The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume I
Volume I begins with the childhood letters Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote to his mother and father.
A series of letters written while he was working at a summer job on a tobacco farm in Connecticut reveal his initial impressions of life outside the segregated South. A few years later, King would refer to this time as a crucial period in his religious evolution when he “felt and inescapable urge to serve society... in a sense of responsibility which I could not escape.”
As a teenager at Morehouse College, the young King initially planned to become a lawyer or physician rather than become a minister like his father. Greatly affected by the influence of Morehouse College’s president Benjamin E. Mays, King described his studies at Morehouse as “very exciting.” He persistently questioned literal interpretations of biblical texts and criticized traditional Baptist teachings. But by his senior year, he decided to follow his father’s “noble example” into the ministry. King’s continuing struggle to resolve his religious doubts is revealed in the essays and examinations written while he was at Crozer Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. The intensity of his search for a sense of theological certainty and the depth of his deliberations regarding his ultimate decision to accept his religious calling are clearly revealed. By the time he left Crozer, he had found new value in his early religious experiences and had reached enduring conclusions about his own faith.
Download Introduction to Volume 1 (pdf)
Contents
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Date |
Title |
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13 Jun 1937 |
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1 Apr 1939 |
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18 Jan 1940 |
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20 Jun 1940 |
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23 Jun 1940 |
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May 1944 |
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11 Jun 1944 |
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15 Jun 1944 |
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18 Jun 1944 |
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5 Aug 1944 |
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30 Aug 1944 |
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6 Aug 1946 |
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Sept 1946–Jan 1947 |
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Jan–Feb 1947 |
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27 Oct 1947 |
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29 Oct 1947 |
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25 September 1946–Jan 1948 |
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Feb 1948 |
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4 Feb 1948 |
Certification of Minister’s License for Martin Luther King, Jr. |
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18 Feb 1948 |
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25 Feb 1948 |
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28 Feb 1948 |
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5 Mar 1948 |
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9 Mar 1948 |
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12 Mar 1948 |
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23 Mar 1948 |
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23 Mar 1948 |
Charles E. Batten’s Notes on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Academic Record at Morehouse College |
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Oct 1948 |
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14 Sept–24 Nov 1948 |
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14 Sept–24 Nov 1948 |
“The Significant Contributions of Jeremiah to Religious Thought” |
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30 Nov 1948–16 Feb 1949 |
“The Ethics of Late Judaism as Evidenced in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs” |
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8 Oct 1949 |
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13 Sept–23 Nov 1949 |
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13 Sept–23 Nov 1949 |
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13 Sept–23 Nov 1949 |
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13 Sept–23 Nov 1949 |
“The Sources of Fundamentalism and Liberalism Considered Historically and Psychologically” |
