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10 facts about Martin Luther King

Learn about the world-famous civil rights campaigner….

Meet the civil rights leader in our Martin Luther King facts and discover how he changed history for millions of African-American people during the Civil Rights Movement…

Martin Luther King facts

Full name: Dr Martin Luther King Jr Born:  15 January 1929. Hometown:  Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Occupation:  Minister and activist. Died:  4 April 1968. Best known for:  Campaigning for the rights of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

1) Martin Luther King Jr was born in the United States of America to African American parents. At birth he was named Michael King, but his father later changed his name to Martin Luther King Jr.

2) When Martin Luther King was growing up, life was hard for African Americans. The Southern United States operated under the ‘Jim Crow laws’ that kept black and white people separated in what was called ‘segregation’. Black people had different schools, toilets and even sections of the bus to white people. They were also denied the right to vote in elections.

3)  Martin Luther King had his first experience of segregation at just six years old, when he was told he wasn’t allowed to play with his white friend anymore – his friend’s father wouldn’t allow it!

4) His first major role in the Civil Rights Movement came in 1955, after an African American lady – Rosa Parks – was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus. This sparked outrage in the African American community and Martin helped to organise a boycott of the city’s buses. After 381 days of protest, a court finally ruled that such segregation laws should no longer be recognised.

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable  Martin Luther King primary resource ? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

5) Martin was a great believer in peaceful protest, inspired by the Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi. His protests used no-violent tactics, even when the protesters themselves were met with violence from the police.

6) In 1963, Martin gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, at a famous rally named ‘March on Washington.’ Over 250,000 people gathered in the country’s capital to hear Martin and other activists speak about the importance of civil rights. It has become one of the most famous speeches in history and focuses on Martin’s dream of a society where black people and white people live together in harmony.

7) In 1964 – 99 years after the abolition of slavery – the Civil Rights Act was passed, outlawing racial segregation and discrimination in the USA.

8) In October 1964, Martin won the Nobel Peace Prize! He was told over the phone whilst he was in bed suffering from exhaustion – it had been a long, hard fight for civil rights!

9) Tragically, Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in 1968 in Tennessee, where he had given a speech the day before. He was standing on the balcony his hotel when he was shot. James Earl Ray was convicted of his murder and spent the rest of his life in prison, despite claiming to be innocent. James died in 1998.

10) Martin Luther King Jr is remembered for his tireless work during the Civil Rights Movement and his dream that one day everyone would be treated as equals. A statue built in his memory now stands in Washington D.C. and each year, the third Monday in January is celebrated as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, an American federal holiday.

Want to know more? Check out Nat Geo Kids’ Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela   articles to learn about the vital work of these incredible activists.

 What do you think of our Martin Luther King facts? Let us know by leaving a comment, below!

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I love this story because it gives so much information about Martin Luther King, Jr.

i loved all the facts

dr.marther luther king helped the world alot because he stoped rasist pepole and now the world is verey nice now becasue of one man

He was a great man

Martin Luther King Jr is a courageous man and a good outstanding person

This was interesting. Let’s stop racism ✊.

[…] 10 facts about Martin Luther King […]

wow this is god facts but me did't lik the recisn

I liked the fact that he stood up the people

this is cool

this a great person who changed the world

WOW! Such a cool guy

Thanks for teaching me all this stuff.

my teacher was very touched by this story. i'm very glad we had someone helping to work out the world :)

Cant wait to do my biography at school about Martain Luther King Jr. my teacher is going to be so proud of me!

I'm happy that there was a man who had a strong dream and made a difference in the world.

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Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and major leader of the Civil Rights Movement. After his assassination, he was memorialized by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

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In Focus: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Days after his 1968 assassination , a campaign for a holiday in King’s honor began. U.S. Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan first proposed a bill on April 8, 1968, but the first vote on the legislation didn’t happen until 1979. King’s widow, Coretta Scott King , led the lobbying effort to drum up public support. Fifteen years after its introduction, the bill finally became law.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan ’s signature created Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service as a federal holiday. It’s celebrated annually on the third Monday in January. The only national day of service, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first celebrated in 1986. The first time all 50 states recognized the holiday was in 2000.

See Martin Luther King Jr.’s life depicted onscreen in the 2018 documentary I Am MLK Jr. or the Oscar-winning movie Selma .

Quick Facts

Where did martin luther king jr. go to school, philosophy of nonviolence, civil rights accomplishments, "i have a dream" and other famous speeches, wife and kids, fbi surveillance, later activism, assassination, who was martin luther king jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and civil rights activist who had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States, beginning in the mid-1950s. Among his many efforts, King headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Through his nonviolent activism and inspirational speeches , he played a pivotal role in ending legal segregation of Black Americans, as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, among several other honors. He was assassinated by James Earl Ray and died on April 4, 1968, at age 39. King continues to be remembered as one of the most influential and inspirational Black leaders in history.

FULL NAME: Martin Luther King Jr. BIRTHDAY: January 15, 1929 DIED: April 4, 1968 BIRTHPLACE: Atlanta, Georgia SPOUSE: Coretta Scott King (1953-1968) CHILDREN: Yolanda, Martin III, Dexter, and Bernice King ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Capricorn

Martin Luther King Jr. was born as Michael Luther King Jr. in Atlanta. His birthday was January 15, 1929.

His parents were Michael Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. The Williams and King families had roots in rural Georgia. Martin’s maternal grandfather, A.D. Williams, was a rural minister for years and then moved to Atlanta in 1893. He took over the small, struggling Ebenezer Baptist Church with around 13 members and made it into a forceful congregation. He married Jennie Celeste Parks, and they had one child who survived, Alberta.

Michael Sr. came from a family of sharecroppers in a poor farming community. He married Alberta in 1926 after an eight-year courtship. The newlyweds moved to A.D.’s home in Atlanta. Michael stepped in as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church upon the death of his father-in-law in 1931. He, too, became a successful minister and adopted the name Martin Luther King Sr. in honor of the German Protestant religious leader Martin Luther . In due time, Michael Jr. followed his father’s lead and adopt the name himself to become Martin Luther King Jr.

