Martin Luther King, Jr.
Timeline of Key Events
in the Life of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This 16 page Martin Luther King Jr. timeline cut-out is an exercise in
chronological order.
It can be used as a center activity or to create a display. Many different
activities, based on students’ level, can be created from the timeline.
Exercises for Chronological Order
1.
Mix up cut-outs and have each student select one. Call on students to
read cards and stand in front of room. Each student determines
where they should stand based on date on their card and dates on
cards of students already standing.
2.
Have students use the cut-outs to create their own timeline and insert
related images to support the events in their timeline.

January 15, 1929
Martin Luther King Jr.
is born in Atlanta, Georgia.
September 20, 1944
Martin Luther King Jr. begins
attending Morehouse College
in Atlanta, Georgia.
September 14, 1948
Martin Luther King Jr. enters
Crozer Theological Seminary in
Chester, Pennsylvania.
April 17, 1944
Martin Luther King Jr wins an
oratory contest in Dublin,
Georgia for his speech “The
Negro and the Constitution.”
June 8, 1948
Martin Luther King Jr. graduates
from Morehouse College.
May 8, 1951
Martin Luther King Jr.
receives a Bachelor of Divinity
degree from Crozer
Theological Seminary.
September 13, 1951
Martin Luther King Jr. begins
attending Boston University’s
School of Theology in
Boston Massachusetts.
June 18, 1953
Martin Luther King Jr. and
Coretta Scott get married in
Marion, Alabama.
June 5, 1955
Martin Luther King Jr. receives
doctorate degree in theology
from Boston University.
October 31, 1954
Martin Luther King Jr. becomes
pastor of Dexter Avenue
Baptist Church in
Montgomery, Alabama.
December 1, 1955
November 17, 1954
Martin Luther King’s daughter
Yolanda Denise is born.
Rosa Parks refuses to give up
her seat on a bus to a white
man in Montgomery, Alabama
She is arrested for violating
segregation laws.
December 5, 1955
Martin Luther King Jr is elected
head of the Montgomery
Improvement Association (MIA),
the group formed to organize
the Montgomery bus boycott.
January 30, 1956
Martin Luther King’s
home is bombed.
November 13, 1956
The United States Supreme
Court declares bus segregation
laws unconstitutional.
January 26, 1956
The city of Montgomery
instituted a “Get Tough”
campaign against the bus
boycotters and Martin Luther
King Jr. is arrested and jailed
for speeding.
February 21, 1956
Martin Luther King Jr. and other
MIA leaders are indicted for
violating anti-boycott law.
December 21, 1956
The Montgomery Improvement
Association ends the boycott
and Martin Luther King Jr. is
one of the first passengers to
ride desegregated buses.
February 14, 1957
Martin Luther King Jr.
becomes head of the
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC).
June 23, 1958
October 23, 1957
Martin Luther King III is born.
September 3, 1958
Martin Luther King Jr. and other
Martin Luther King Jr is arrested
civil rights leaders meet with
in Montgomery, Alabama.
President Eisenhower.
September 5, 1958
February 1, 1960
Martin Luther King Jr. is
convicted for failing to obey a
Martin Luther King Jr. and his
police officer. His fine is paid by
family move to Atlanta, Georgia.
the Montgomery police
commissioner.
February 1, 1960
The lunch counter sit-in
movement begins in
Greensboro, North Carolina.
January 30, 1961
Martin Luther King’s son
Dexter Scott is born.
December 16, 1961
Martin Luther King Jr. is
arrested with more than 700
Albany protesters.
October 19, 1960
Martin Luther King, Jr. is
arrested at an Atlanta sit-in.
December 15, 1961
Martin Luther King Jr. goes to
Albany, Georgia to support
residents in their efforts to
end segregation.
March 28, 1963
Martin Luther King’s daughter,
Bernice Albertine, is born.
April 3, 1963
April 12, 1963
The Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC)
and the Alabama Christian
Movement for Human Rights
launch a protest campaign in
Birmingham, Alabama.