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13 Sept–23 Nov 1949 |
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13 Sept–23 Nov 1949 |
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29 Nov 1949–15 Feb 1950 |
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29 Nov 1949–15 Feb 1950 |
“A View of the Cross Possessing Biblical and Spiritual Justification” |
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29 Nov 1949–15 Feb 1950 |
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29 November 1949–Feb 1950 |
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20 Nov 1949–15 Feb 1950 |
Six Talks Based on Beliefs That Matter by William Adams Brown |
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29 Nov 1949–15 Feb 1950 |
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29 Nov 1949–15 Feb 1950 |
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28 Apr 1950 |
“The Chief Characteristics and Doctrines of Mahayana Buddhism” |
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20 Jul 1950 |
Statement on Behalf of Ernest Nichols, State v. Ernest Nichols, by W. Thomas McGann |
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13 Sept 1950 |
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11 Oct 1950 |
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30 Oct 1950 |
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5 Nov 1950 |
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15 Nov 1950 |
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17 Nov 1950 |
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21 Nov 1950 |
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12 Sept–22 Nov 1950 |
Book Review of A Functional Approach to Religious Education by Ernest J. Chave |
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12 Sept–22 Nov 1950 |
Book Review of Personality, Its Study and Hygiene by Winifred V. Richmond |
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12 Sept–22 Nov 1950 |
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Sept–1 Dec 1950 |
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14 Dec 1950 |
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15 Dec 1950 |
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19 Dec 1950 |
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Sept–Dec 1950 |
Fragment of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Application to Boston University |
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1951 |
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Jan 1951 |
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4 Feb 1951 |
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9 Feb 1951 |
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23 Feb 1951 |
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6 Mar 1951 |
Graduate Record Examination Scores for Martin Luther King, Jr. |
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28 Mar 1951 |
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27 Apr 1951 |
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20 Feb–4 May 1951 |
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20 Feb–4 May 1951 |
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20 Feb–4 May 1951 |
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10 May 1951 |
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1 Jun 1951 |
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4 Jun 1951 |
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4 Jun 1951 |
Chronology
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
1810 |
Willis Williams—one of King, Jr.’s maternal great-grandfathers—is born in Georgia. |
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Feb 1825 |
William Parks—one of King, Jr.’s maternal great-grandfathers—is born in Georgia. |
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Jan 1830 |
Fannie—later wife of William Parks—is born in Georgia. |
|
1840 |
Lucretia (Creecy)—later wife of Willis Williams—is born in Georgia. |
|
1842 or 1844 |
Jim Long—one of King, Jr.’s paternal great-grandfathers—is born in Virginia. |
|
1855 |
Jane Linsey—one of King, Jr.’s paternal great-grandmothers—is born in Henry County, Georgia. |
|
2 Jan 1863 |
Adam Daniel (A. D.) Williams—the son of Lucretia and Willis Williams—is born near the town of Penfield in Greene County, Georgia. |
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Dec 1864 |
James Albert King—King, Jr.’s paternal grandfather—is born in Ohio. |
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Apr 1873 |
Jennie Celeste Parks—the daughter of Fannie and William Parks—is born in Atlanta, Georgia. |
|
1874 |
Willis Williams dies. |