A middle child, Martin Jr. had an older sister, Willie, and a younger brother, Alfred. The King children grew up in a secure and loving environment. Martin Sr. was more the disciplinarian, while Alberta’s gentleness easily balanced out their father’s strict hand.

Although they undoubtedly tried, Martin Jr.’s parents couldn’t shield him completely from racism. His father fought against racial prejudice, not just because his race suffered, but also because he considered racism and segregation to be an affront to God’s will. He strongly discouraged any sense of class superiority in his children, which left a lasting impression on Martin Jr.

Growing up in Atlanta, King entered public school at age 5. In May 1936, he was baptized, but the event made little impression on him.

In May 1941, King was 12 years old when his grandmother Jennie died of a heart attack. The event was traumatic for the boy, more so because he was out watching a parade against his parents’ wishes when she died. Distraught at the news, young King jumped from a second-story window at the family home, allegedly attempting suicide.

King attended Booker T. Washington High School, where he was said to be a precocious student. He skipped both the ninth and eleventh grades and, at age 15, entered Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1944. He was a popular student, especially with his female classmates, but largely unmotivated, floating through his first two years.

Influenced by his experiences with racism, King began planting the seeds for a future as a social activist early in his time at Morehouse. “I was at the point where I was deeply interested in political matters and social ills,” he recalled in The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr . “I could envision myself playing a part in breaking down the legal barriers to Negro rights.”

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

At the time, King felt that the best way to serve that purpose was as a lawyer or a doctor. Although his family was deeply involved in the church and worship, King questioned religion in general and felt uncomfortable with overly emotional displays of religious worship. This discomfort had continued through much of his adolescence, initially leading him to decide against entering the ministry, much to his father’s dismay.

But in his junior year, King took a Bible class, renewed his faith, and began to envision a career in the ministry. In the fall of his senior year, he told his father of his decision, and he was ordained at Ebenezer Baptist Church in February 1948.

Later that year, King earned a sociology degree from Morehouse College and began attended the liberal Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He thrived in all his studies, was elected student body president, and was valedictorian of his class in 1951. He also earned a fellowship for graduate study.

Even though King was following his father’s footsteps, he rebelled against Martin Sr.’s more conservative influence by drinking beer and playing pool while at college. He became romantically involved with a white woman and went through a difficult time before he could break off the relationship.

During his last year in seminary, King came under the guidance of Morehouse College President Benjamin E. Mays, who influenced King’s spiritual development. Mays was an outspoken advocate for racial equality and encouraged King to view Christianity as a potential force for social change.

After being accepted at several colleges for his doctoral study, King enrolled at Boston University. In 1954, while still working on his dissertation, King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama. He completed his doctorate and earned his degree in 1955 at age 25.

Decades after King’s death, in the late 1980s, researchers at Stanford University’s King Papers Project began to note similarities between passages of King’s doctoral dissertation and those of another student’s work. A committee of scholars appointed by Boston University determined that King was guilty of plagiarism in 1991, though it also recommended against the revocation of his degree.

First exposed to the concept of nonviolent resistance while reading Henry David Thoreau ’s On Civil Disobedience at Morehouse, King later discovered a powerful exemplar of the method’s possibilities through his research into the life of Mahatma Gandhi . Fellow civil rights activist Bayard Rustin , who had also studied Gandhi’s teachings, became one of King’s associates in the 1950s and counseled him to dedicate himself to the principles of nonviolence.

As explained in his autobiography , King previously felt that the peaceful teachings of Jesus applied mainly to individual relationships, not large-scale confrontations. But he came to realize: “Love for Gandhi was a potent instrument for social and collective transformation. It was in this Gandhian emphasis on love and nonviolence that I discovered the method for social reform that I had been seeking.”

It led to the formation of King’s six principles of nonviolence :

• Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.
• Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.
• Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people.
• Nonviolence holds that suffering for a just cause can educate and transform.
• Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.
• Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.

In the years to come, King also frequently cited the “ Beloved Community ”—a world in which a shared spirit of compassion brings an end to the evils of racism, poverty, inequality, and violence—as the end goal of his activist efforts.

Led by his religious convictions and philosophy of nonviolence, King became one of the most prominent figures of the Civil Rights Movement . He was a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and played key roles in several major demonstrations that transformed society. This included the Montgomery Bus Boycott that integrated Alabama’s public transit, the Greensboro Sit-In movement that desegregated lunch counters across the South, the March on Washington that led to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in Alabama that culminated in the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

King’s efforts earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 when he was 35.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

King’s first leadership role within the Civil Rights Movement was during the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955–1956. The 381-day protest integrated the Alabama city’s public transit in one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in history.

The effort began on December 1, 1955, when 42-year-old Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus to go home after an exhausting day at work. She sat in the first row of the “colored” section in the middle of the bus. As the bus traveled its route, all the seats in the white section filled up, then several more white passengers boarded the bus.

The bus driver noted that there were several white men standing and demanded that Parks and several other African Americans give up their seats. Three other Black passengers reluctantly gave up their places, but Parks remained seated.

The driver asked her again to give up her seat, and again she refused. Parks was arrested and booked for violating the Montgomery City Code. At her trial a week later, in a 30-minute hearing, Parks was found guilty and fined $10 and assessed $4 court fee.

The local NAACP chapter had been looking to challenge Montgomery’s segregated bus policy and had almost made 15-year-old Claudette Colvin the face of the campaign months earlier. She similarly refused to give up her bus seat to a white man on March 2, 1955, but after organizers learned Colvin was pregnant, they feared it would scandalize the deeply religious Black community and make Colvin, along with the group’s efforts, less credible in the eyes of sympathetic white people. Parks’ experience of discrimination provided another opportunity.

