- January 15. MIchael Luther King jr., later renamed Martin, born to schoolteacher Alberta King and Baptist minister Michael Luther King. 

- King graduates from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., with a B.A. 

- Graduates with a B.D. from Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pa. 

- June 18. King marries Coretta Scott in Marion, Ala.. They will have four children: Yolanda Denise (born 1955), Martin Luther King III (born 1957), Dexter (born 1961), Bernice Albertine (born 1963). 

- September. King moves to Montgomery, Ala., to preach at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. 

- January 30. King's house bombed. 

- January. Black ministers form what became known as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King is named first president one month later. 

- In this typical year of demonstrations, King traveled 780,000 miles and made 208 speeches. 

- King meets with President John F. Kennedy to urge support for civil rights. 

- April. Arrested after demonstrating in defiance of a court order, King writes "Letter From Birmingham Jail." 

- This eloquent letter, later widely circulated, became a classic of the civil-rights movement. 

- August 28. 250,000 civil-rights supporters attended the March on Washington. At the Lincoln Memorial, King delivers the famous "I have a dream" speech. 

- December 10. King wins Nobel Peace Prize. 

- April 4. King is assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., by James Earl Ray.