96 Fun Facts About Mlk Jr

What was Martin Luther King Jr.'s name at birth?

He was born Michael King Jr.; in 1934 his father renamed them both Martin Luther in honor of the Protestant reformer, and the family used the new name from then on.

Roughly how many people attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom?

King, representing the SCLC, was one of the 'Big Six' civil rights leaders who organised the march, which spilled from the memorial steps across the National Mall.

Who was the principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom?

Bayard Rustin, an openly gay pacifist, ran the march's organization; a threatened smear about him and King had once forced him out of the SCLC he had helped found.

What method of protest did Martin Luther King Jr. strongly advocate for?

He was formally introduced to the tactics at a 1950 lecture in Philadelphia, and later wrote that nonviolence seeks to win an opponent to friendship rather than humiliate him.

What prestigious award did Martin Luther King Jr. receive in 1964?

In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent struggle against racial segregation and for civil rights. He was the youngest recipient of the award at the time.

In which state was Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated?

King was shot in 1968 on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had come to support striking Black sanitation workers.

King applied for a doctorate at which British university before choosing to study in the US?

King applied to the University of Edinburgh for doctoral study in 1951 and was accepted, but chose to remain in the United States for his PhD.

During the 1955 bus boycott, King was chosen to lead which newly formed organization?

On December 5, 1955, King was elected president of the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association, which ran the car-pool system that sustained the year-long boycott.

Who did Martin Luther King Jr. marry in 1953?

King married Coretta Scott on June 18, 1953, near Marion, Alabama; they had met in Boston while she studied at the New England Conservatory of Music.

In what city was Martin Luther King Jr. born?

King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the second of three children; his Auburn Avenue birth home became part of a national historical park.

Which landmark speech did Martin Luther King Jr. give at the 1963 March on Washington?

King's 'I Have a Dream' speech closed the March on Washington; its most famous passage was improvised when he set aside his prepared text, urged on by a gospel singer.

Martin Luther King Jr. became the first president of which civil rights organization in 1957?

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was founded in Atlanta on January 10, 1957, with King as its first president; its push for churches to enter politics unsettled many clergy.

Which U.S. president declared a national day of mourning after King's assassination?

Lyndon B. Johnson proclaimed Sunday, April 7, 1968, a national day of mourning for King and ordered flags on federal buildings flown at half-staff.

Which Buddhist monk did King nominate for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize?

King nominated Thích Nhất Hạnh for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize; the monk had written to him in 1965 and, meeting him in Chicago in 1966, urged him to denounce the war.

How old was Martin Luther King Jr. when he was assassinated?

Martin Luther King Jr. was 39 years old when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

At which Atlanta church was Martin Luther King Jr. co-pastor alongside his father?

King joined his father as co-pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in 1960; his grandfather A. D. Williams and then Martin Luther King Sr. had held the pulpit before him.

Which 1963 text answered white clergy who had called King's protests 'unwise and untimely'?

"Letter from Birmingham Jail" was begun in the margins of a newspaper; it answers white clergy who had called the protests 'unwise and untimely'.

The 1955 bus boycott King led began after which woman was arrested for refusing to give up her seat?

Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955; the boycott began the following Monday and ran more than a year, ending when a federal ruling struck down Montgomery's bus segregation.

Which U.S. President signed the 1983 bill creating a federal holiday in King's honour?

Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday bill on November 2, 1983, after initially opposing it; the holiday falls on the third Monday of January.

What opened in 1991 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where King was shot?

The National Civil Rights Museum opened at the motel in 1991, tracing the movement from the 17th century onward; the Tennessee State Museum owns the building.

In what year was King posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom?

President Jimmy Carter awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1977; Coretta Scott King accepted it on his behalf at the White House.

How many children did Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King have?

Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King had four children, two daughters and two sons, born between 1955 and 1963.

Which King speech came exactly one year before his assassination?

'Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence' was delivered in New York on April 4, 1967; King called the U.S. government 'the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.'

Which Birmingham official turned fire hoses and police dogs on young marchers in May 1963?

Eugene 'Bull' Connor, Birmingham's Commissioner of Public Safety, ordered fire hoses and police dogs used on child marchers in May 1963; the images shocked the nation.

What was the final speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. the day before his assassination?

'I've Been to the Mountaintop' was delivered on April 3, 1968, in Memphis; King told the crowd he had 'seen the Promised Land' though he might not get there with them.

In 1966 King took the movement north with an open-housing campaign in which city?

The 1966 Chicago Freedom Movement demanded open housing; King moved into a West Side slum apartment and faced mobs he said were more hostile than any in Alabama.

Which law did President Johnson sign on August 6, 1965, months after the Selma marches?