On the night Parks was arrested, E.D. Nixon , head of the local NAACP chapter, met with King and other local civil rights leaders to plan a Montgomery Bus Boycott. King was elected to lead the boycott because he was young, well-trained, and had solid family connections and professional standing. He was also new to the community and had few enemies, so organizers felt he would have strong credibility with the Black community.

In his first speech as the group’s president, King declared:

“We have no alternative but to protest. For many years, we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice.”

King’s skillful rhetoric put new energy into the civil rights struggle in Alabama. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began December 5, 1955, and for more than a year, the local Black community walked to work, coordinated ride sharing, and faced harassment, violence, and intimidation. Both King’s and Nixon’s homes were attacked.

In addition to the boycott, members of the Black community took legal action against the city ordinance that outlined the segregated transit system. They argued it was unconstitutional based on the U.S. Supreme Court ’s “separate is never equal” decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Several lower courts agreed, and the nation’s Supreme Court upheld the ruling in a November 13, 1956, decision that also ruled the state of Alabama’s bus segregation laws were unconstitutional.

After the legal defeats and large financial losses, the city of Montgomery lifted the law that mandated segregated public transportation. The boycott ended on December 20, 1956.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Flush with victory, African American civil rights leaders recognized the need for a national organization to help coordinate their efforts. In January 1957, King, Ralph Abernathy , and 60 ministers and civil rights activists founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to harness the moral authority and organizing power of Black churches. The SCLC helped conduct nonviolent protests to promote civil rights reform.

King’s participation in the organization gave him a base of operation throughout the South, as well as a national platform. The SCLC felt the best place to start to give African Americans a voice was to enfranchise them in the voting process. In February 1958, the SCLC sponsored more than 20 mass meetings in key southern cities to register Black voters. King met with religious and civil rights leaders and lectured all over the country on race-related issues.

Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story

That September, King survived an attempt on his life when a woman with mental illness stabbed him in the chest as he signed copies of his book Stride Toward Freedom in a New York City department store. Saved by quick medical attention, King expressed sympathy for his assailant’s condition in the aftermath .

In 1959, with the help of the American Friends Service Committee, King visited Gandhi ’s birthplace in India. The trip affected him in a profound way, increasing his commitment to America’s civil rights struggle.

Greensboro Sit-In

By 1960, King was gaining national exposure. He returned to Atlanta to become co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church but also continued his civil rights efforts. His next activist campaign was the student-led Greensboro Sit-In movement.

In February 1960, a group of Black students in Greensboro, North Carolina , began sitting at racially segregated lunch counters in the city’s stores. When asked to leave or sit in the “colored” section, they just remained seated, subjecting themselves to verbal and sometimes physical abuse.

The movement quickly gained traction in several other cities. That April, the SCLC held a conference at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, with local sit-in leaders. King encouraged students to continue to use nonviolent methods during their protests. Out of this meeting, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) formed and, for a time, worked closely with the SCLC. By August 1960, the sit-ins had successfully ended segregation at lunch counters in 27 southern cities. But the movement wasn’t done yet.

On October 19, 1960, King and 75 students entered a local department store and requested lunch-counter service but were denied. When they refused to leave the counter area, King and 36 others were arrested. Realizing the incident would hurt the city’s reputation, Atlanta’s mayor negotiated a truce, and charges were eventually dropped.

Soon after, King was imprisoned for violating his probation on a traffic conviction. The news of his imprisonment entered the 1960 presidential campaign when candidate John F. Kennedy made a phone call to Martin’s wife, Coretta Scott King . Kennedy expressed his concern over the harsh treatment Martin received for the traffic ticket, and political pressure was quickly set in motion. King was soon released.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

In the spring of 1963, King organized a demonstration in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. With entire families in attendance, city police turned dogs and fire hoses on demonstrators. King was jailed, along with large numbers of his supporters.

The event drew nationwide attention. However, King was personally criticized by Black and white clergy alike for taking risks and endangering the children who attended the demonstration.

In his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail , King eloquently spelled out his theory of nonviolence: “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community, which has constantly refused to negotiate, is forced to confront the issue.”

1963 March on Washington

By the end of the Birmingham campaign, King and his supporters were making plans for a massive demonstration on the nation’s capital composed of multiple organizations, all asking for peaceful change. The demonstration was the brainchild of labor leader A. Philip Randolph and King’s one-time mentor Bayard Rustin .

On August 28, 1963, the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom drew an estimated 250,000 people in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. It remains one of the largest peaceful demonstrations in American history. During the demonstration, King delivered his famed “I Have a Dream” speech .

The rising tide of civil rights agitation that had culminated in the March on Washington produced a strong effect on public opinion. Many people in cities not experiencing racial tension began to question the nation’s Jim Crow laws and the near-century of second-class treatment of African American citizens since the end of slavery. This resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , authorizing the federal government to enforce desegregation of public accommodations and outlawing discrimination in publicly owned facilities.

Selma March

Continuing to focus on voting rights, King, the SCLC, SNCC, and local organizers planned to march peacefully from Selma, Alabama, to the state’s capital, Montgomery.

Led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams , demonstrators set out on March 7, 1965. But the Selma march quickly turned violent as police with nightsticks and tear gas met the demonstrators as they tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The attack was televised, broadcasting the horrifying images of marchers being bloodied and severely injured to a wide audience. Of the 600 demonstrators, 58 were hospitalized in a day that became known as “ Bloody Sunday .” King, however, was spared because he was in Atlanta.

Not to be deterred, activists attempted the Selma-to-Montgomery march again. This time, King made sure he was part of it. Because a federal judge had issued a temporary restraining order on another march, a different approach was taken.

On March 9, 1965, a procession of 2,500 marchers, both Black and white, set out once again to cross the Pettus Bridge and confronted barricades and state troopers. Instead of forcing a confrontation, King led his followers to kneel in prayer, then they turned back. This became known as “Turnaround Tuesday.”

