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Michael King, later known as Martin Luther King, Jr., is born in Atlanta, Georgia.
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King begins his freshman year at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
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The Atlanta Constitution publishes King’s letter to the editor stating that black people "are entitled to the basic rights and opportunities of American citizens."
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King receives his bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Morehouse College.
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King begins his studies at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.
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King graduates from Crozer with a bachelor of divinity degree, delivering the valedictory address at commencement.
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King and Coretta Scott are married at the Scott home near Marion, Alabama.
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King is awarded his doctorate in systematic theology from Boston University.
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Yolanda Denise King, the Kings’ first child, is born
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Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to vacate her seat and move to the rear of a city bus in Montgomery to make way for a white passenger.
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At a mass meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church, the Montgomery Improvement Association(MIA) is formed. King becomes its president.
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Coretta King gives birth to their second child, Martin, III.
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King’s first book Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story is published.
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King moves from Montgomery to Atlanta to devote more time to SCLC and the freedom struggle. He becomes assistant pastor to his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
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Dexter Scott, King’s third child, is born.
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King is arrested at an Albany, Georgia prayer vigil and jailed. After spending two weeks in jail, King is released.
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During the closing session of the SCLC conference in Birmingham, Alabama, a member of the American Nazi Party assaults King, striking him twice in the face.
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Bernice Albertine, King’s fourth child, is born.
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Strength to Love, King's book of sermons, is published.
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The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom attracts more than two hundred thousand demonstrators to the Lincoln Memorial
Organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, the march is supported by all major civil rights organizations as well as by many labor and religious groups.
King delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech. -
King is named "Man of the Year" by Time Magazine.
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King's book Why We Can’t Wait is published.
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King is arrested and jailed for demanding service at a white-only restaurant in St. Augustine, Florida.
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King receives the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway. He declares that "every penny" of the $54,000 award will be used in the ongoing civil rights struggle.
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In an event that will become known as "Bloody Sunday," voting rights marchers are beaten at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama as they attempt to march to Montgomery.
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King helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, and the following year he and SCLC took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregated housing.
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King delivers "Beyond Vietnam" to a gathering of Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam at Riverside Church in New York City. He demands that the U.S. take new initiatives to end the war.
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King’s book Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? is published.
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King’s book :"The Trumpet of Conscience" is published.
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In Memphis,Tennessee,King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign .The march descends into violence and looting, and King is rushed from the scene.
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King returns to Memphis, determined to lead a peaceful march. During an evening rally at Mason Temple in Memphis, King delivers his final speech, "I’ve Been to the Mountaintop."
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King was shot by James Earl Ray and killed while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
King is buried in Atlanta.
