A Timeline Of Notable Events In The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here is a chronology of major events in Dr. King's life. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamt of breaking down barriers and ending discrimination based on skin color, religion, personal beliefs, and much more. Indeed, Dr. King was a visionary and a leader whose life was tragically cut short before he could see the many fruits of his labor.

Dr. King was a strong proponent of change, and his impact was felt from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. Here is a chronology of major events in Dr. King's life.

· January 15, 1929: Martin Luther King, Jr. is born to the Reverend and Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr. in Atlanta, Georgia.

· September 20, 1944: After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School a few months earlier, King begins his freshman year at Morehouse College in Atlanta. King graduates from the college in 1948 with a degree in sociology.

· February 25, 1948: After time spent in Crozer Theological Seminary, King is ordained to the Baptist ministry at the age of 19.

· September 13, 1951: King begins graduate studies in theology at Boston University.

· June 18, 1953: Coretta Scott and King are married at the Scott home near Marion, Alabama.

· September 1, 1954: King begins his pastorate at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

· June 5, 1955: Boston University awards King a doctorate in systematic theology.

· December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white passenger. A few days later, the Montgomery Improvement Association is formed to lead a boycott of the segregated buses and King becomes the group's president.

· January 30, 1956: King's home is bombed while he is away at a speaking engagement. Later, he addresses an angry crowd that gathers outside his home, asking for nonviolence.

· November 13, 1956: The U.S. Supreme Court declares bus segregation laws unconstitutional.

· February 17, 1957: King appears on the cover of Time magazine.

· May 17, 1957: King delivers his first national address at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

· 1958: The U.S. Congress passes the first Civil Rights Act since reconstruction.

· September 17, 1958: King publishes a book, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. During a book signing a few days later in Harlem, New York, King is stabbed by Izola Ware Curry and rushed to Harlem Hospital.

· February 3, 1959: King embarks on a visit to India to meet with many of Gandhi's followers and study the philosophy of nonviolence.

· 1960: With his family, King relocates back to his native Atlanta and becomes co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. King devotes most of his time to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a group he and other activists established in 1957.

· June 23, 1960: John F. Kennedy, the Democratic presidential candidate, meets privately with King in New York.

· October 19, 1960: King is arrested during a sit-in demonstration at a department store in Atlanta.

· October 16, 1961: King urges President John F. Kennedy to issue a second Emancipation Proclamation to end racial segregation.

· September 28, 1962: A member of the American Nazi Party assaults King during a closing session of the SCLC in Birmingham, Alabama.

· April 12, 1963: King and Ralph Abernathy are arrested in Birmingham. King pens his "Letter from Birmingham Jail" four days later.

· June 23, 1963: King leads 125,000 people on a Freedom Walk in Detroit, Michigan.

· August 28, 1963: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom takes place, attracting more than 200,000 demonstrators at the Lincoln Memorial. Here King delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech. Later in the day, King and other civil rights leaders meet with President Kennedy in the White House.

· January 18, 1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with King and seeks support for his War on Poverty initiative.

· March 26, 1964: King meets Malcom X in Washington, D.C. This was their first and only meeting.

· December 10, 1964: King receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.

· August 12, 1965: King publicly opposes the Vietnam War at a rally in Birmingham.

· March 28, 1968: During a march of 6,000 protestors in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, King is rushed from the scene after violence and looting begins.

· April 3, 1968: King delivers his last speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," in Memphis.

· April 4, 1968: King is fatally shot while standing on a balcony at the Lorraine Hotel.

· November 2, 1986: A national holiday is proclaimed in King's honor.