Alabama Governor George Wallace continued to try to prevent another march until President Lyndon B. Johnson pledged his support and ordered U.S. Army troops and the Alabama National Guard to protect the protestors.

On March 21, 1965, approximately 2,000 people began a march from Selma to Montgomery. On March 25, the number of marchers, which had grown to an estimated 25,000 gathered in front of the state capitol where King delivered a televised speech. Five months after the historic peaceful protest, President Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act .

Along with his “I Have a Dream” and “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speeches, King delivered several acclaimed addresses over the course of his life in the public eye.

“I Have A Dream” Speech

Date: august 28, 1963.

King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the 1963 March on Washington. Standing at the Lincoln Memorial, he emphasized his belief that someday all men could be brothers to the 250,000-strong crowd.

Notable Quote: “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

“Give Us the Ballot” Speech

Date: may 17, 1957.

Six years before he told the world of his dream, King stood at the same Lincoln Memorial steps as the final speaker of the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom. Dismayed by the ongoing obstacles to registering Black voters, King urged leaders from various backgrounds—Republican and Democrat, Black and white—to work together in the name of justice.

Notable Quote: “Give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights. Give us the ballot, and we will no longer plead to the federal government for passage of an anti-lynching law... Give us the ballot, and we will transform the salient misdeeds of bloodthirsty mobs into the calculated good deeds of orderly citizens.”

Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech

Date: december 10, 1964.

Speaking at the University of Oslo in Norway, King pondered why he was receiving the Nobel Prize when the battle for racial justice was far from over, before acknowledging that it was in recognition of the power of nonviolent resistance. He then compared the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement to the ground crew at an airport who do the unheralded-yet-necessary work to keep planes running on schedule.

Notable Quote: “I think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owners—all those to whom beauty is truth and truth, beauty—and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.”

“Our God is Marching On (How Long? Not Long)” Speech

Date: march 25, 1965.

At the end of the bitterly fought Selma-to-Montgomery march, King addressed a crowd of 25,000 supporters from the Alabama State Capitol. Offering a brief history lesson on the roots of segregation, King emphasized that there would be no stopping the effort to secure full voting rights, while suggesting a more expansive agenda to come with a call to march on poverty.

Notable Quote: “I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because ‘truth crushed to earth will rise again.’ How long? Not long, because ‘no lie can live forever.’... How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

“Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” Speech

Date: april 4, 1967.

One year before his assassination, King delivered a controversial sermon at New York City’s Riverside Church in which he condemned the Vietnam War. Explaining why his conscience had forced him to speak up, King expressed concern for the poor American soldiers pressed into conflict thousands of miles from home, while pointedly faulting the U.S. government’s role in escalating the war.

Notable Quote: “We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.”

“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” Speech

Date: april 3, 1968.

The well-known orator delivered his final speech the day before he died at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. King reflected on major moments of progress in history and his own life, in addition to encouraging the city’s striking sanitation workers.

Notable Quote: “I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”

While working on his doctorate at Boston University, King met Coretta Scott , an aspiring singer and musician at the New England Conservatory school in Boston. They were married on June 18, 1953, and had four children—two daughters and two sons—over the next decade. Their oldest, Yolanda, was born in 1955, followed by sons Martin Luther King III in 1957 and Dexter in 1961. The couple welcomed Bernice King in 1963.

Although she accepted the responsibility to raise the children while King travelled the country, Coretta opened their home to organizational meetings and served as an advisor and sounding board for her husband. “I am convinced that if I had not had a wife with the fortitude, strength, and calmness of Corrie, I could not have withstood the ordeals and tensions surrounding the movement,” King wrote in his autobiography.

His lengthy absences became a way of life for their children, but Martin III remembered his father returning from the road to join the kids playing in the yard or bring them to the local YMCA for swimming. King also fostered discussions at mealtimes to make sure everyone understood the important issues he was seeking to resolve.

Leery of accumulating wealth as a high-profile figure, King insisted his family live off his salary as a pastor. However, he was known to splurge on good suits and fine dining, while contrasting his serious public image with a lively sense of humor among friends and family.

Due to his relationships with alleged Communists, King became a target of FBI surveillance and, from late 1963 until his death, a campaign to discredit the civil rights activist. While FBI wiretaps failed to produce evidence of Communist sympathies, they captured the civil rights leader’s engagement in extramarital dalliances. This led to the infamous “suicide letter” of 1964, later confirmed to be from the FBI and authorized by then-Director J. Edgar Hoover , which urged King to kill himself if he wanted to prevent news of his affairs from going public.

In 2019, historian David Garrow wrote of explosive new allegations against King following his review of recently released FBI documents. Among the discoveries was a memo suggesting that King had encouraged the rape of a parishioner in a hotel room, as well as evidence that he might have fathered a daughter with a mistress. Other historians questioned the veracity of the documentation, especially given the FBI’s known attempts to damage King’s reputation. The original surveillance tapes regarding these allegations are under judicial seal until 2027.

From late 1965 through 1967, King expanded his civil rights efforts into other larger American cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles. But he met with increasing criticism and public challenges from young Black power leaders. King’s patient, non-violent approach and appeal to white middle-class citizens alienated many Black militants who considered his methods too weak, too late, and ineffective.

To address this criticism, King began making a link between discrimination and poverty, and he began to speak out against the Vietnam War . He felt America’s involvement in Vietnam was politically untenable and the government’s conduct in the war was discriminatory to the poor. He sought to broaden his base by forming a multiracial coalition to address the economic and unemployment problems of all disadvantaged people. To that end, plans were in the works for another march on Washington to highlight the Poor People’s Campaign, a movement intended to pressure the government into improving living and working conditions for the economically disadvantaged.

By 1968, the years of demonstrations and confrontations were beginning to wear on King. He had grown tired of marches, going to jail, and living under the constant threat of death. He was becoming discouraged at the slow progress of civil rights in America and the increasing criticism from other African American leaders.

