Martin uther King Jr. was a civil rights activist and is considered to be the leader of the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1950’s and 1960’s. Many see him as the greatest orator of U.S. history.
List of Little Known Facts
- 1. In 1934, five years after his birth, his family discovered Martin’s name had been recorded wrong on his birth certificate. The certificate said Michael King, so his name had to be legally changed to Martin Luther King Jr.
- In 1939, Martin sang with his church choir in Atlanta at the gala premiere of the movie Gone With The Wind.
- He skipped the 9th and 12th grades in school and entered Moorehouse College at age 15.
- He had Bachelor degrees in sociology and theology. In 1955 he received his PH. D. from Boston University.
- From 1957 until his death in 1968, he traveled more than 6 million miles. He gave over 2500 speeches during his travels. He also wrote 5 books and had published countless numbers of articles in newspapers and magazines.
- In 1964, at age 35, he was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
- According to a Gallup poll, King is the second most admired person in the 20th century.
- In a contest sponsored by the Discovery Channel, he was voted the 3rd Greatest American of all time.
- Presently there are 730+ U.S. cities that have streets named after King.
- King is 1 of 10 20th century world martyrs who has a statue at Westminster Abbey.