|
July 1875 |
Delia Linsey—the daughter of Jane Linsey and Jim Long—is born in Henry County, Georgia. |
|
Mar 1894 |
A. D. Williams becomes pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, a small and financially troubled church with a congregation of thirteen and no permanent place of worship. Serving as pastor until his death in 1931, Reverend Williams helps build Ebenezer into one of Atlanta’s largest and most prominent black churches. |
|
20 Aug 1895 |
James Albert King marries Delia Linsey in Stockbridge, Georgia. |
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19 Dec 1897 |
Martin Luther King, Sr.—son of Delia and James Albert King—is born in Stockbridge, Georgia. |
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29 Oct 1899 |
A. D. Williams marries Jennie Celeste Parks in Fulton County, Georgia. |
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13 Sept 1903 |
Alberta Christine Williams—daughter of Jennie Celeste and A. D. Williams—is born in Atlanta. |
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25 Nov 1926 |
Martin Luther King, Sr., marries Alberta Christine Williams at Ebenezer Baptist Church. |
1927
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
27 Apr |
Coretta Scott is born in Heiberger, Alabama. Her parents are Obie and Bernice Scott. |
|
11 Sept |
Willie Christine King—King, Jr.’s sister—is born in Atlanta. |
1929
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
15 Jan |
Martin Luther King, Jr. is born at home, 501 Auburn Avenue, in Atlanta, Georgia. |
1930
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
June |
King, Sr., receives a bachelor of arts degree in theology from Morehouse College. |
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30 July |
Alfred Daniel Williams King—King, Jr.’s brother, A. D.—is born in Atlanta. |
1931
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
21 Mar |
A. D. Williams dies of a heart attack. |
|
Oct |
King, Sr., is chosen to succeed his father-in-law, A. D. Williams, as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. |
1932
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
Jan |
King, Jr., enters nursery school. |
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Apr |
King, Sr., is officially installed as pastor of Ebenezer. |
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3 Sept |
King, Sr., attends the National Baptist Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. |
1933
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
5 July |
King, Sr., attends the first interdenominational institute for black clergymen at Atlanta University. |
|
Fall |
King, Jr., enters the first grade at Yonge Street Elementary School with his six-year-old sister, Christine. |
|
18 Nov |
James Albert King dies. |
1934
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
Jan |
King, Jr., reveals to his first-grade teacher that he is only five years old and is expelled from school. |
|
20 Jan |
Atlanta’s black Baptists join local white Baptists in inviting the Baptist World Alliance to meet in the city but insist that they will tolerate no segregation at the conference. |
| Mar |
Atlanta’s black public school teachers demand the same pay scale as that of the city’s white public school teachers. King, Sr., is elected first vice president of the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union. |
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12 Apr |
King, Jr.’s birth certificate is filed under the name Michael King. |
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14 July–10 Aug |
King, Sr., tours the Middle East and Europe with ten other Baptist ministers from the United States. They attend the Baptist World Alliance in Berlin. |
| 4 Sept |
King, Sr., attends the National Baptist Convention in Oklahoma. |
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24 Oct |
The Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union holds mock elections to instruct potential black voters on voting procedures. |
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14 Nov |
King, Jr., accompanied by mother, Alberta Williams King, sings at a meeting of the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia at Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Newnan, Georgia. |
1935
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 28 Jan |
King, Jr., reenters the first grade at Yonge Street Elementary School and, after half a year, advances to the second grade. |
| 30 Jan |
King, Sr., stages a protest against the segregation of elevators at the Fulton County Courthouse. |
|
27 Mar |
