Dr. King Chronology (1) - AFHC \ APA-KPL Chapter 50th MLK Breakfast Booklet - Journal - Page 37
Dr. King Chronology (1)
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Chronology (Section 1 of 5)
n 1929
n 1954
January 15: Michael Luther King, Jr. is born to Reverend and Mrs.
Martin Luther King, Sr. (the former Alberta Christine Williams), in
Atlanta, Georgia. His name changed to Martin at the age of six.
October 31: King is installed by Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr.,
as the 20th pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery,
AL.
n 1935-1944
n 1955
King attends David T. Howard Elementary School. Atlanta University Laboratory School, and Booker T. Washington High School.
He passes the entrance examination to Morehouse College (Atlanta) without graduating from high school.
June 5: King receives a Ph.D. degree in Systematic Theology
from Boston University.
n 1947
King is licensed to preach and becomes an assistant to his father,
who is pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta.
n 1948
February 25: King is ordained to the Baptist ministry.
June: King graduates from Morehouse College with a B.A. Degree in sociology.
September: King enters Crozer Theological Seminary, Chester,
Pennsylvania. After hearing Dr. A. J. Muste and Dr. Mordecai W.
Johnson preach on the life and teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, he
begins to study Gandhi seriously.
November 17: The Kings’ 昀椀rst child, Yolanda Denise, is born in
Montgomery.
December 1: Mrs. Rosa Parks, a 42 year-old Montgomery seamstress, refuses to relinquish her bus seat to a white man, and is
arrested.
December 5: The 昀椀rst day of the bus boycott. The trial of Mrs.
Parks. A meeting of movement leaders is held. Dr. King is unanimously elected president of an organization named the Montgomery Improvement Association, a name proposed by Reverend
Ralph Abernathy.
December 10: The Montgomery Bus Company suspends service
in black neighborhoods.
n 1956
January 26: Dr. King is arrested on a charge of traveling 30 miles
an hour in a 25 mile-an-hour zone in Montgomery. He is released
on his own recognizance.
n 1951
June: King graduates from Crozer with a B.D. degree, and enters
Boston University to pursue a doctoral degree.
n 1952
January 22: King is initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
via Sigma Chapter at Boston University.
n 1953
June 18: King marries Coretta Scott in Marion, Alabama.
January 30: A bomb is thrown onto the porch of Dr. King’s Montgomery home. Mrs. King and Mrs. Roscoe Williams, wife of a
church member, are in the house with baby Yolanda Denise; no
one is injured.
February 2: A suit is 昀椀led in federal district court asking that Montgomery’s travel segregation laws be declared unconstitutional
February 21: Dr. King is indicted with other 昀椀gures in the conspiracy to hinder and prevent the operation of business without”
just or legal cause.”
Continued >>
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50th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Breakfast Celebration • Sunday, January 12, 2025
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