Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. was many things- a pastor,american clergyman, and humanitarian. But most of all he is known for his major contributions of leading nonviolent protests for equal civil rights of African Americans. We have all learned about his life and accomplishments in school, but there are some things you may not have learned. 1. From 1957 until his death in 1968, he traveled more than 6 million miles and gave over 250 speeches. He also wrote 5 books and had published countless numbers of articles in newspapers and magazines. 2. The civil rights leader went to jail nearly 30 times. He was arrested for acts of civil disobedience and on trumped-up charges, such as when he was jailed in Montgomery, Alabama in 1956 for driving 30 miles in a 25 mph zone. 3. King narrowly escaped a assassination attempt a decade before his death. A woman approached him during a book signing and stabbed a 7-inch letter opener into his chest. The tip of the blade came to rest alongside his aorta, but after emergency surgery and hospital stay he recovered. Surgeons later told him that if he sneezed just one time, it would have most likely punctured his aorta and kill him. 4. Today over 700 streets in the U.S are named after Martin King Luther Jr. 5. The holiday was originally signed into federal law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, with the first MLK holiday on January 20,1983. 6. King is to date the youngest male to win a Nobel Peace Prize, winning it in 1964 at the age of 35.He donated all of the prize money, $54,123, to the civil rights movement.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 20:28:21 +0000