King, Sr., becomes president of the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union. |
| 11 Apr |
King, Sr., preaches at a service commemorating the fifty-third anniversary of the Reverend E. R. Carter’s ministry at Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta. |
| 11 May |
King, Sr., and other leaders of the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union call for black voter registration. |
| 9 June |
King, Sr., is elected president of the Atlanta District Baptist Young Peoples Union and Sunday School Convention. |
| 2 July |
King, Sr., becomes acting moderator of the Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association. |
| Aug–Sept |
King, Sr., and the Atlanta branch of the NAACP lead a voter registration drive in anticipation of a local school bond referendum. |
| 3 Sept |
King, Sr., attends the National Baptist Convention in New York. |
| 11 Sept |
King, Jr., enters the second grade at Yonge Street Elementary School. |
| 17 Oct |
King, Sr., is elected moderator of the Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association. |
1936
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 7 Jan | King, Sr., is reelected president of the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union. |
| 26 Feb |
King, Sr., is chosen to lead the NAACP membership drive in Atlanta. |
|
6 Mar |
King, Sr., joins other speakers in addressing a mass meeting of the NAACP at Wheat Street Baptist Church. |
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9 Apr |
King, Sr., addresses the annual Lenten service at the Butler Street YMCA, speaking on “The Compelling Vision of the Kingdom of God.” |
|
3 May |
King, Jr., is baptized after Ebenezer’s two-week annual revival, led by guest evangelist Rev. H. H. Coleman of Macedonia Baptist Church in Detroit. |
|
1 June |
King, Sr., steps down as president of the Atlanta District Baptist Young Peoples Union and Sunday School Convention. |
|
21–26 July |
King, Sr., attends the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta. |
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8 Sept |
King, Jr., enters the third grade at Atlanta’s David T. Howard Colored Elementary School. |
| 11 Sept |
King, Sr., has an automobile accident en route to the National Baptist Convention in Jacksonville, Florida. His mother-in-law, Jennie Celeste Parks Williams, suffers minor injuries. |
| 4 Nov |
Howard Thurman, dean of the chapel at Howard University, addresses Morehouse students on Mahatma Gandhi’s campaign against British imperialism in India. |
1937
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
King, Jr., begins delivering the Atlanta Journal. |
|
| Mar |
King, Sr., completes term as president of the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union. |
| Sept |
Alberta Williams King initiates a series of annual musicals by Ebenezer’s choirs. |
| 4 Sept |
King, Sr., and Alberta Williams King attend the National Baptist Convention in Los Angeles, California. |
| 10 Sept |
King, Jr., enters the fourth grade at Howard Elementary School. |
| 10 Nov | Robed Ku Klux Klansmen parade on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta. |
| 19 Nov |
King, Sr., is defeated by the Reverend L. A. Pinkston of Augusta in a bid for the presidency of the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia. Six months earlier, Pinkston was the visiting evangelist at Ebenezer’s spring revival. |
1938
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2 Feb |
King, Sr., speaks at Atlanta’s annual Lincoln-Douglas Day celebration. |
|
2 Mar |
King, Sr., is elected to the executive committee of the Atlanta Civic and Political League and pledges to seek the support of black ministers for the League’s voter registration drive. |
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20 Mar |
The Reverend Melvin Watson delivers the anniversary sermon, which culminates the weeklong celebration of Ebenezer’s fifty-first anniversary. |
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3 May |
King, Sr., speaks at a meeting of the Atlanta Civic and Political League. |
|
June |
Alberta Williams King graduates from Morris Brown College with a bachelor of arts degree. |
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7 June |
King, Sr., again urges black ministers to cooperate with voter registration efforts at a meeting of the Atlanta Civic and Political League at Ebenezer. |
|
4 Sept |
The Atlanta Civic and Political League issues a report criticizing the inadequate facilities of the city’s black schools. |
|
10 Sept |
King, Jr., enters the fifth grade at Howard Elementary School. |
|
October |
