Here's a look at the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Personal: Birth date: January 15, 1929

Birth place: Atlanta, Georgia

Birth name: Michael Luther King, Jr.

Father: Martin Luther King, Sr., Baptist minister

Mother: Alberta (Williams) King

Marriage: Coretta (Scott) King (June 18, 1953 - April 4, 1968, his death)

Children: Bernice, March 28, 1963; Dexter, January 30, 1961; Martin III, October 23, 1957; Yolanda, November 17, 1955 - May 15, 2007

Education: Morehouse College, B.A., 1948; Crozer Theological Seminary, B.D., 1951; Boston University, Ph.D., 1955

Other Facts: His father, Michael King, Sr., changed their names to Martin Luther King Sr. and Jr. when Martin Jr. was about five.

He was the first African-American to be named Time magazine's Man of the Year.

Youngest person, at the time, to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Author of six books published from 1958 through 1968, works on American race relations and collections of his sermons and lectures.

Timeline: 1948 - Is ordained as a Baptist minister

1954 - Becomes minister of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

1955 - Is elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (M.I.A.)

December 1955 - After Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus to a white man the African-American community organizes a boycott of Montgomery public transportation. King is chosen to lead the boycott. Over the next year, he is arrested and jailed, his house is bombed and his life threatened.

1956 - King emerges as a national civil rights leader after the successful Montgomery bus boycott.

1957 - Helps found and becomes president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

1960 - Moves from Montgomery to Atlanta and becomes co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church with his father.

August 28, 1963 - During the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The demonstration is attended by more than 250,000 people, one of the largest ever in Washington up to that time.

1963 - Is named Time magazine's Man of the Year.

July 2, 1964 - King stands behind President Lyndon B. Johnson as Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.

1964 - Wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

1965 - Helps organize civil rights protests in Selma, Alabama.