I just read the bio of Martin Luther King Jr. at the official website of the Nobel Prize, Nobelprize.org. Here are a few things I did not know:
1. His first name was Michael until he later had it changed it to Martin.
2. Martin graduated from high school at the age of fifteen.
3. He was nineteen when he received his B.A.
4. Between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times…and wrote five books.
5. When he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, he was the youngest man to have received the prize.
Most of us know about the I Have a Dream speech. Here are a few more places to find King’s thoughts and ideas in his own words:
Strength to Love (Sermans and Essays) (1963)
The Measure of a Man (Devotional Addresses) (1959)
Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story (1958)
Why Can’t We Wait? (1963)
The Trumpet of Conscience (1968)
Micheal Luther King- wonder if that would have had quite the same ring to it.
Thanks for these awesome unknown facts.
I didn’t know he was born Michael! Intersting stuff. He has the most amazing quotes – powerful, powerful stuff.
Thanks for the facts. I didn’t realize how much I didn’t know about this man who shares my date of birth (except for the year). However, I get to celebrate on my actual day and not the Monday after! )
He was truly an awesome man.
Thanks for the fact sheet.
I found this very interesting Patricia, we learn something new every day.
Yvonne.
Thanks, Pat. MLK stands tall in our history. Good to learn a little more about him.
Thanks to Anne and Anonymous for adding to my list of little known facts. Now I’m beginning to wonder what we don’t know about other American heroes…could be a fun series.
Love these extra facts! Thanks, Patricia. He was truly an amazing man.
Another great King speech, “Beyond Vietnam,” may be found at the American Rhetoric site: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence2.htm
Thanks for this. I also learned from NPR this morning that he learned about the possibilities of racial equality working in the Connecticut tobacco fields when he was a teen. Since I grew up near those tobacco fields, and lots of my friends worked there, I found this fascinating. Made me proud to be from Connecticut.
Most of this was new to me, too–thanks for posting this.
Thanks for sharing this information!
I’m more interested in reading biographies and autobiographies now than I ever was before. I’m constantly amazed at what I don’t know about the people who were so important during my lifetime. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.
I didn’t know he was so smart! I mean, his words are genius but I didn’t know he was. Wonderful!
CD
Thanks for passing this info along. I didn’t know these things either.
Karen
Historically speaking, MLK, Jr. is one of my all-time favorite people. I don’t think anyone could have done more in such a short time. Every person, of every color, and of every background who has enjoyed the freedoms of our country over the last 40+ years is incredibly indebted to him.
It’s great that we can take a day out of every year to honor him and his ideas.
Thanks for sharing!
EJ
Patricia – Thanks for this interesting background! Amazing, isn’t it, how even with someone as famous as King was, there are things we don’t know.