The Atlanta Civic and Political League and the Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association lead black opposition to the passage of a school bond issue that provides inadequate funds for black schools. The bond issue is defeated in November. |
| 5 Dec |
King, Sr., is reappointed to the executive committee of the Atlanta branch of the NAACP. |
1939
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 Apr |
King, Sr., is the featured speaker for father’s night at Howard Elementary School. |
|
7 Apr |
King, Sr., is elected president of the Atlanta Ministers Council, an interdenominational organization of ministers dedicated to fighting “the Negroes' battles along civic, political, and educational lines.” |
|
June |
King, Sr., makes an extended tour of the western states following the National Baptist Sunday School and Young Peoples Union Congress in Tulsa, Oklahoma. |
|
July |
King, Sr., attends the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia in Savannah. |
|
22–28 July |
King, Sr., chairs the committee on local arrangements as Atlanta hosts the quadrennial meeting of the Baptist World Alliance. |
| 11 Sept |
King, Jr., enters the sixth grade at Howard Elementary School. |
| 10 Oct |
King, Sr., is reelected moderator of the Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association. |
| 8 Nov |
King, Sr., as head of the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union, leads several hundred black Atlantans on a voter registration march to City Hall. |
| 14 Nov |
Ebenezer hosts the annual meeting of the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia. |
| 6 Dec |
King, Sr., presides at a meeting of the Atlanta Ministers Council. |
| 15 Dec |
King, Jr., and members of Ebenezer’s choir sing at the Junior League gala ball, celebrating the premiere of Gone with the Wind at Loew’s Grand Theater in Atlanta. |
1940
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
5 Apr |
King, Sr., delivers a sermon at the installation of his brother, Joel King, as pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Griffin, Georgia. |
|
6 June |
King, Jr., graduates from Howard Elementary School. |
|
10 July |
King, Sr., is reelected president of the Atlanta Ministers Council. |
|
23 July |
King, Sr., attends the General Missionary Baptist Sunday School and Baptist Training Union Convention of Georgia in Columbus. |
| 1 Aug |
Benjamin Mays is appointed president of Morehouse College. |
| 7–8 Aug |
The Atlanta branch of the NAACP and the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union oppose a proposed city bond issue because it sets aside insufficient funds for black schools. |
|
Sept |
King, Jr., enters the seventh grade at Atlanta University Laboratory School. |
| 2–5 Sept |
King, Sr., attends the National Baptist Convention in Birmingham, Alabama. |
| 15–17 Oct |
King, Sr., is reelected moderator of the Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association, and on 17 October, addresses the group on “the true mission of the Church.” |
| 1 Nov |
Benjamin Mays speaks at a service to dedicate Ebenezer’s new organ. |
| 9 Nov |
King, Sr., preaches at a meeting of the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia. |
| 25–29 Nov |
Morehouse and Ebenezer host the annual training school of the Atlanta District Sunday School and Baptist Training Union Convention. At the end of 1940, Ebenezer Baptist Church reports 2,400 members, the largest membership in its history. |
1941
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 16 Feb |
King, Sr., speaks on “Goals Toward Which We Should Strive Today as a Minority Group” at Atlanta’s annual Lincoln-Douglas Day celebration. |
|
16 Mar |
Charles D. Hubert, the dean of the Morehouse School of Religion, preaches the anniversary sermon at Ebenezer. |
|
18 May |
Jennie Celeste Parks Williams, King, Jr.’s grandmother, dies of a heart attack while serving as the women’s day speaker at Mount Olive Baptist Church. |
|
Summer |
The King family moves from 501 Auburn Avenue to 193 Boulevard. |
|
17–22 June |
King, Sr., is the chairman of the Georgia delegation at the National Baptist Convention in Texas. |
| 13–15 Oct |
King, Sr., presides at a meeting of the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Association. Ebenezer Baptist Church reports three hundred people joined the church during 1941. |
1942
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
At thirteen, King, Jr., becomes the youngest assistant manager of a newspaper delivery station for the Atlanta Journal. |
|
|
Jan |
After half a year in the eighth grade at Atlanta University Laboratory School, King, Jr., enrolls in the ninth grade. |
