Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
96 free Mlk Jr trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free MLK Jr trivia questions with answers. Test your knowledge of one of America's most influential civil rights leaders with our comprehensive MLK Jr. trivia quiz. From his iconic speeches to his groundbreaking activism, discover how much you know about Martin Luther King Jr.'s remarkable life and lasting legacy. Challenge yourself and learn more about the man who changed the course of American history.
30 of 96 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was Martin Luther King Jr.'s name at birth?
Michael Jr.
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.
Q 02Roughly how many people attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom?
250,000
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.
Q 03Who was the principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom?
Bayard Rustin
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.
Q 04What method of protest did Martin Luther King Jr. strongly advocate for?
Nonviolent civil disobedience
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.
Q 05What prestigious award did Martin Luther King Jr. receive in 1964?
Nobel Peace Prize
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.
Q 06In which state was Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated?
Tennessee
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.
Q 07King applied for a doctorate at which British university before choosing to study in the US?
Edinburgh
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.
Q 08During the 1955 bus boycott, King was chosen to lead which newly formed organization?
Montgomery Improvement Association
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.
Q 09Who did Martin Luther King Jr. marry in 1953?
Coretta Scott
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.
Q 10In what city was Martin Luther King Jr. born?
Atlanta, Georgia
King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the second of three children; his Auburn Avenue birth home became part of a national historical park.
Q 11Which landmark speech did Martin Luther King Jr. give at the 1963 March on Washington?
"I Have a Dream"
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.
Q 12Martin Luther King Jr. became the first president of which civil rights organization in 1957?
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
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.
Q 13Which U.S. president declared a national day of mourning after King's assassination?
Q 21In what year was King posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
1977
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.
Q 22How many children did Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King have?
Four
Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King had four children, two daughters and two sons, born between 1955 and 1963.
Q 23Which King speech came exactly one year before his assassination?
"Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence"
'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.'
Lyndon B. Johnson
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.
Q 14Which Buddhist monk did King nominate for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize?
Thích Nhất Hạnh
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.
Q 15How old was Martin Luther King Jr. when he was assassinated?
39
Martin Luther King Jr. was 39 years old when he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Q 16At which Atlanta church was Martin Luther King Jr. co-pastor alongside his father?
Ebenezer Baptist Church
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.
Q 17Which 1963 text answered white clergy who had called King's protests 'unwise and untimely'?
"Letter from Birmingham Jail"
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" was begun in the margins of a newspaper; it answers white clergy who had called the protests 'unwise and untimely'.
Q 18The 1955 bus boycott King led began after which woman was arrested for refusing to give up her seat?
Rosa Parks
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.
Q 19Which U.S. President signed the 1983 bill creating a federal holiday in King's honour?
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday bill on November 2, 1983, after initially opposing it; the holiday falls on the third Monday of January.
Q 20What opened in 1991 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where King was shot?
National Civil Rights Museum
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.
Q 24Which Birmingham official turned fire hoses and police dogs on young marchers in May 1963?
Bull Connor
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.
Q 25What was the final speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. the day before his assassination?
"I've Been to the Mountaintop"
'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.
Q 26In 1966 King took the movement north with an open-housing campaign in which city?
Chicago
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.
Q 27Which law did President Johnson sign on August 6, 1965, months after the Selma marches?
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act was signed by Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965, after the Selma marches and 'Bloody Sunday' had turned national opinion.
Q 28The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., sits beside which body of water?
Tidal Basin
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.
Q 29King's doctorate was in which academic field?
Systematic theology
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.
Q 30Which magazine named Martin Luther King Jr. its Man of the Year for 1963?
Time
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.