Martin Luther King Jr. is
arrested for violating a
state circuit court injunction
against protests.
April 15, 1963
April 16, 1963
President Kennedy calls Coretta Martin Luther King Jr. writes his
Scott King and expresses
now famous “Letter from a
concern for her jailed husband.
Birmingham Jail.”
April 20, 1963
Martin Luther King Jr. is
released from jail.
May 11, 1963
Segregationists bomb the
Gaston Motel where Martin
Luther King Jr. is staying in
Birmingham, Alabama.
June 11, 1963
President Kennedy makes a
civil rights speech asking for
legislation giving all Americans
the right to be served in facilities
which are open to the public
and for greater protection for
the right to vote.
August 28, 1963
June 22, 1963
Martin Luther King Jr. meets
with President Kennedy.
September 15, 1963
Martin Luther King Jr. makes
his “I Have a Dream” speech
during the March on
Washington for Jobs and
Freedom.
Four black girls are killed in
Sunday school at the Sixteenth
Street Baptist Church in
Birmingham, Alabama
September 19, 1963
November 22, 1963
Martin Luther King Jr. and other
civil rights leaders meet with
President Kennedy.
President Kennedy is
assassinated and Lyndon B.
Johnson becomes president.
July 2, 1964
President Johnson signs the
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Martin Luther King Jr. attends
the signing ceremony.
August 22, 1964
Martin Luther King Jr. testifies
at the Democratic convention
on behalf of the Mississippi
Freedom Democratic Party
February 1, 1965
Martin Luther King Jr. is jailed
with more than two hundred
others after voting rights march
in Selma, Alabama
July 21, 1964
Martin Luther King Jr. goes to
Mississippi to assist in the civil
rights efforts there.
December 10, 1964
Martin Luther King Jr. receives
the Nobel Peace Prize
March 7, 1965
Voting rights marchers, going
from Selma, Alabama to the
state capitol in Montgomery,
are beaten on the
Edmund Pettus Bridge.
March 25, 1965
December 4, 1967
The 54 mile Selma to
Montgomery march for voting
rights concludes with Martin
Luther King Jr. giving his “How
Long, Not Long” speech.
Martin Luther King Jr. and the
SCLC launch the Poor People’s
Campaign to bring attention
to those in need.
March 18, 1968
March 28, 1968
Martin Luther King Jr. speaks to
striking sanitation workers in
Memphis, Tennessee
Martin Luther King Jr. leads a
Memphis, Tennessee march
that is disrupted by violence.
April 3, 1968
Martin Luther King Jr. makes
his last speech.
April 4, 1968
Martin Luther King Jr. is
assassinated at the Lorraine
Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
November 2, 1983
President Ronald Reagan
signs Public Law 98-144
making the third Monday in
January a federal holiday to
commemorate the birthday of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
January 20, 1986
The first official celebration of
Martin Luther King Day
as a national holiday.
Edmund Pettus Bridge
Selma, Alabama
Dr. King and Civil Rights Leaders meeting
with President Eisenhower
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
Montgomery, Alabama
Gaston Motel
Birmingham, Alabama
President Johnson signing Civil Rights Act of 1964
President John F. Kennedy
Lorraine Motel
Memphis, Tennessee
Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at
March on Washington
Coretta Scott King
Rosa Parks and Marting Luther King Jr.
President Kennedy meeting with leaders of the
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Selma to Montgomery marchers
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
Birmingham, Alabama
March on Washington
President Ronald Reagan signing bill making
Dr. King’s birthday a federal holiday
House where Martin Luther King Jr. was born
Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Chronological Order
Order the dates on the lines below
On June 22, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. met with President Kennedy.
On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus.
On November 2, 1983, Martin Luther King Day became a federal holiday.
On June 8, 1948, Martin Luther King, Jr. graduated from Morehouse College.
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. made his “I Have a Dream” speech.
On December 10, 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize.
On April 17, 1944, Martin Luther King, Jr. won an oratory contest.
On July 2, 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Date Order
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