Patricia Stoltey

Author

Things I Didn’t Know About Martin Luther King Jr.

By:

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)

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Comments

  3. 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! )

  7. 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.

  10. 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.

  13. 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.

  16. 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