In the spring of 1968, a labor strike by Memphis, Tennessee, sanitation workers drew King to one last crusade. On April 3, 1968, he gave his final and what proved to be an eerily prophetic speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” in which he told supporters, “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now… I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

While standing on a balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King Jr. was killed by a sniper’s bullet on April 4, 1968. King died at age 39. The shocking assassination sparked riots and demonstrations in more than 100 cities across the country.

The shooter was James Earl Ray , a malcontent drifter and former convict. He initially escaped authorities but was apprehended after a two-month international manhunt. In 1969, Ray pleaded guilty to assassinating King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

The identity of King’s assassin has been the source of some controversy. Ray recanted his confession shortly after he was sentenced, and King’s son Dexter publicly defended Ray’s innocence after meeting with the convicted gunman in 1997. Another complicating factor is the 1993 confession of tavern owner Loyd Jowers, who said he contracted a different hit man to kill King. In June 2000, the U.S. Justice Department released a report that dismissed the alternative theories of King’s death. Ray died in prison on April 23, 1998.

King’s life had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States. Years after his death, he is the most widely known Black leader of his era.

His life and work have been honored with a national holiday, schools and public buildings named after him, and a memorial on Independence Mall in Washington, D.C.

Over the years, extensive archival studies have led to a more balanced and comprehensive assessment of his life, portraying him as a complex figure: flawed, fallible, and limited in his control over the mass movements with which he was associated, yet a visionary leader who was deeply committed to achieving social justice through nonviolent means.

• But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice.
• There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleakness of corroding despair.
• Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.
• The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
• Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
• Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
• The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.
• We must all learn to live together as brothers, or we will all perish together as fools.
• Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.
• I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
• The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason but with no morals.
• I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.
• Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.
• A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.
• At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
• Right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
• In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
• Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
• Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

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Martin Luther King Jr.

By: History.com Editors

Updated: January 25, 2024 | Original: November 9, 2009

Martin Luther King Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. King sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest. He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington , which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act . King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day , a U.S. federal holiday since 1986.

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia , the second child of Martin Luther King Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher.

Along with his older sister Christine and younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams, he grew up in the city’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood, then home to some of the most prominent and prosperous African Americans in the country.

Did you know? The final section of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech is believed to have been largely improvised.

A gifted student, King attended segregated public schools and at the age of 15 was admitted to Morehouse College , the alma mater of both his father and maternal grandfather, where he studied medicine and law.

Although he had not intended to follow in his father’s footsteps by joining the ministry, he changed his mind under the mentorship of Morehouse’s president, Dr. Benjamin Mays, an influential theologian and outspoken advocate for racial equality. After graduating in 1948, King entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree, won a prestigious fellowship and was elected president of his predominantly white senior class.

King then enrolled in a graduate program at Boston University, completing his coursework in 1953 and earning a doctorate in systematic theology two years later. While in Boston he met Coretta Scott, a young singer from Alabama who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music . The couple wed in 1953 and settled in Montgomery, Alabama, where King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church .

The Kings had four children: Yolanda Denise King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King and Bernice Albertine King.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The King family had been living in Montgomery for less than a year when the highly segregated city became the epicenter of the burgeoning struggle for civil rights in America, galvanized by the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks , secretary of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ), refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus and was arrested. Activists coordinated a bus boycott that would continue for 381 days. The Montgomery Bus Boycott placed a severe economic strain on the public transit system and downtown business owners. They chose Martin Luther King Jr. as the protest’s leader and official spokesman.

By the time the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating on public buses unconstitutional in November 1956, King—heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and the activist Bayard Rustin —had entered the national spotlight as an inspirational proponent of organized, nonviolent resistance.

King had also become a target for white supremacists, who firebombed his family home that January.

On September 20, 1958, Izola Ware Curry walked into a Harlem department store where King was signing books and asked, “Are you Martin Luther King?” When he replied “yes,” she stabbed him in the chest with a knife. King survived, and the attempted assassination only reinforced his dedication to nonviolence: “The experience of these last few days has deepened my faith in the relevance of the spirit of nonviolence if necessary social change is peacefully to take place.”

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Emboldened by the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in 1957 he and other civil rights activists—most of them fellow ministers—founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a group committed to achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest.

The SCLC motto was “Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed.” King would remain at the helm of this influential organization until his death.

In his role as SCLC president, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled across the country and around the world, giving lectures on nonviolent protest and civil rights as well as meeting with religious figures, activists and political leaders.

During a month-long trip to India in 1959, he had the opportunity to meet family members and followers of Gandhi, the man he described in his autobiography as “the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change.” King also authored several books and articles during this time.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

In 1960 King and his family moved to Atlanta, his native city, where he joined his father as co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church . This new position did not stop King and his SCLC colleagues from becoming key players in many of the most significant civil rights battles of the 1960s.

Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a particularly severe test during the Birmingham campaign of 1963, in which activists used a boycott, sit-ins and marches to protest segregation, unfair hiring practices and other injustices in one of America’s most racially divided cities.

Arrested for his involvement on April 12, King penned the civil rights manifesto known as the “ Letter from Birmingham Jail ,” an eloquent defense of civil disobedience addressed to a group of white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.

March on Washington

Later that year, Martin Luther King Jr. worked with a number of civil rights and religious groups to organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful political rally designed to shed light on the injustices Black Americans continued to face across the country.

Held on August 28 and attended by some 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the event is widely regarded as a watershed moment in the history of the American civil rights movement and a factor in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

"I Have a Dream" Speech

The March on Washington culminated in King’s most famous address, known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, a spirited call for peace and equality that many consider a masterpiece of rhetoric.

Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial —a monument to the president who a century earlier had brought down the institution of slavery in the United States—he shared his vision of a future in which “this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'”

The speech and march cemented King’s reputation at home and abroad; later that year he was named “Man of the Year” by TIME magazine and in 1964 became, at the time, the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize .

