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January 11, 2023
Ten Facts about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
1. King's Birth Name Was
Michael, Not Martin
King was born Michael King Jr. on Jan-
uary 15, 1929. In 1934, however, his
father, a pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer
Baptist Church, traveled to Germany and
became inspired by the Protestant Refor-
mation leader, Martin Luther. As a result,
King Sr. changed his own name as well
as that of his five-year-old son.
3. King Received His Doctorate
in Systematic Theology
After earning a divinity degree from
Pennsylvania’s Crozer Theological Sem-
inary, King attended graduate school at
Boston University, where he received his
Ph.D. degree in 1955. The title of his dis-
sertation was “A Comparison of the Con-
ceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul
Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman.”
4. King’s 'I Have a Dream'
Speech Was Not His First At the
Lincoln Memorial
2. King Entered College At the
Age of 15
King was such a gifted student that he
skipped grades nine and 12 before en-
rolling in 1944 at Morehouse College,
the alma mater of his father and mater-
an audience at Mason Temple Church:
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long
life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not
concerned about that now … I’ve seen the
Promised Land. I may not get there with
you. But I want you to know tonight, that
we, as a people, will get to the Promised
Land. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not
worried about anything. I’m not fearing
any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord.”
nal grandfather. Although he was the son,
grandson and great-grandson of Baptist
ministers, King did not intend to follow
the family vocation until Morehouse pres-
ident Benjamin E. Mays, a noted theolo-
gian, convinced him otherwise. King was
ordained before graduating college with a
degree in sociology.
Six years before his iconic oration at the
March on Washington, King was among
the civil rights leaders who spoke in the
shadow of the Great Emancipator during
the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom on
May 17, 1957. Before a crowd estimated
at between 15,000 and 30,000, King deliv-
ered his first national address on the topic
of voting rights. His speech, in which he
urged America to “give us the ballot,” drew
strong reviews and positioned him at the
forefront of the civil rights leadership.
5. King Was Imprisoned Nearly
30 Times
According to the King Center, the civil
rights leader went to jail 29 times. He
was arrested for acts of civil disobedi-
ence and on trumped-up charges, such as
when he was jailed in Montgomery, Al-
abama, in 1956 for driving 30 miles per
hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone.
6. King’s Last Public Speech
Foretold His Death
King had come to Memphis in April 1968
to support the strike of the city’s Black
garbage workers, and in a speech on the
night before his assassination, he told
7. King Narrowly Escaped
an Assassination Attempt a
Decade Before His Death
On September 20, 1958, King was in
Harlem signing copies of his new book,
Stride Toward Freedom, in Blumstein’s
department store when he was ap-
proached by Izola Ware Curry. The wom-
an asked if he was Martin Luther King Jr.
After he said yes, Curry said, “I’ve been
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