| 1929 | |
| 1948 | - Graduates from Morehouse College in Atlanta
|
| 1951 | - Graduates from Crozer Theological Seminary
|
| 1954 | - Supreme Court rules racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional
(Brown v. Board of Education)
|
| 1955 | - Supreme Court orders desegregation of public schools
- Earns Ph.D. from Boston University
- Rosa Parks is arrested on Montgomery bus
- Leads protest involving Rosa Parks, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott begins
|
| 1956 | - Supreme Court rules bus segregation unconstitutional
|
| 1957 | - Becomes president of new Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
- Featured on Time Magazine cover
- Delivers his first national address, “Give Us The Ballot”
- Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1957
|
| 1959 | - Visits India to study nonviolent tactics, meets Gandhi’s family
|
| 1960 | - President Eisenhower signs Civil Rights Act of 1960 covering voter registration
|
| 1961 | - Negotiates for Freedom Riders
- Segregation in interstate travel formally banned
- Makes his only visit to Seattle, speaking at Mt. Zion and leading a march with community on Denny Way, close to Seattle Central campus
|
| 1963 | - Writes his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
- Meets with President John F. Kennedy
- Delivers “I Have a Dream” speech at Lincoln Memorial to 250,000 people at the
- March on Washington
|
| 1964 | - Named Time Magazine “Man of the Year”
- Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed into law
- Receives Nobel Peace Prize, youngest person ever
|
| 1965 | - 1965 Voting Rights Act signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson
- Marches from Selma to Montgomery and is arrested
|
| 1966 | - Leads demonstrations in Chicago
- Leads “March against Fear” from Memphis to Jackson
|
| 1967 | - Thurgood Marshall appointed first black on U.S. Supreme Court
|
| 1968 | - Organizes (with the SCLC) the “Poor People’s Campaign” on Washington
- Leads striking sanitation workers in a march in Memphis
- Delivers his last speech,“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”
- Assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis
- More than 300,000 people march with his coffin through Atlanta
|
| 1977 | - Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter
|
| 1983 | - Dr. King’s birthday declared a federal holiday by President Ronald Reagan
|
| 2004 | - Awarded a Congressional Gold Medal
|
| 2011 | |