In the spring of 1965, King’s elevated profile drew international attention to the violence that erupted between white segregationists and peaceful demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, where the SCLC and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had organized a voter registration campaign.

Captured on television, the brutal scene outraged many Americans and inspired supporters from across the country to gather in Alabama and take part in the Selma to Montgomery march led by King and supported by President Lyndon B. Johnson , who sent in federal troops to keep the peace.

That August, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act , which guaranteed the right to vote—first awarded by the 15th Amendment—to all African Americans.

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The events in Selma deepened a growing rift between Martin Luther King Jr. and young radicals who repudiated his nonviolent methods and commitment to working within the established political framework.

As more militant Black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism to address issues such as the Vietnam War and poverty among Americans of all races. In 1967, King and the SCLC embarked on an ambitious program known as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to include a massive march on the capital.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated . He was fatally shot while standing on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, where King had traveled to support a sanitation workers’ strike. In the wake of his death, a wave of riots swept major cities across the country, while President Johnson declared a national day of mourning.

James Earl Ray , an escaped convict and known racist, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He later recanted his confession and gained some unlikely advocates, including members of the King family, before his death in 1998.

After years of campaigning by activists, members of Congress and Coretta Scott King, among others, in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a U.S. federal holiday in honor of King.

Observed on the third Monday of January, Martin Luther King Day was first celebrated in 1986.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

While his “I Have a Dream” speech is the most well-known piece of his writing, Martin Luther King Jr. was the author of multiple books, include “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength to Love,” “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” and the posthumously published “Trumpet of Conscience” with a foreword by Coretta Scott King. Here are some of the most famous Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?’”

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HISTORIC ARTICLE

Jan 15, 1929 ce: happy birthday, martin luther king, jr..

On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia. King became one of the most important and influential civil rights leaders in the United States.

Social Studies, Civics, U.S. History

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On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He was initially named Michael, after his father. Five years later, the elder King, a  Baptist minister , attended an international  conference  in Germany. After his trip, King Sr. changed his own name and his first son’s name to honor the Protestant   reformer , Martin Luther.

As a young pastor, King Jr. helped lead a successful boycott of the segregated bus system in Montgomery, Alabama. He then co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which organized to desegregate cities across the South. Through nonviolent  action campaigns and his stirring oratory, King became one of the best-known leaders of the civil rights movement in the U.S.

King also advocated on behalf of other oppressed groups, such as Black South Africans living under apartheid . After receiving the  Nobel Peace Prize  in 1964, King said, “The great masses of people are determined to end the exploitation of their races and land.”

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January 12, 2024

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MapMaker: Martin Luther King Jr. Roadways

Explore streets named after civil rights activist, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr.

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• MapMaker: Martin Luther King, Jr., Roadways

Martin Luther King, Jr., born Michael King, Jr., in 1929, was a civil rights activist and Baptist minister who was one of the most influential leaders of the United States civil rights movement in the mid-1950s until his assassination on April 4, 1968. King spoke and advocated for many issues although he is most famous for protesting racial segregation . He led or participated in many efforts, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington where he gave his iconic I Have a Dream speech. Many people credit him with ending the practice in the American South as his work influenced public opinion that pressured Congress into passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

King’s work changed the United States for the better, and many municipalities have honored him by naming places after him. This map layer highlights some of the roadways bearing his name in the U.S. Although only roads in the U.S. are included in this map layer others can be found worldwide. Can you find any?

Note: We set the search query for roadways bearing King’s name as broad as we could, however, we may have missed a few. If you find that is the case, just let us know using the feedback feature in the menu bar.

Use this Map Layer in the Classroom

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/activity/politics-place-naming/student/: In this activity, students use MapMaker to uncover the geographic and social context of streets named after Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

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Last updated.

October 19, 2023

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• ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

National Geographic's 'Genius: MLK/X' focuses on the early years of the Civil Rights icons

NEW YORK -- In honor of Black History Month, comes the first two episodes of a new limited series about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.

It's part of the Emmy award-winning "Genius" franchise from National Geographic and shows how the two leaders, with different approaches, shaped the Civil Rights movement.

This fascinating new docu-series focuses on the men behind these mythic figures, and it stresses their similarities rather than their differences.

The decision to cast two young men in the lead roles is crucial in understanding the monumental challenges faced by Malcolm X and Dr. King.

Their legacies are such that it is impossible to imagine the history of the Civil Rights movement without Dr. King and Malcolm X.

But you may be surprised to learn the two leaders met only once at the U.S. Capitol almost 60 years ago in a scene recreated at the start of "MLK/X."

"They are actually two tremendous forces running parallel, and they're running parallel to the same objective to the same end goal. They just have different paths, different routes to what they believe is the most conducive to achieving that," said Aaron Pierre, "Malcolm X."

"Martin was in the inside. He was more strategic. He was like, 'I'm going to get into the offices. I'm going to be more political.' While Malcolm was getting the people passionate," said Kelvin Harrison, Jr., "Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr."

Documentaries have hit the familiar highlights.

"But what happened in the moments before? What happened in the moments preceding that moment?" Pierre said.

Their wives are integral to this version of their story.

"So, we get a deeper investigation into their humanity and their everyday lives," Pierre said.

Both Pierre and Harrison are young.

"I don't know if anyone's ever played Dr. King or Malcolm X under 30," Harrison said.

The idea is to show the men they were before becoming icons.

"That's what's going to bring the truth and humanity back into this story," Harrison said.

"For me that gives me even deeper reverence than I already had," Pierre said.

"MLK/X" premieres Thursday on the National Geographic Channel and ABC at 9 p.m. ET. This will stream starting Friday, February 2 on Disney+ and Hulu. All are owned by the same parent company as ABC 7.

