Martin Luther

United States - Traditionally, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

German Protestant reformer (d. 1546)

Martin Luther, age 17, enters the University of Erfurt.

Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther in the papal bull ''Decet Romanum Pontificem''.

German religious reformer (b. 1483)

American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Activists planned a large march, from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery, to publicize their cause. It was initiated and organized by SCLC's Director of Direct Action, James Bevel. This march represented one of the political and emotional peaks of the modern civil rights movement. On March 7, 1965, approximately 600 civil rights marchers departed Selma on U.S. Highway 80, heading east to the capital. After they passed over the crest of the Edmund Pettus Bridge and left the boundaries of the city six blocks away, they were confronted by state troopers and county sheriff's deputies, who attacked them using tear gas and billy clubs, and drove them back to Selma. Because of the brutal attacks, this became known as "Bloody Sunday." It was covered by national press and television news, reaching many American and international homes. Two days after the first march, on March 9, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. led a symbolic march to the bridge. By then local activists and residents had been joined by hundreds of protesters from across the country, including numerous clergy and nuns. Whites made up one-third of the marchers. That day King pulled the marchers back from confrontation with troops. But, that night white minister James Reeb from Boston was attacked and killed by white attackers in Selma. King and other civil rights leaders failed to get court protection for a third, larger-scale march from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital. Frank Minis Johnson, Jr., the Federal District Court Judge for the area, decided in favor of the demonstrators, saying: The law is clear that the right to petition one's government for the redress of grievances may be exercised in large groups… and these rights may be exercised by marching, even along public highways. —Frank Johnson On March 21, 1965, a Sunday, approximately 3,200 marchers departed for Montgomery. They walked 12 miles per day, and slept in nearby fields. The federal government provided protection by military troops. Thousands of people joined them along the way. By the time the marchers reached the capitol four days later on March 25, their strength had swelled to around 25,000 people. Their moral campaign had attracted thousands more people from across the country. The events at Selma helped increase public support for the cause; later that year the US Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, an effort whose bill was introduced, supported and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It provided for federal oversight and enforcement of voting rights for all citizens in state or jurisdictions where patterns of under-representation showed discrimination against certain populations, historically ethnic minorities.

Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.

Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church.

Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech.

On Thursday, April 4, 1968, King was staying in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The motel was owned by businessman Walter Bailey and named after his wife. Reverend Ralph David Abernathy, a colleague and friend, later told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that King and he had stayed in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often that it was known as the "King-Abernathy Suite.” According to biographer Taylor Branch, King's last words were to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at a planned event. King said, "Ben, make sure you play 'Take My Hand, Precious Lord' in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty.” King had gone out onto the balcony and was standing near his room when he was struck at 6:01 p.m., by a single .30-06 bullet fired from a Remington Model 760. The bullet entered through King's right cheek, breaking his jaw and several vertebrae as it traveled down his spinal cord, severing his jugular vein and major arteries in the process, before lodging in his shoulder. The force of the shot ripped off King's necktie. Unconscious, he fell violently backward onto the balcony. Shortly after the shot was fired, witnesses saw a man (believed to be James Earl Ray) fleeing from a rooming house across the street from the Lorraine Motel. Ray had been renting a room there. Police found a package dumped close to the site, which included a rifle and binoculars, both marked with Ray's fingerprints. Ray had purchased the rifle under an alias six days earlier. A worldwide manhunt was triggered, which culminated in the arrest of Ray at London Heathrow Airport two months later. At the time, Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the deck. He was bleeding profusely from the wound in his cheek. Andrew Young, a colleague from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), thought King was dead, but found he still had a pulse. King was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where doctors opened his chest and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. According to Taylor Branch, King's autopsy revealed that his heart was in the condition of a 60-year-old man, which Branch attributed to the stress of King's 13 years in the civil-rights movement.

Martin Luther King was shot and killed by a single rifle shot on April 4, 1968, while standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Shortly after the shot was fired, witnesses saw a man believed to be James Earl Ray fleeing from a rooming house across the street from the Lorraine Motel. Ray had been renting a room in the house at the time. A package was dumped close to the site that included a rifle and binoculars, both found with Ray's fingerprints. Ray fled north to Toronto, Ontario, where he hid out for a month and acquired a Canadian passport under the false name of Ramon George Sneyd. On June 8, 1968, a little more than two months after King's death, Ray was captured at London's Heathrow Airport while trying to leave the United Kingdom on the false Canadian passport. At check-in, the ticket agent noticed the name on his passport—Sneyd—was on a Royal Canadian Mounted Police watchlist. At the airport, officials noticed that Ray carried another passport under a second name. The UK quickly extradited Ray to Tennessee, where he was charged with King's murder. He confessed to the crime on March 10, 1969, his 41st birthday, and after pleading guilty was sentenced to 99 years in prison.