1929
15 January
Michael King, later known as Martin Luther King, Jr., is born at 501 Auburn Ave. in Atlanta, Georgia.
1941
Summer
The King family -- Martin Luther King, Sr. (Daddy King), Alberta Williams King, Willie Christine King, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Alfred Daniel Williams King (known as A. D. King) -- moves from 501 Auburn Avenue to 193 Boulevard in Atlanta.
1944
20 September
King begins his freshman year at Morehouse College in Atlanta.
1946
6 August
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."
1948
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.
1951
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.
1953
18 June
King and Coretta Scott are married at the Scott home near Marion, Alabama.
1954
1 September
King begins his pastorate at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
1955
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.
1956
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.
I’ll just stop there