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• NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
• BLACK HISTORY MONTH
• SANDY KENYON
• MARTIN LUTHER KING JR

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Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X: National Geographic's Upcoming Docuseries

With Martin Luther King Jr. Day approaching, National Geographic is gearing up to release a new eight-part docuseries that delves into the complex lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. The docudrama aims to examine not only the historical events that these two iconic figures inspired but the important people in their lives that helped shape their identities. The series hopes to pay homage to the legacies of both men and their family members and to serve as a timely reminder of the ongoing relevance of their contributions to the fight against racial inequality.

Divergent Paths

As the series unfolds, it navigates through the turbulent years of the 1960s when King and Malcolm X championed their respective movements for racial equality. King, advocating nonviolent activism, led the civil rights struggle from the church pulpit. Meanwhile, Malcolm X, pursued Black empowerment and self-determination, confronting white supremacy in a different manner.

A Tribute to Legacy and Sacrifice

Beyond the historical narrative, the series pays tribute to the sacrifices made by Coretta Scott King, the wife of King, and Betty Shabazz, the wife of Malcolm X. Their roles as activists and the challenges they faced after the assassinations of their husbands are integral to understanding the broader impact of the civil rights movement.

A Fateful Meeting on Capitol Hill

The real-life meeting between King and Malcolm X was brief but symbolic. The docuseries offers a gripping portrayal of this encounter, capturing a moment that foreshadowed the divergent paths these leaders would take. "We meet at last," declares Malcolm X as they shake hands, setting the tone for the clash of ideologies that would define their legacies.

Behind the Scenes

"Genius: MLK/X" boasts a stellar cast, with Weruche Opia portraying Coretta Scott, and Jayme Lawson as Betty Shabazz.

The series lineup of executive producers includes well-known figures in Hollywood, such as Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Kristen Zolner, Reggie Rock Bythewood, Gina Prince-Bythewood, and Francie Calfo.

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Look Inside

National Geographic Readers: Martin Luther King, Jr.

By kitson jazynka, part of readers bios, category: children's nonfiction.

Dec 26, 2012 | ISBN 9781426310874 | 6 x 9 --> | 6-8 years | ISBN 9781426310874 --> Buy

Dec 26, 2012 | ISBN 9781426310881 | 6 x 9 --> | 6-8 years | ISBN 9781426310881 --> Buy

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Dec 26, 2012 | ISBN 9781426310874 | 6-8 years

Dec 26, 2012 | ISBN 9781426310881 | 6-8 years

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About National Geographic Readers: Martin Luther King, Jr.

The most effective method used to influence children to read is to incorporate the information that interests them the most. National Geographic Readers are educational, high-interest, and comprehensive for children. In this title, readers will learn about the fascinating life and legacy civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In this level three biography, difficult concepts are made understandable and transitioned into a more approachable manner. This includes the use of sidebars, timetables, diagrams and fun facts to hold the interest of the young reader. The colorful design and educational illustrations round out this text as an exemplary book for their young minds to explore. National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources. Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

The most effective method used to influence children to read is to incorporate the information that interests them the most.  National Geographic Readers  are educational, high-interest, and comprehensive for children. In this title, readers will learn about the fascinating life and legacy civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  In this level two biography, difficult concepts are made understandable and transitioned into a more approachable manner. This includes the use of sidebars, timetables, diagrams and fun facts to hold the interest of the young reader. The colorful design and educational illustrations round out this text as an exemplary book for their young minds to explore.  National Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources. Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information.

Also in Readers Bios

Also by Kitson Jazynka

Product Details

Category: children’s nonfiction, you may also like.

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“The book, in bright visuals and engaging text, offers up information about Dr. King’s childhood, his studies, and, of course, his work on behalf of equal rights… The large typeface and varied sentence structure is ideal for emergent readers.”  –Booklist “There are very few books about Martin Luther King that are as accessible to younger students as this one, yet it is not too simple.” — Library Media Connection

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National Geographic series 'Genius: MLK/X' premieres at the Smithsonian

WASHINGTON -- A new series is taking an up-close look at Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and their roles - although different - in fighting racism in America.

The premiere for National Geographic's 'Genius: MLK/X' was held Thursday night at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

The series looks at the two leader's early years, how that helped them in their fight for change in the world and the big role their wives also played in the movement.

WATCH | 'Genius: MLK/X' actors join Here and Now

"Betty Shabazz plays such a huge role. We don't get Malcolm X without her, I believe," said Jayme Lawson who plays Malcom X's wife Betty Shabazz. "The kind of back bone and support she was where he was able to bounce ideas off of her and his safe space."

Both men were assassinated, but both men left profound legacies.

"What it does is it allows us to see so many similarities between these two gentlemen when I think there's been such a misconception that they were so separate, but what they were able to offer us is an awareness," said Kelvin Harrison Jr. who plays Martin Luther King Jr.

Eyewitness News entertainment reporter Sandy Kenyon sat down with actors Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Aaron Pierre to talk about the series.

The first two episodes premiere next Thursday on National Geographic. They will be available on Disney+ and Hulu the following day.

Disney is the parent company of ABC Owned Television Stations.

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Martin Luther King Jr.: Marked Man

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When Martin Luther King Jr. came to L.A., only one white politician was willing to greet him

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The Rev. Fred O. Doty had invited the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to speak at his church in January 1961, and he was looking for an official to greet the civil rights leader at the airport.

But the L.A. mayor had an apparent scheduling conflict.

Council members wanted to spend time with their families.

Senators couldn’t be reached. And assembly members were too busy.

So Doty called L.A. County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.

“I would be honored to greet Dr. King,” Hahn said.

Supervisor Janice Hahn recalled the story Wednesday during the unveiling of a bronze statue memorializing the moment her father shook King’s hand on the steps of a plane at Los Angeles International Airport.

The life-size statue stands near a church on West Alondra Boulevard in Compton, surrounded by plaques honoring other politicians Kenneth Hahn helped ascend to power.