|
9–15 Mar |
Charles H. Haynes, a member of the faculty at Talladega College in Alabama, preaches at Ebenezer’s fifty-fifth-anniversary celebration. |
|
Sept |
King, Jr., enters the tenth grade at Booker T. Washington High School. |
| 13–15 Oct |
King, Sr., presides at a meeting of the Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association at the Butler Street YMCA. |
1943
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 11 Jan |
The Atlanta Civic and Political League holds a mass meeting at Ebenezer to discuss the condition of public schools and other issues. |
| 8 Feb | The Atlanta branch of the NAACP initiates a membership drive. |
|
2 Mar |
King, Sr., and other officers of the Atlanta Civic and Political League are reelected during a meeting at the Prince Hall Masons Building in Atlanta. |
|
17 Mar |
Morehouse College president Benjamin Mays addresses the Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union. |
|
26 May |
King, Sr., speaks at the anniversary service of Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Atlanta. |
|
14 June |
King, Sr., chairs a meeting of the Atlanta Citizens’ Committee on the Equalization of Teachers’ Salaries. |
|
15 Aug |
King, Sr., conducts a revival at First Baptist Church in Carrollton, Georgia. |
|
Sept |
King, Jr., enters the eleventh grade at Booker T. Washington High School. |
| 22 Sept |
The Atlanta Baptist Ministers Union condemns the use of forced black labor in cotton fields near Athens, Georgia. |
| 12–14 Oct |
The Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association reelects King, Sr., as moderator. |
| 19 Dec |
John W. Webb, national leader of the black Masons, speaks at Ebenezer. |
1944
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 20 Feb |
King, Sr., addresses an NAACP membership rally. |
|
13 Apr |
King, Jr., wins the right to represent Booker T. Washington High School in the state competition of the Elks’ oratorical contest. |
|
17 Apr |
King travels to Dublin, Georgia, to deliver his oration “The Negro and the Constitution.” Although he does not win the contest, his speech is later printed in the Booker T. Washington High School yearbook, The Cornellian. |
|
Summer |
King, Jr., participates in a summer work program for Morehouse students, picking tobacco on a farm in Simsbury, Connecticut. At the end of the summer, King, Jr., is admitted to Morehouse College as an early admissions student. |
| 20 Sept |
King begins his freshman year at Morehouse, taking Freshman Mathematics, Church History, Composition and Reading, History of Civilization, and Introduction to Biology. |
1945
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 10 Jan |
King, Sr., is elected vice president of the Atlanta Civic and Political League. |
| 15 Feb |
King, Sr., leads a protest against segregated elevators at the Fulton County Courthouse. |
|
June |
King, Sr., receives an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Morris Brown College. |
| 5–9 Sept |
King, Jr., accompanies King, Sr., as he leads the Atlanta delegation to the National Baptist Convention in Detroit. |
| 19 Sept |
King, Jr., begins his sophomore year at Morehouse, taking Elementary French, Introduction to General Literature, Introduction to Sociology, Matter and Energy, General Psychology, and Educational Psychology. |
| 16–19 Oct |
King, Sr., is reelected moderator of the Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association. |
| 12 Nov |
King, Sr., is elected president of the Atlanta Morehouse Club. |
| 16–17 Nov |
The Georgia NAACP convention meets at Ebenezer. |
1946
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
As a sophomore at Morehouse, King, Jr., wins second prize in the John L. Webb Oratorical Contest. |
|
| 19 Jan |
Mary McLeod Bethune speaks at Ebenezer. Spring Walter R. Chivers, Morehouse sociology professor, inaugurates an annual institute on family living. |
|
2 Apr |
The U. S. Supreme Court, in the case of Primus King v. State of Georgia, declares the “white primary” to be unconstitutional, thus removing a significant legal barrier to black voting in the state. |
|
10 May |
Ella Baker speaks at a mass meeting of the All Citizens Registration Committee at Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta. |
|
Summer |
King, Jr., quits his job as a laborer at the Atlanta Railway Express Company when a white foreman calls him “nigger.” |
| 6 Aug |
The Atlanta Constitution publishes King, Jr.’s letter to the editor stating that blacks “are entitled to the basic rights and opportunities of American citizens.” |
| 4–8 Sept |
