1986.

For You

We have prepared five (5) short articles about Dr. King and the Holiday, for you to receive (one per day) via e-mail. These articles are inspiring and full of information. What can you do to support the celebration? Learn how you can be part of the legacy. The articles may help you establish reverent and meaningful traditions that remind all of King's legacy. You may print each article to read away from the computer. There is no charge to receive these articles. Thank you for visiting us. Please tell a friend.

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