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Books by Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King,
Jr. /
Strength to Love /
The Measure of a Man /
Why We Can't Wait
A Testament of Hope /
A Knock at Midnight /
The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., 1948-1963
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community /
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story
* * * * *
MLK Chronology
1929 -
1968
1929 (15 January) -- Born to Rev. and Mrs.
Martin Luther King, Sr. at 501 Auburn Avenue in Atlanta,
Georgia
1935-1944
-- Attends David T. Howard Elementary School, Atlanta
University Laboratory School; Booker T. Washington High
School
Enters Morehouse at age 15
1947 -- 18-year-old King is licensed to preach
and becomes assistant to his father, pastor of Ebenezer
Baptist Church in Atlanta
1948 (February) -- Ordained to the Baptist
ministry
(June) -- Graduates from
Morehouse College
with a B.A. degree in sociology
(September) -- Enter
Crozer Theological Seminary (Chester, PA). Begins
study of the life and teachings of
Mahatma Gandhi
1953 -- Marries Coretta Scott in Marion,
Alabama
1954 (May) -- Supreme Court rules unanimously
in Brown v. Board of Education racial segregation
in public schools is unconstitutional
(October)
-- Installed as the 20th pastor of the Dexter Avenue
Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama
1955 (June) -- Earns a Ph.D degree in
systematic theology from
Boston University
(December) -- Mrs. Rosa Parks arrested because she
refused to give her bus seat to a white man. Boycott
begins 5 December. King
elected president of the Montgomery Improvement
Association
1956 (January) -- Arrested in Montgomery and
released on own recognizance. Bomb thrown onto porch of
King home
(February) -- Indicted with other protesters on the
charge of being part of a conspiracy to prevent the
operation of business without
"just or legal cause"
(June) --
a US District Court rules racial segregation on city bus
lines unconstitutional
(October) -- Mayor of Montgomery instructs the
city counsel "to file such proceedings as it may deem
proper to stop the operation of
car pools and transportation systems growing out of the
boycott"
(December)
-- Federal injunctions prohibiting segregation on
buses are served on city and bus company officials and
state officials.
21 December buses are integrated
1957 (February)
-- Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is
founded. Dr. King is elected its first president. King
appears on
cover of Time magazine
(May) --
Delivers "Give Us the Ballot" speech at the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington, DC on the 3rd anniversary of
Brown decision
(September) -- President Eisenhower federalizes the
Arkansas National Guard to escort nine Negro students to
an all-white high
school in Little Rock. First civil rights act
since Reconstruction is passed, creating the Civil
Rights Commission and the
Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department
1958 (June) -- King with
Roy Wilkins,
A. Philip Randolph, and
Lester Granger meet with President Eisenhower
(September) -- Arrested in the vicinity of the
Montgomery Recorder's Court and released on $100 bond.
Convicted and fine paid by
Montgomery Police Commissioner over King's objections.
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story
published
1959 (February) -- With Mrs. King begin a
month-long visit to India to study Gandhi's techniques
of non-violence
1960 (January) -- King Family moves to
Atlanta. Becomes co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church
(February) -- First lunch counter sit-in held by
students in Greensboro, North Carolina
(April) -- Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
founded at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina.
King and
James Lawson are the keynote speakers
(June) --
King and A. Philip Randolph announce plans to picket the
republican and Democratic national conventions
(October) -- Arrested with other demonstrators at an
Atlanta sit-in on the charge of violating Georgia's
trespass law.
All arrested demonstrators are released except King.
Later eleased from Reidsville State Prison on a $2,000
bond
1961 (May) --
First group of Freedom Riders, organized by CORE, leaves
Washington, DC shortly after Supreme Court has outlawed
segregation in interstate transportation terminals. Bus
burned outside Anniston, Alabama.
Freedom Riders beaten in Birmingham and arrested in
Jackson, Mississippi. Spend 40 to 60 days in Parchman
Penitentiary
(December) -- Arrives in Albany, Georgia in response to
a call from the leader of the Albany Movement to
desegregate pubic
facilities. Arrested at a demonstration
1962 (February) -- Tried and convicted for
leading a march in Albany
(May) --
Invited to join the Birmingham protests
(July) --
Arrested at an Albany city hall prayer vigil
(September) -- James Meredith makes first attempt to
enroll at the University of Mississippi. Enrolled by
order of the Supreme Court
Escorted onto campus by US Marshals on 1 October
1963 (March) -- Sit-in demonstrations held in
Birmingham. King arrested
(April) --
Writes the "Letter from
Birmingham Jail."
(May) --
US Supreme Court rules Birmingham's segregation
ordinances unconstitutional
(June) --
Strength to Love published
(August)
-- March on Washington. King delivers "I Have a Dream"
speech on steps of Lincoln memorial
1964 (May) -- Joins other SCLC workers in
demonstrations for the integration of public
accommodations and is arrested
(June) --
Why We
Can't Wait published
(July) --
Attends the signing of the Public Accommodations Bill,
part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
(July-August) -- Riots occur in Harlem, New jersey,
Illinois, and Pennsylvania
(September) -- King with
Rev. Ralph Abernathy visit West Berlin at the
invitation of Mayor Wily Brandt. King has audience with
Pope Paul VI at Vatican
(December)
-- Receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.
Nobel Peace Prize
Speech
1965 (March) -- Over 3,000 marchers leave
Selma, Alabama for a march to Montgomery where they hear
an address by King
(August)
-- Voting Rights Act is signed by President Johnson
1966 (March) -- US Supreme Court rules poll
tax unconstitutional
(Spring) -- Tours Alabama to help elect Black
candidates. For first time since Reconstruction a number
of Blacks vote in the Alabama
primary
(May) -- A King anti-war statement is read at a
Washington rally to protest the war in Vietnam. King
agrees to serve as
co-chairman of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam
(July) --
Launches a drive make Chicago an "open city" in regard
to housing
(August)
-- Stoned in Chicago while leading a march through
crowds of angry whites
(September) -- SCLC launches a project to integrate the
public schools of Grenada, Mississippi and initiates the
Alabama Citizen
Education Project in Wilcox County
1967 (January) -- Writes
Where We Go from Here?
(March) --
Desegregation of public schools ordered in Alabama. King
attacks US policy in Vietnam in Chicago speech
(April 4)
-- Makes
"Beyond Vietnam" speech in Riverside Church in New
York City
(July) --
Riots in Newark, New Jersey, and Detroit. Michigan. King
and other prominent black leaders call for an end to
riots.
(October) -- Supreme Court upholds the contempt of court
convictions of Dr. King and other black leaders who led
the 1963
marches in Birmingham, Alabama
(November)
-- Announces the formation of a Poor people's Campaign
by SCLC to address the problems of the poor
1968 (March) -- Leads 6,000 on a march through
downtown Memphis in support of 1300 striking sanitation
workers
(April) --
Delivers his last speech
"I've Been to the Mountaintop,"
Memphis Masonic
Temple
Assassinated April 4. Dies in St. Joseph's Hospital
Source: National BLACK MONITOR •
January, 1984
update 8 July 2008 |