The National Baptist Convention meets in Atlanta. |
| 25 Sept |
King, Jr., begins his junior year at Morehouse; his courses include Shakespeare, the Bible, American Literature, Intermediate French, Contemporary Social Trends, Social Anthropology, and a seminar in Sociology. |
| 15–19 Oct |
King, Sr., presides at the annual meeting of the Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association. |
| 5 Nov |
Eugene Talmadge is elected governor of Georgia. Black Georgia Baptists plan to protest his inauguration, on 9 January 1947, with a day of prayer. |
| 21 Dec |
Eugene Talmadge dies before taking office as governor. |
1947
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
Jan/Feb |
King, Jr.’s article, “The Purpose of Education,” is published in the Morehouse student paper, the Maroon Tiger. |
|
12 Mar |
King, Jr., is elected chair of the membership committee of the Atlanta NAACP Youth Council in a meeting on the Morehouse College campus. |
|
14 Mar |
King, Jr., opens an Ebenezer anniversary service with a song. |
|
24 Apr |
King, Sr., is elected a trustee of Morehouse College. |
|
Summer |
King, Jr., works on a tobacco farm in Simsbury, Connecticut. |
| 24 Sept |
King, Jr., begins his senior year at Morehouse College, enrolling in Social Psychology, Classics in English, Social Institutions, Social Legislation, Urban Sociology, Intercultural Relations, Introduction to Philosophy, Principles and Methods of Statistics, and a seminar in Sociology. |
|
Fall |
King, Jr., preaches a trial sermon at Ebenezer. |
| 27 Oct |
King, Jr., requests an application for admission to Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. |
1948
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
|
King, Jr., wins second prize in the John L. Webb Oratorical Contest. |
|
| 20 Feb |
King, Jr., offers the prayer at graveside memorial services for former Morehouse College presidents John Hope and Samuel H. Archer. |
| 25 Feb |
King, Jr., is ordained and appointed assistant pastor at Ebenezer. |
|
22 Mar |
King, Sr., preaches at Morehouse College Chapel. |
| Apr |
King, Jr., accepts Crozer’s offer of admission. |
|
25 Apr |
King, Jr., preaches “Life is What You Make It” in the morning and “The Meaning of Christian Living” in the evening at Liberty Baptist Church in Atlanta. |
|
8 June |
King, Jr., receives his bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Morehouse and Christine King receives her bachelor of arts degree in economics from Spelman College. |
| Summer |
King, Jr., serves as assistant pastor of Ebenezer. |
|
11 July |
King, Jr., is guest speaker at a meeting of the Negro Cultural League at Ebenezer. |
|
1 Aug |
King, Jr., delivers sermon at Ebenezer’s evening service on “External Versus Internal Religion.” |
| 8 Aug |
Walter R. McCall delivers sermon on “The Destruction of Pride” at Ebenezer’s morning service, and King, Jr., preaches “The Tests of Goodness” in the evening. |
| 22 Aug |
King, Jr., preaches at Ebenezer’s morning service on “God’s Kingdom First.” King, Jr., performs the wedding ceremony of Samuel P. Long and Ruth Bussey at Thankful Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia. |
| 5 Sept |
King, Jr., preaches at Ebenezer. |
| 11–12 Sept |
King, Jr., spends the weekend in New York City with his sister, Christine, a first-year graduate student at Columbia University. |
|
14 Sept–24 Nov |
During the first term of his first year at Crozer Theological Seminary, King takes Public Speaking, Preaching Ministry of the Church, Introduction to the Old Testament, Orientation for Juniors, Choir, and Church Music. |
|
30 Nov–16 Feb 1949 |
King, Jr., takes Great Theologians, the History and Literature of the New Testament, Preparation of the Sermon, and Public Speaking. |
1949
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 20 Feb |
King, Jr., delivers the annual youth day sermon at Ebenezer. |
|
22 Feb–6 May |
King, Jr., is enrolled in Christian Mysticism, Practice Preaching, and Public Speaking. |
|
Summer |
King, Jr., serves as assistant pastor of Ebenezer. |
|
12 June |
King, Jr., preaches in the morning at Atlanta’s Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church and in the evening at Ebenezer. |
|
3 July |
King, Jr., delivers a sermon on “The Voice of Hope” at Ebenezer. |
|
5–8 July |
King, Sr., lectures on “The Pastor as Administrator and Organizer” at the annual ministers’ conference held at Morehouse. |
|
31 July |
King, Jr., preaches “The Two Challenging Questions” at Ebenezer. |
| 14 Aug |
King, Jr., is the youth day speaker at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Atlanta. |
| 4 Sept |
