15 January

Michael King, later known as Martin Luther King Jr, is born in Atlanta Georgia.

Every year Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is observed on the third Monday of January around King's birthday.

Summer

The King family moves from 501 Auburn Avenue to 193 Boulevard in Atlanta.

20 September

King begins his freshman year at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

August 6

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.

25 February

King is ordained and appointed assistant pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

8 June

King receives his bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Morehouse College.

14 September

King begins his studies at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.

6-8 May

King graduates from Crozer with a bachelor of divinity degree, delivering the valedictory address at commencement.

13 September

King begins his graduate studies in systematic theology at Boston University.

18 June

King and Coretta Scott are married at the Scott home near Marion, Alabama.

1 September

King begins his pastorate at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

5 June

King is awarded his doctorate in systematic theology from Boston University.

17 November

Yolanda Denise King, the Kings’ first child, is born.

1 December

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. Jo Ann Robinson and other Women’s Political Council members mimeograph thousands of leaflets calling for a one-day boycott of the city’s buses on Monday, 5 December.

5 December

At a mass meeting at Holt Street Baptist Church, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) is formed. King becomes its president.

27 January

According to King’s later account in Stride Toward Freedom, he receives a threatening phone call late in the evening, prompting a spiritual revelation that fills him with strength to carry on in spite of persecution.

30 January

At 9:15 p.m., while King speaks at a mass meeting, his home is bombed. His wife and daughter are not injured. Later King addresses an angry crowd that gathers outside the house, pleading for nonviolence.

13 November

The U.S. Supreme Court affirms the lower court opinion in Browder v. Gayle declaring Montgomery and Alabama bus segregation laws unconstitutional.

21 December

Montgomery City Lines resumes full service on all routes. King is among the first passengers to ride the buses in an integrated fashion.