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SLIDESHOW: The life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Bishop B. Jlian Smith, of the Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Church (left), King (center), and Rev. Ralph Abernathy (right) during a civil rights march in Memphis, Tenn. in 1968. - Show Caption ( + )
By the age of 19, King was ordained as a minister. - Show Caption ( + )
On July 2, 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with King and other civil rights leaders present. - Show Caption ( + )
On Jan. 15, 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr., the second of three children of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King, was born at the family home on 501 Auburn Avenue. - Show Caption ( + )
On April 9, 1968 thousands filled Atlanta's streets in a funeral procession for the slain civil rights leader. Across the country, riots erupted. - Show Caption ( + )
When he wasn't part of the civil rights struggle, King was a family man. He's seen here with his wife, Coretta, and four children (from left to right) Dexter, Yolanda, Martin Luther King III and Bernice. - Show Caption ( + )
King at the age of 6. - Show Caption ( + )
Having skipped both the ninth and twelfth grades, Dr. King entered Morehouse College at the age of fifteen. He's seen here at his baccalaureate service with his sister, Christine, who was graduating from Spelman College. - Show Caption ( + )
In 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize from the hands of Gunnar Jahn, Chairman of the Nobel Committee, in Oslo, Norway. At the time he ws the youngest man ever to receive the prize. - Show Caption ( + )
In April 1968, King traveled to Memphis, Tenn. to help support striking sanitation workers. On April 3, he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel with (from left to right) Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson and Ralph Abernathy. - Show Caption ( + )
The next day, an assassin's bulet struck King as he once again stood on the balcony. In June, James Early Ray was arrested in London and charged with King's murder. - Show Caption ( + )
In August 1963, thousands gathered for the March on Washington where King gave his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech. - Show Caption ( + )
Thousands flock each year to King's memorial in Atlanta as well as The King Center, a civil rights history museum. - Show Caption ( + )
The family of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. walk in the funeral procession of the slain civil rights leader on April 9, 1968. - Show Caption ( + )
In 1983, after years of fighting, Coretta Scott King (left) was successful in getting her late husband's birthday recognized as a national holiday. Here, President Ronald Reagan signs the legislation. - Show Caption ( + )
King's battle with the law continued. He was arrested thirty times for his participation in civil rights activities. Here he is being charged with loitering in 1958. - Show Caption ( + )
King graduated from Morehouse College in 1948 and from Boston University in 1955. - Show Caption ( + )
In 1955, as the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, King was elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization that was responsible for the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1955 to 1956.