| The chronology of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | |
| 1957 | January 27 An unexploded bomb is discovered on the front porch of the King's house. February 14 The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is founded. February 18 Dr. King is featured on the cover of Time magazine. May 17 Dr. King delivers a speech for the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom celebrating the third anniversary of the Supreme Court's desegregation decision. The speech, titled, "Give Us The Ballot," is given at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. June 13 Dr. King meets with the Vice President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon. September President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalizes the Arkansas National Guard to escort nine Negro students to an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. September 9 The first Civil Rights Act since Reconstruction is passed by Congress, creating the Civil Rights Commission and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. October 23 A second child, Martin Luther III, is born to Dr. and Mrs. King. |
| 1958 | June 23 Dr. King, along with Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, A. Philip Randolph, and Lester Granger meet with President Dwight D. Eisenhower. September 3 Dr. King is arrested on a charge of loitering (later changed to "failure to obey an officer") in the vicinity of the Montgomery Recorder's Court. He is released on $100.00 bond. September 4 Dr. King is convicted after pleading "Not Guilty" on the charge of failure to obey an officer. The fine is paid almost immediately, over Dr. King's objection, by Montgomery Police Commissioner Clyde C. Sellers. September 17 Dr. King's book, Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, is published by Harper & Row. September 20 Dr. King is stabbed in the chest by Mrs. Izola Curry, who is subsequently alleged to be mentally deranged. The stabbing occurs in Harlem, New York while Dr. King is autographing his recently published book. His condition was said to be serious but not critical. |
| 1959 | January 30 Dr. King meets with Walter Reuther, President of the United Auto Workers Union, in Detroit, Michigan. February 2 - Dr. and Mrs. King spend a month in India studying Gandhi's techniques of nonviolence as guests of Prime Minister Jawaharal Nehru. |
| 1960 | January 24 The King family moves to Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. King becomes co-pastor, with his father, of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. February 1 The first lunch counter sit-in to desegregate eating facilities is held by students in Greensboro, North Carolina. February 17 A warrant is issued for Dr. King's arrest on charges that he had falsified his 1956 and 1958 Alabama state income tax returns. April 15 The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) is founded to coordinate student protests at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina on a temporary basis. (It is to become a permanent organization in October 1960.) Dr. King and James Lawson are the keynote speakers at the Shaw University founding. |
| May 28 Dr. King is acquitted of the tax evasion charge by an all white jury in Montgomery, Alabama. June 10 Dr. King and A. Philip Randolph announce plans for picketing both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. June 24 Dr. King meets with John F. Kennedy (candidate for President of the United States) about racial matters. October 19 Dr. King is arrested at an Atlanta sit-in and is jailed on a charge of violating the state's trespassing law. October 22 - 27 The trespassing charges are dropped. All jailed demonstrators are released except Dr. King, who is held on a charge of violating a probated sentence in a traffic arrest case. He is transferred to the Dekalb County Jail in Decatur, Georgia, and is then transferred to the Reidsville State Prison. He is released from the Reidsville State Prison on a $2,000.00 bond. | |
| 1961 | January 30 A third child, Dexter Scott, is born to Dr. and Mrs. King in Atlanta, Georgia. May 4 The first group of Freedom Riders, with the intent of integrating interstate buses, leaves Washington, D.C. by Greyhound bus. The group, organized by the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), leaves shortly after the Supreme Court has outlawed segregation in interstate transportation terminals. The bus is burned outside of Anniston, Alabama. May 14. A mob beats the Freedom Riders upon their arrival in Birmingham, Alabama. The Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, and spend forty to sixty days in Parchman Penitentiary. December 15 Dr. King arrives in Albany, Georgia in response to a call from Dr. W. G. Anderson, the leader of the Albany Movement to desegregate public facilities, which began in January 1961. December 16 Dr. King is arrested at an Albany, Georgia demonstration. He is charged with obstructing the sidewalk and parading without a permit |
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