The Voting Rights Act was signed by Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965, after the Selma marches and 'Bloody Sunday' had turned national opinion.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., sits beside which body of water?

The memorial stands on the northwest shore of the Tidal Basin, next to the FDR Memorial, on a sightline between the Jefferson Memorial and the site of King's most famous speech.

King's doctorate was in which academic field?

Systematic theology was his doctoral field at Boston University, completed in June 1955 while he served as assistant minister at the city's historic Twelfth Baptist Church.

Which magazine named Martin Luther King Jr. its Man of the Year for 1963?

Time made King its Man of the Year for 1963, the first Black American so honored, citing the Birmingham campaign and the March on Washington.

Before becoming a prominent civil rights leader, what profession did Martin Luther King Jr. follow?

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister, ordained at 19 in 1948, and was pastor of a church in Montgomery, Alabama, when the bus boycott began.

Troopers broke up the first 1965 Selma march after marchers crossed which landmark?

Marchers had just crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge over the Alabama River when troopers charged about 600 of them with batons and tear gas on March 7, 1965, 'Bloody Sunday'.

King delivered his most famous speech at the March on Washington from the steps of which monument?

King spoke last from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963; the crowd sprawled from the steps down the National Mall toward the Washington Monument.

In 1958, King was stabbed in the chest with what while signing books in a Harlem store?

Izola Curry stabbed King with a seven-inch steel letter opener on September 20, 1958; the blade lodged so close to his aorta that doctors said a sneeze could have killed him.

In what year was Martin Luther King Jr. born?

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929.

Who succeeded Martin Luther King Jr. as president of the organization he had led since 1957?

Ralph Abernathy, King's closest colleague since the Montgomery bus boycott, took over as the group's president in 1968 and carried out the Washington encampment King had planned.

What was the duration of the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted for 381 days, from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956.

Where did Martin Luther King Jr. earn his doctorate?

King began doctoral study at Boston University in 1951 and received the degree in June 1955, by which time he was already pastor of a church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Which of these books did King publish in 1958?

"Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story" lays out his idea of nonviolence as a way to win an opponent over to friendship rather than humiliate him.

The Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C. opened in what year?

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., opened to the public on August 22, 2011.

Which gospel singer shouted 'Tell them about the dream!' at the March on Washington?

Mahalia Jackson, who had sung 'I've Been 'Buked and I've Been Scorned' earlier in the program, called out to King; the improvised passage that followed became the speech's most quoted part.

At which New York City venue did Martin Luther King Jr. give his notable speech against the Vietnam War?

King gave his major anti-war address at Riverside Church in Morningside Heights in April 1967; it cost him allies in the press and the White House who felt he should stick to civil rights.

What was the name of Martin Luther King Jr.'s older sister?

Willie Christine King Farris, born in 1927, was King's older sister; a younger brother, Alfred Daniel 'A.D.' King, later served as co-pastor of the family church.

The MLK Memorial's address, 1964 Independence Avenue SW, commemorates what?

The official address of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, 1964 Independence Avenue SW, was chosen to commemorate the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark legislation in which King played an important role.

The central granite statue of King at his Washington memorial is known by what name?

The design takes its cue from a line in his most famous speech, 'Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope', with the statue emerging from a split boulder.

Martin Luther King Jr. received his Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from which college?

Martin Luther King Jr. graduated from Morehouse College in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology.

At which airport was Martin Luther King Jr.'s confessed killer arrested two months after the shooting?

James Earl Ray was caught at Heathrow on June 8, 1968, trying to board a flight to Brussels on forged papers; he pleaded guilty and got 99 years.

In what year was Martin Luther King Jr. Day first observed as a federal holiday?

The first federal observance was on January 20, 1986, three years after the bill was signed; the holiday was not observed in all 50 states until 2000.

King's father renamed himself and his son after a 1934 church trip to which country?

King Sr. attended the 1934 Baptist World Alliance congress in Berlin, Germany, visited sites linked to the Reformation, and came home to adopt the name Martin Luther for himself and his son.

Which Morehouse College president did King later call his "spiritual mentor"?

Mays, a Baptist minister, helped persuade the 18-year-old King that the church could be a rational force for social protest.

Martin Luther King Jr. was elected student body president at which Pennsylvania seminary, graduating in 1951?

Crozer Theological Seminary in Upland, Pennsylvania, gave King his Bachelor of Divinity in 1951; he took extra courses at the University of Pennsylvania on the side.

Which Montgomery congregation called the 25-year-old King as its pastor in 1954?

Dexter Avenue Baptist Church installed King as pastor in 1954; the pulpit made him a known orator in Montgomery a year before the bus boycott thrust him onto the national stage.

King married Coretta Scott on the lawn of her parents' home in which Alabama community?

