1. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "I refuse to accept the view... that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality."

2. -born in Atlanta, Georgia on Jan.15, 1929 -birth name was Michael Luther King -was renamed Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was six years old -graduated from high school at the age of 15 after skipping grades 9 &11

3. -graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1948 getting a degree in sociology -graduated from Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania -received his doctrine from Boston University in 1955 -he studied the works of Ghandi during his college years and actually visited India in 1959 -he married Correta Scott and returned down South to become pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama

4. -Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus -King help to organize the bus boycott that lasted 382 days in Montgomery, Alabama -this boycott gave King national recognition

5. -he soon began helping other communities organize protest against discrimination -he returned to Atlanta to co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church -wrote his first book Stride Toward Freedom

6. -the first sit-in was in Greensboro, NC at Woolworth’s when 4 college students refused to get up from the counter when they were refused service

7. Time magazine had him as Man of the Year in 1963 -Also delivered the speech “I Have a Dream” on the steps of Lincoln Memorial at the end of the march to Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963 -won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964

8. -the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed by Lyndon B. Johnson

9. -James Earl Ray was convicted of the crime King was assassinated in 1968 on the balcony of Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tenn. On April 4

10. -in 1969 his wife organized the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change; it still stands next to the church, Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta

12. -in 1986 Ronald Regan signed the bill to make his birthday a national holiday