The moment between King and Hahn remains important in the minds of many Black residents in the 2nd District, which Kenneth Hahn represented for 40 years. He was known as a champion of civil rights in the district, local leaders said.

L.J. Guillory, known as Bishop Guillory, commissioned and paid for the statue.

Guillory said that L.A. politicians declined to greet King because they wanted to keep up the facade that California was better than the places in the South where King was marching for justice.

“California did not want the world to know that they were as racist as the South,” Guillory said. “This was the Tinseltown. This was the land of milk and honey.”

Guillory declined to say who the artist was or how much the statue cost, joking that he’d be divorced if his wife heard the number. The couple, he said, donates a lot of money and time in Compton.

The photo was taken on Jan. 13, 1961, when King arrived for a busy weekend of events.

The Jackson Advocate, the oldest Black newspaper in Mississippi, documented King’s visit, noting that Hahn “extended official greetings” at the airport.

At the Ambassador Hotel, King gave “fiery remarks” to journalists about local leaders drawing district boundaries that barred Black voters from fair representation, according to the Advocate.

“Dr. King stated that the ugliness of segregation can be just as harmful in Los Angeles as in Georgia, and it does exist in the North and in the West though it may be a subtle, under-the-table type of segregation” most obvious in housing, government representation and economic situations, the newspaper said.

That weekend, King helped launch the Western Christian Leadership Conference , which aimed to uplift Black people in the West. He collected $1,400 — about $14,600 in today’s money — to aid in his fight in the South, according to the California Eagle, a Black-owned newspaper in L.A.

Doty invited King to speak after members of his church became “concerned about the repeated shameful incidents in the South” and “sought first-hand information about the developing struggle,” according to the Eagle.

King spoke at Doty’s packed church Sunday morning and then that evening at an event that Doty organized at Canoga Park High School on the “future of integration,” the Eagle said. About 100 people flocked to King with questions after his talk .

After King was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tenn., Hahn called King’s wife, Coretta Scott King, and asked whether L.A. County could name a new hospital in his honor.

“He’s like, ‘Mrs. King, I don’t think you know who I am, but if it’s OK with you, I’d like to name this hospital in Watts after your husband,’” Janice Hahn, who joined the Board of Supervisors in 2016, said Wednesday. “She stopped him and she said, ‘Oh, no, I know who you are, because when my Martin came home, he couldn’t stop talking about the white official that was so kind to him.’”

That hospital, Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, opened in 1972. The troubled facility closed in 2007 after efforts to reform it failed and was replaced in 2015 with Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Willowbrook.

In November, the Willowbrook hospital’s leaders sounded the alarm that it could run out of money because of a failed funding model. Unlike its predecessor, the hospital has received high ratings from regulators.

Hahn said the hospital was the first thing her father fought for as an elected official.

“It was a big fight because the rest of the county didn’t always believe that that part of L.A. County deserved the same things that everybody else had,” she said.

Kenneth Hahn died in 1997 at 77. During his 45 years of public service, he pushed L.A. County to install freeway emergency call boxes, led the development of the county’s paramedic program and helped bring the Dodgers to L.A.

As noted in his Times obituary , Hahn appointed the late Gilbert Lindsay, who later would join the City Council, as his deputy in 1952 — the first Black person to hold such a position in the county.

Janice Hahn said she has thought back to the family story of her father greeting King many times, including when in 2020 she learned about Bruce’s Beach , an oceanfront property in her district that the city of Manhattan Beach had seized from a Black couple in the 1920s.

“I got a lot of criticism — I had friends who thought I’d lost my way,” Hahn said. “But every once in a while, that moment helps shape the decisions that I make too.”

Times researcher Scott Wilson contributed to this report.

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Jaclyn Cosgrove is a reporter at the Los Angeles Times who writes about L.A. County government, with a focus on the county’s mental health treatment system. Previously, Cosgrove worked at the Oklahoman, where they wrote extensively about the state’s mental health and substance use treatment system. They are a graduate of Oklahoma State University and have a master of legal studies degree from UCLA School of Law.

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A lasting legacy: Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.

Posted: March 28, 2024 | Last updated: March 28, 2024

Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential leaders in the civil rights movement . Tragically, it's been over 50 years since his assassination on April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel. While his time was cut short, his words and deeds live on in memory, and continue to make their mark even today.

Browse this gallery to revisit some of the key moments in Dr. King’s life, and to find out more about how his influential legacy is affecting lives today.

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March on Washington, 1963

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Meeting John F. Kennedy, 1963

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"I Have a Dream"

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April 4, 1968

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The assassin

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Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District

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Marking his birthday, MLK Day is observed on the third Monday of January each year, and is an annual federal holiday.

Now that you're here, have a look back at 1968 .

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Martin Luther King Jr Biography Reading Comprehension Passage Printable Worksheet PDF

Subject: English

Age range: 10 - 16

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

21 March 2024

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This reading comprehension passage about Martin Luther King Jr is designed with your students in mind, ensuring a delightful and educational experience.

What makes this resource a must-have for teachers and their students?

Engaging Content: This easy-to-understand passage is designed to spark curiosity and foster a love for reading.

Test Knowledge: Multiple question types are provided to encourage critical thinking and ensure a deep understanding of the passage.

Answer Key: Easily assess student progress.

What is all included in this:

Reading Passage with colorful picture

10 descriptive questions

5 True/False questions

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Summary of passage

Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929 and grew up during a time of racial inequality. He believed in equal treatment for all individuals, regardless of their appearance. As he got older, he became a minister and used his voice to advocate for those who couldn’t speak up for themselves. In 1955, he led the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a peaceful protest that successfully changed unfair laws. Martin’s leadership and belief in peaceful protests inspired many people. He faced challenges and opposition, but never gave up. On April 4, 1968, he was assassinated, but his legacy lives on. Today, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated to honor his courage and dream of a better world for all.

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