# Presentation: 420624

## Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

**Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.**

**In celebration of. . .**

**January 16, 2006**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## January 15, 1929

**Martin Luther King, Jr. ****(originally named Michael King) ****is born in Atlanta, GA.**

**February 25, 1948**

**King is ordained and appointed associate pastor to his father, the pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## June 8, 1948

**King graduates from Morehouse College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology.**

**May 6-8, 1951**

**King graduates Crozer Theological Seminary with a Bachelor of Divinity degree.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## June 22, 1952

**While attending graduate school at Boston University, King is initiated into the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.**

**June 18, 1953**

**King marries ****Miss Coretta Scott.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## October 31, 1954

**King becomes the twentieth pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL.**

**June 5, 1955**

**King receives his Ph.D. degree in Systematic Theology from Boston University.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## December 5, 1955

**Dr. King is elected President of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the group formed to coordinate the bus boycott.**

**February 14, 1957**

**The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (“SCLC”) is formed; Dr. King is named its first president.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## February-March, 1959

**Dr. and Mrs. King spend a month in India as guests of Prime Minister Jawaharial Nehru, studying Mohandas K. Gandhi’s techniques of nonviolent resistance.**

**March-April, 1962**

**Dr. King is arrested during a demonstration in Birmingham.  On April 16, he writes his famous “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” in which he describes the motivation and defends the need for nonviolent, direct action.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## August 28, 1963

**At the historic March on Washington, the first large integrated protest march, Dr. King delivers his famous “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C. **

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## September 15, 1963

**The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama is bombed, killing four young girls and injuring many worshippers.  Dr. King ****delivers a eulogy for ****the girls. **

**July 2, 1964**

**Dr. King attends the signing of the Public Accommodations Bill, a part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by President Lyndon B. Johnson. **

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## August 25, 1964

**Dr. King speaks at the Democratic National Convention, where the Democratic Party refused to seat members of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.**

**December 10, 1964**

**Dr. King accepts the Nobel Prize for Peace in Oslo, Norway.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## February 9, 1965

**Dr. King meets with President Johnson and other leaders to discuss voting rights for African-Americans.**

**March 21-25, 1965**

**More than three thousand march from Selma to Montgomery under the protection of federal troops.  Along the way, their numbers increased to twenty-five thousand.  The march ends in Montgomery, where Dr. King gives an address from the steps of the state capitol.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## Spring 1966

**To rally the support for the election of black candidates, King makes a “People to People” tour of the South.**

**May 16, 1966**

**Dr. King makes an anti-war statement at a Vietnam War protest in Washington, D.C.**

**June 8-24, 1966**

**Dr. King, many civil rights leaders and supporters continue James Meredith’s “March Against Fear” after Meredith is shot.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## April 4, 1968

**Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## April 7-9, 1968

**April 7, 1968, declared a day of mourning, is marked by memorial events and religious services across the country.  A silent march is held in Memphis, and on April 9, a funeral service at Ebenezer Baptist Church and a funeral procession takes place in Atlanta.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## Slide 15

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## November 2, 1983

**The Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday bill, a measure proposed in every legislative session from 1968 by Rep. John Conyers, is signed by President Ronald Reagan, declaring King’s birthday a national holiday.  However, the first legal holiday nationwide does not occur until January 20, 1986.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## January 1984

**George Sealey is catalyst for convening Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity brothers, ****Al Bailey, Oscar Little, and Eddie Madison, to propose building a national memorial to Dr. King.  Their proposal is presented at the Fraternity’s Board of Director’s meeting, under the administration of General President Milton Davis. **

**November 12, 1996**

**President Clinton signs Congressional legislation proposing the establishment of a Memorial in the District of Columbia to honor Dr. King.**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## March 24, 1998

**John Carter testifies before Senate subcommittee which oversees memorials in Washington, D.C.  Excerpt:  ****“We now have an opportunity to break the trend of memorials to war and erect a monument which delivers a message of lifelong peace in our land.  A memorial which embodies not just the image of Dr. King, but the image of America, which is often called the melting pot of the world.”**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## May 28, 1998

**Charter for the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc. approved. **

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

## Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

**1929 - 1968**

- USDA 2006 Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.