King Facts at a Glance
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1929
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Born January 15 in Atlanta.
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1948
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Received B.A. in sociology from Morehouse College.
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Appointed assistant pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga.
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1951
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Received B.D. (Bachelor of Divinity) from Crozer Theological Seminary.
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1953
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Married Coretta Scott on June 18.
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1955
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Received Ph.D. in systematic theology from Boston University.
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Became pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.
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Montgomery bus boycott begins on December 5 and lasts until December 20, 1956.
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1957
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Elected president of newly formed Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.). |
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1961
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King becomes chair of the Freedom Rides Coordinating Committee, an organization that tests racial discrimination on interstate bus rides.
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1962
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S.C.L.C. begins Voter Education Project to register African-American voters in Southern states.
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Campaign for civil rights in Albany, Ga., stalls.
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FBI intensifies investigation of King and S.C.L.C. for ostensible communist activities.
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1963
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Beginning of Birmingham, Ala., campaign for civil rights.
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King's open letters to critics, written from a Birmingham jail cell on April 16, is eventually re-printed in 40 languages.
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March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, where King delivers his "I Have a Dream" address. Some 250,000 people attend, as a national television audience watches.
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1964
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J. Edgar Hoover refers to King as "the most notorious liar in America."
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Awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
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1965
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S.C.L.C. begins campaign in Selma Ala.
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1966
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Formation of Chicago Freedom Movement.
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1967
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King delivers his first public address condemning the war in Vietnam.
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1968
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King is assassinated on April 4 in Memphis by James Earl Ray.
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