They married on June 18, 1953, on the lawn of the Scott family home in Heiberger, Perry County; King's father performed the ceremony.

What nickname did high-school friends give King for his sharp suits and patent leather shoes?

Classmates called him 'Tweed' for his fondness for tweed suits; his brother A.D. remembered him as 'just about the best jitterbug in town', crazy about dances and flirting.

The summer before college, King worked on a tobacco farm in which northern state?

In summer 1944 King worked on a tobacco farm in Simsbury, Connecticut, his first trip into the integrated North; he wrote home amazed that Black and white people ate in the same restaurants.

Which court ruling ended the Montgomery bus boycott by outlawing segregated city buses?

Browder v. Gayle, a federal suit brought by four Montgomery women, was affirmed by the Supreme Court in November 1956; the order reached Montgomery on December 20 and the boycott ended.

During the bus boycott, King was jailed for driving at what speed in a 25 mph zone?

Doing 30 mph in a 25 zone got King jailed during the boycott, and the petty arrest drew the national press that turned a local pastor into the movement's face.

Which local activist urged and planned the Montgomery bus boycott King was chosen to lead?

E. D. (Edgar) Nixon, a Pullman porter and local NAACP leader, pressed Montgomery's ministers to act; King was pushed forward partly because he was new in town with fewer local ties.

King's 1960 sit-in arrest took place inside the restaurant of which Atlanta department store?

King was arrested at a sit-in at Rich's department store on October 19, 1960; the others were soon released, but a judge sent him to four months' hard labor over a prior traffic probation.

Which 1960 presidential candidate phoned Coretta after King was sent to a Georgia prison?

His Republican rival declined to comment despite a visit from Jackie Robinson; King's father responded by openly endorsing the Democrat in November.

Which SCLC strategist recruited children for the 1963 Birmingham protests?

James Bevel, SCLC's director of direct action, recruited students for the May 1963 marches that Newsweek dubbed a 'Children's Crusade'; images of dogs and fire hoses on young marchers shocked the nation.

How many white Alabama clergymen signed the 1963 'Call for Unity' that King famously answered?

Eight white Alabama clergymen signed the April 12, 1963 statement 'A Call for Unity'; King began his reply in a newspaper's margins before lawyers smuggled in a legal pad.

A May 1963 bomb damaged which Birmingham motel hours after King had checked out?

The A.G. Gaston Motel, the campaign's headquarters, was bombed on May 11, 1963, hours after King left; a second bomb that night hit the home of his brother A. D. King.

How long did King speak at the 1963 March on Washington?

The most famous passage was improvised; King departed from his prepared text, possibly at a gospel singer's prompting.

Malcolm X dismissed the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom with what mocking name?

Malcolm X called it the 'Farce on Washington', scorning organizers who had softened the march's tone under pressure from the Kennedy White House.

Who represented SNCC among the 'Big Six' leaders of the March on Washington?

John Lewis, SNCC's 23-year-old chairman, was the youngest of the Big Six alongside King, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, A. Philip Randolph and CORE's James Farmer; he entered Congress in 1987.

In 1964 King joined Robert Hayling's nightly marches in St. Augustine, in which state?

Florida's St. Augustine campaign in 1964 paired King's pacifist SCLC with Robert Hayling's group, which the NAACP had expelled for backing armed self-defense.

King gave his "How Long, Not Long" speech at the end of the Selma march on the steps of what?

King spoke from the steps of the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery on March 25, 1965; the speech's 'arc of the moral universe ... bends toward justice' line paraphrases abolitionist Theodore Parker.

What nickname did the second Selma march, on March 9, 1965, earn?

'Turnaround Tuesday' saw King lead about 2,000 marchers to the bridge, kneel in prayer and turn back to obey a federal court order, angering activists who wanted to push on to Montgomery.

Which seminary student did King put in charge of SCLC's Operation Breadbasket in 1966?

Jesse Jackson, then a 24-year-old seminary student, was put in charge of Operation Breadbasket's local branch in 1966 and became its national director in 1967.

Which magazine called King's 1967 anti-war speech "a script for Radio Hanoi"?

Life magazine called the speech 'demagogic slander that sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi'; the Washington Post said King had 'diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people'.

Which boxer's outspokenness helped inspire King to publicly oppose the Vietnam War?

Muhammad Ali's refusal to serve and vocal opposition to the war encouraged King, who had long opposed it privately but feared damaging his work with the Johnson administration.

King wrote his 1967 book Where Do We Go from Here in isolation on which island?

King spent early 1967 in a rented house in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, with no telephone, writing the book that made the case for a guaranteed income.

The Memphis sanitation strike began after two workers were crushed to death in what?

