Amazing Facts about Martin Luther King

Amazing Facts about Martin Luther King

1.

Although Martin Luther King Jr. was only 39 at the time of his death, autopsy results revealed the he had the heart of a 60-year-old. Doctors believed this was a result of stress.

King’s original name was Michael King Jr.  In 1931, his father became pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and adopted the name Martin Luther King Sr. When King was 6 years old, his father officially changed his name on his birth certificate to Martin Luther King Jr.

2.

 King skipped ninth and 12th grades in high school and entered Morehouse College in Atlanta at age 15.

King earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and one in theology. In 1955, he received his doctorate from Boston University.

3.

When King married his wife Coretta, the newlyweds were rejected by a whites-only hotel.  The couple opted to spend their wedding night at a Black-owned funeral home.

In 1939, 10-year-old King sang in his father’s church choir at the Atlanta.

4.

There are over 900 streets worldwide named after King. Forty U.S. states have at least one Martin Luther King Jr.-named street of their own.

From 1957 until his death in 1968, King gave over 2,500 speeches; he traveled more than 6 million miles; and  he wrote five books and countless articles published in newspapers and magazines.

5.

In 1964, at age 35, King was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

King is America’s’ second most-admired person of the 20th century, topped only by Mother Teresa, according to a 1999 Gallup poll.

6.

It pays to be good and It is more blessed to give than to recieve