1. Martin Luther Jr. Photogallery Eleni Despotakis Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. establishes himself as the national leader of the civil rights movement, leading boycotts and staging protests against segregation in the South.

2. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is welcomed with a kiss by his wife Coretta after leaving court in Montgomery, Ala., March 22, 1956. King was found guilty of conspiracy to boycott city buses in a campaign to desegregate the bus system, but a judge suspended his $500 fine pending appeal.

3. Rosa Parks sits in the front of a city bus in Montgomery, Ala. on Dec. 21, 1956, the day a Supreme Court ruling banning segregation of the city's public transit vehicles went into effect. A year earlier, she had been arrested and jailed for refusing to give up her seat in a crowded bus.

4. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks to the media on May 20, 1956, about his arrest for leading the Montgomery bus boycott.

5. The Rev. Ralph Abernathy, left, and Martin Luther King Jr., leaders of the black bus boycott in Montgomery, are shown leaving their attorney's office on April 25, 1957.

6. Federal paratroopers escort African American pupils to Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. without trouble. A thousand paratroopers had been called by President Eisenhower to restore order and escort nine black students safely to class. Sept. 26, 1957.

7. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. collapses after praying in Montgomery over bus- integration violence. Jan. 15, 1957.

8. A pastor is arrested outside Montgomery City Hall on charges of loitering. Sept. 3, 1958.

9. The Rev. Martin Luther King is arrested in September 1958 on a charge of loitering (later changed to "failure to obey an officer") in the vicinity of the Montgomery Recorder's Court. He was released on $100 bond.

10. New York Gov. Averell Harriman talks with Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King in Harlem Hospital where King was recovering from a stab wound. He was attacked by an African American woman while promoting his book - "Stride Toward Freedom" (Harper), his recollections of the Montgomery bus boycott - in a Harlem bookstore. Sept. 23, 1958.

11. President Eisenhower (third from left) meets with civil rights leaders on June 23, 1958. From left to right: the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., E. Frederic Morrow, A. Philip Randolph, William Rogers and Roy Wilkins

12. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested and taken to jail through a picket line in front of an Atlanta department store where people staged a sit-in demonstration. Oct. 20, 1960. The trespassing charges were dropped the following week. All jailed demonstrators were released except Dr. King, who was held on a charge of violating a probated sentence in a traffic arrest case. He is transferred to the Dekalb County Jail in Decatur, Ga., and was then transferred to the Reidsville State Prison. He was released from the Reidsville prison on a $2 million bond.

13. Officers escort the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from jail to county courthouse in Atlanta for a hearing. Oct. 25, 1960

14. Freedom Riders have breakfast at a lunch counter in the bus station in Montgomery shortly before leaving for Jackson, Miss. and New Orleans. It was the first time the eating facilities at the station had been integrated. May 24,1961. The first group of Freedom Riders, with the intent of integrating interstate buses, left Washington, D.C. by Greyhound bus in early May 1961.

15. Freedom riders prepare to resume their trip through the South. May 24, 1961. The Freedom Riders were arrested in Jackson, Miss., and spent 40 to 60 days in jail.

16. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks during his visit to Seattle in November 1961. King came as part of a lecture series presented by the Brotherhood of Mount Zion Baptist Church.

17. James Meredith, center, was the first African American student accepted by the University of Mississippi. His attendance provoked riots. Here he is escorted to class by U.S. marshals and troops. Oct. 2, 1962. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ mlk/man/photogallery/1956-62/