Echol Cole and Robert Walker, sheltering from rain in the back of their truck on February 1, 1968, were crushed when the garbage compactor malfunctioned; the strike began eleven days later.

Which Memphis mayor refused to recognize the 1968 sanitation workers' strike?

Loeb had previously run the sanitation division himself, overseeing conditions with no uniforms, no restrooms and no grievance procedure.

At which Memphis venue did King deliver his final speech on April 3, 1968?

Mason Temple, the Church of God in Christ headquarters, hosted the speech; King's flight to Memphis that day had been delayed by a bomb threat, which he mentioned from the pulpit.

King's last words, as recalled by an aide, asked Ben Branch to play which hymn?

'Take My Hand, Precious Lord', King's favorite hymn, was the song he asked Ben Branch to play that night; Mahalia Jackson sang it at his funeral days later.

Which numbered room at the Lorraine Motel was King booked into when he was shot?

Room 306 was used so often by King and his entourage that it became known as the 'King-Abernathy suite'; it is preserved inside the museum that occupies the motel.

James Earl Ray escaped a Missouri prison in 1967 by hiding in a truck carrying what?

Ray hid in a bread truck leaving the Missouri State Penitentiary bakery on April 23, 1967; he had been serving 20 years for a 1959 Kroger store robbery that netted $120.

How long was the sentence James Earl Ray received in 1969 after pleading guilty to killing King, avoiding a death penalty trial?

Ray took 99 years rather than risk a death sentence, then recanted three days later and spent the rest of his life seeking the jury trial he had waived.

Ray was trying to reach which white-ruled African country when he was caught in London?

He travelled on a false Canadian passport under the alias Ramon George Sneyd.

Robert F. Kennedy broke the news of King's death in an improvised speech in which city?

Indianapolis heard it first: Kennedy was heading to a campaign rally when told of King's death, spoke without notes, and gave a prepared response in Cleveland the next day.

What did Poor People's Campaign marchers name their six-week camp on the National Mall?

The campaign officially began on May 2 at the Memphis motel where King had been killed a month earlier.

King's mother Alberta was shot dead in 1974 while doing what at her Atlanta church?

Alberta Williams King, who had founded the church choir and served as its organist for decades, was playing the organ when 23-year-old Marcus Wayne Chenault shot her on June 30, 1974.

Which of King's children was born in November 1955, weeks before the bus boycott began?

Yolanda was 12 when her father was killed; she later founded Higher Ground Productions, a diversity-training company.

Which Stevie Wonder song was written to campaign for a national holiday honoring King?

'Happy Birthday' (1980) was Wonder's campaign song for the holiday; he delivered a petition of six million signatures to Congress and headlined the concert marking the first federal observance.

The NFL threatened to pull which Super Bowl from Arizona if voters rejected a King holiday?

Super Bowl XXVII was moved from Tempe to Pasadena after both 1990 ballot measures failed; Arizona voters approved the holiday in 1992 and the state hosted Super Bowl XXX in 1996.

Before adopting King's name, Utah observed the January holiday under what title?

Utah marked the day as Human Rights Day from 1986 until 2000, when the legislature renamed it for King; New Hampshire had similarly called it Civil Rights Day.

The sculptor of the statue at King's Washington memorial came from which country?

Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin carved the statue from granite quarried in China; the choice of an artist who had sculpted Mao Zedong drew criticism from some in the U.S.

The Embrace, a Boston Common sculpture honoring King and Coretta, depicts what?

Hank Willis Thomas's 20-foot bronze shows four intertwined arms, based on a 1964 photograph of the couple embracing; unveiled on January 13, 2023, it was widely mocked online.

In 1967 King flew to England for 24 hours to accept an honorary doctorate in which city?

Newcastle University awarded King an honorary Doctor of Civil Law on November 13, 1967, the only such honour he received from a British university; a statue of him was unveiled there in 2017.

King persuaded which actress not to quit Star Trek after its first season?

Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura, recalled King telling her the role signified a future of racial cooperation; he said Star Trek was the only show he let his children stay up to watch.

What was the code name of the secret NSA operation that monitored King's communications?

The NSA's own review later concluded the program was "disreputable if not outright illegal".

King was stabbed in 1958 while signing books in which Harlem department store?

Blumstein's, on West 125th Street, was hosting King's book signing when Izola Curry stabbed him on September 20, 1958; she was found mentally incompetent to stand trial.

At age 10, King sang with his church choir at the Atlanta premiere of which 1939 film?

Gone with the Wind's 1939 Atlanta premiere had the boy King in his church choir, dressed as a slave, singing for an all-white audience.

King famously described riots as "the language of" whom?

'The unheard' was his phrase: King still called rioting 'self-defeating and socially destructive', but blamed it on economic injustice nobody had addressed.