The Basics
MLK Jr's Date of Birth
What is: January 15th, 1929
What was MLK JR's mother's profession?
What is: school teacher
It was this man who inspired MLK JR to lead nonviolent protests in order to win greater rights for African Americans
Who is: Mohandas Gandhi of India, Mahatma (title, meaning Great Soul in Sanskrit)
MLK JR's 1st great Negro nonviolent demonstration of the United States that lasted 382 days
What is: The Bus Boycott
(On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.)
At this age, MLK JR received the Nobel Peace Prize
What is: 35
City of birth
What is: Atlanta
T/F: Martin Luther King Jr was the 1st pastor of his family
What is: False
(His grandfather began the family’s long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father, Michael King, served 44 years until his death, and Martin Luther acted as co-pastor from 1960 until his assassination.)
It was this man's writings that inspired MLK JR while at Morehouse
Who is: Henry David Thoreau, Essay on Civil Disobedience
This 1963 letter served as the outline for the moral basis for the Civil Rights Movement
What is: Letter from Birmingham City Jail
Time Magazine named him this in 1963
What is: Man of the Year
Martin Luther King Jr's original name
What is: Michael Luther King, Jr.
BONUS: DID YOU KNOW
MLK Jr. skipped his first and last year at Booker T. Washington High School and went directly into college during his junior year. He entered college when he was just 15 years old.
Like his father and grandfather before him, Martin Luther King Jr graduated from this distinguished Negro Institution or HBCU
What is: Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA)
In response to March 7th, 1965 "Bloody Sunday", MLK JR organized this 87 Kilometer-long march
What is: Selma-to-Montgomery March, 54 miles, for voting rights
Name one of MLK JR's 5 books
What is:
6. The Trumpet of Conscience (1968) Final Book published after his death
5. Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
4. Why We Can't Wait (1964)
3. Strength to love (1963)
2. Measure of A Man (1959)
1. Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (1958)
Date of assassination
What is: April 4th, 1968
It was in this year that Michael King JR's name was officially changed on his birth certificate
What is: 1957
BONUS:
It was after learning about this man, a protestant reformer, on a trip to Berlin that Michael Sr. changed his and his son's name
Who is: Martin Luther, protestant reformer
What is the reason for the historic March on Washington
What is: for Jobs and Freedom
These 2 United States Acts of 1964 and 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson achieved what?
What is: Civil Rights Act of 1964 - banned discrimination in employment, public accommodations and other aspects of life
What is: Voting Rights Act of 1965 - ensured that blacks could not be denied the right to vote by discriminatory practices
Location of assassination
What is: Memphis Tennessee
BONUS
T/F In 1969, Samuel L Jackson (and others) held MLK SR along with other Morehouse College Board of Trustees hostage on campus demanding reform in the school's curriculum and governance.
What is: TRUE
Samuel L Jackson was suspended for his actions
If it wasn't for this man, MLK SR would have remained a life-long member of the Republican Party. This man called the judge to secure the release of MLK JR after his arrest at a sit-in protest in Atlanta in October 1960
Who is: Robert F Kennedy, brother and aide to the then Democratic presidential nominee John F Kennedy
On the night of his assassination, MLK JR was there to do this
What is: he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of Memphis, Tennessee
At which even did King declare that all people should be judged not “by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
What is: March on Washington in 1963