The following is a timeline that highlights important dates and major events in the life of MLK:

1929

• January 15. Michael Luther King Jr. was later renamed Martin, born to a schoolteacher Alberta King and Baptist minister Michael Luther King.

• Martin Luther King Jr. graduates from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., with a B.A.

• Martin Luther King Jr. graduates with a B.D. from Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pa.

• June 18. Martin Luther King marries Coretta Scott in Marion, Alabama. Eventually they will have four children: Yolanda Denise (born 1955) Martin Luther King III (born 1957), Dexter (born 1961), Bernice Albertine (born 1963)..

• September. King moves to Montgomery, Alabama to preach at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

• After taking classes at New England colleges, King finishes his Ph.D. in "systematic theology."

• Racial tension continues to grow throughout the United States. Here are some examples in MLK's life:
• On January 26, King is arrested for driving 30 mph in a 25 mph zone.
• On January 30, King's house bombed.

• January. Many Black ministers form what became known as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King is named the first president of this Conference.
• In this typical year of demonstrations, King traveled 780,000 miles and made 208 speeches.

• King's first book was published. It was called "Stride Toward Freedom". It tells about his memories of the Montgomery bus boycott. While King is promoting his book in a Harlem book store, an African American woman stabs him.
• He had a lifelong admiration for Mohandas K. Gandhi, and credited Gandhi's peaceful resistance methods for his civil-rights successes. He was able to meet Gandhi in 1958 as well.

• King goes to Atlanta to pastor his father's church, Ebenezer Baptist Church.

• King meets with President John F. Kennedy to urge support for civil rights.

• King leads protests in Birmingham for 'desegregated department store facilities', and fair job hiring.
• In April, King is arrested after not appearing in court. King writes "Letter From Birmingham Jail." This famous letter, later widely circulated, quickly became a classic of the civil-rights movement.
• On August 28, 250,000 civil-rights supporters attended the March on Washington. At the Lincoln Memorial, King delivers the famous "I have a dream" speech.

• King's book "Why We Can't Wait" is published.
• King visits with West Berlin Mayor Willy Brant and Pope Paul VI.
• On December 10, King wins Nobel Peace Prize.

• On January 18, King successfully registers to vote at the Hotel Albert in Selma, Ala. and is assaulted by James George Robinson of Birmingham.
• In February, King continues to protest discrimination in voter registration and is again arrested and jailed.
• He meets with President Lyndon B. Johnson on Feb. 9 and other American leaders to discuss voting rights for African Americans.
• On March 16-2, King and 3,200 people march from Selma to Montgomery.

• On April 4, King is assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., by James Earl Ray.

• January 20 is the first national celebration of King's birthday as a holiday. To see how Monroe County Community School Corporation in Bloomington, Indiana has celebrated the life of MLK, click here.