King, Jr., preaches “The Great Paradox” in the morning and “The Significance of the Cross” in the evening at Ebenezer. |
| 7 Sept |
William B. Hartsfield is elected mayor of Atlanta by a coalition of black and affluent white voters that will dominate the city’s politics for the next four decades. |
| 13 Sept–23 Nov |
During the first term of his second year at Crozer, King, Jr., enrolls in Public Worship, Greek Religion, and Christian Theology for Today. Later that year, he is named chairman of the student body’s devotional committee. |
|
26 Sept–10 June 1950 |
King, Jr., audits a course on the Philosophy of History at the University of Pennsylvania. |
| Nov |
King, Jr., hears A. J. Muste defend pacifism in a lecture at Crozer. |
|
29 Nov–15 Feb 1950 |
King, Jr., is enrolled in Preaching Problems, Pastoral Counseling, Conduct of Church Services, the Development of Christian Ideas I, and Christian Theology for Today. |
| 11 Dec |
The Reverend William H. Gray, Jr., of Philadelphia preaches for men’s day at Ebenezer. |
|
23 Dec–2 Jan 1950 |
According to his later published account, King, Jr., spends Christmas vacation reading Karl Marx, and he “carefully scrutinizes” Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto. |
1950
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 19 Feb |
King, Jr., preaches “Walking with the Lord” at Ebenezer’s morning service. |
|
21 Feb–5 May |
King, Jr., takes courses on the History of Living Religions and the History of Christianity. |
| 23 Feb |
The Atlanta branch of the NAACP votes to support a lawsuit filed by King, Sr., as head of a citizens’ committee seeking to win equal pay for black teachers. |
|
Spring |
King, Jr., hears Mordecai Johnson, president of Howard University, preach at Philadelphia’s Fellowship House on Mohandas K. Gandhi’s satyagraha as a method of social change. |
|
May |
King, Jr., is elected president of the student body at Crozer. |
|
12 June |
King, Jr., Walter R. McCall, Pearl E. Smith, and Doris Wilson are refused service by Ernest Nichols at Mary’s Cafe in Maple Shade, New Jersey. Nichols fires a gun into the air when they persist in their request for service. He is arrested and charged, but later, when witnesses fail to testify, the case is dropped. |
|
16 June |
King, Jr., is arrested for speeding in Claymont, Delaware, on his way to Atlanta. |
|
17 June |
A. D. King and Naomi Barber are married at Ebenezer. |
|
18 June |
King, Jr., preaches “The Lord God Omnipotent Reigneth” at Ebenezer. |
|
Summer |
King, Jr., serves as assistant pastor of Ebenezer. |
|
30 July |
King, Jr., is youth day speaker at Liberty Baptist Church. |
| 12 Sept–22 Nov |
King, Jr., enters his senior year at Crozer, taking courses on American Christianity—Colonial Period, Minister’s Use of the Radio, and Religious Development of Personality. He serves as student pastor at the First Baptist Church in Queens, New York. |
|
20 Sept–3 Feb 1951 |
King, Jr., audits courses on the Problems of Esthetics and Kant at the University of Pennsylvania. |
|
28 Nov–15 Feb 1951 |
King, Jr., enrolls in Philosophy of Religion and Theological Integration at Crozer. |
| 10 Dec |
The Reverend J. H. Jackson of Chicago is men’s day speaker at Ebenezer. |
| 15 Dec |
King, Jr., is accepted as a student in the Post-Graduate School of the Faculty of Divinity at Edinburgh University, Scotland. |
1951
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 11 Jan |
King, Jr., is admitted to Boston University’s School of Theology. |
| 3 Feb |
King, Jr., takes the Graduate Record Examination. |
| 18 Feb |
King, Jr., preaches “Nothing in Particular” at Ebenezer. |
|
20 Feb–4 May |
King, Jr., is enrolled in Advanced Philosophy of Religion, Christian Social Philosophy, and Christianity and Society. |
|
6–8 May |
King, Jr., graduates from Crozer with a bachelor of divinity degree, delivering the valedictory address at commencement. He receives both the Pearl Plafker Memorial Award as the graduating student who, “in the judgment of the faculty, has been the outstanding member of his class during his course in the seminary,” and the J. Lewis Crozer Fellowship, which provides $1,200 toward graduate school. |
|
12 May |
King, Jr., preaches “The World Crisis & A Mother’s Responsibility” at Ebenezer. |
|
Summer |
King, Jr., serves as pastor in charge at Ebenezer. |
|
29 June |
King, Sr., offers the benediction at the evening session of the NAACP’s annual conference in Atlanta. |
In this Publication
Crozer Theological Seminary Placement Committee: Confidential Evaluation of Martin Luther King, Jr., by George W. Davis
Davis, George W. (Washington) (Crozer Theological Seminary)
November 15, 1950