012024 Way Black History Fact - 5 Lesser Known Facts about MLK

that's nmaa HC dot SI dot edu. And again the five surprising facts about Doctor Martin Luther King that you

may not know? So Number one, did you know that Martin Luther King Junior's famous I Have a Dream speech was partially improvised and that the iconic phrase was left out of the original draft while he was While he had used the line in several speeches and months prior to the March on Washington on August twenty eight, nineteen sixty three, a few of his advisors questioned its use and kept it out of the original drafts of that

day's speech. While delivering his address to the nation, King was encouraged by his friend and legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson to tell them about the Dream Martin, he departed from the four minute prepared remarks to deliver one of the most famous and influential speeches of the twentieth century, Number two. King skipped two grades and entered college at

the age of fifteen. He was admitted to Morehouse College in nineteen forty four and graduated in nineteen forty eight, where a BA in sociology at the age of nineteen shout out to the House One Time, the Moorhouse President, doctor Benjamin E. Mays, became an inspirational figure in King's life. King continued his education at Krozer's Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Despite receiving a C grade in public speaking class, he was elected student body president and graduated valedictorian of his class. In nineteen fifty one. He enrolled in Boston University's doctoral program and was awarded his pH d at the age of twenty five. When Boston, King met Coreta Scott and became a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated

Number three. He was arrested twenty nine times. His charges, many of which were dropped, ranged from civil disobedience to traffic violations and you can, of course see more on his rest at the King Institute Number four. King survived an assassination attempt a decade before his death. On September twentieth, nineteen fifty eight, King was at a Bloomstein's department store in Harlem for a book signing when a young woman

slipped past the line of people to approach him. The woman named Zola where Curry, asked if he was really Martin Luther King Junior, and after he replied yes, she thrust a seven inch letter opener into his chest carry claimed she had been after him for five years, believing he had ties to the Communist Party. The stab wound narrowly missed King's heart, and he underwent emergency surgeries that

lasted hours. King would later issue a statement affirming his nonviolent beliefs and stated he had no malice feelings toward his attacker and then finally number five. After his death, the King family filed a civil case against the government and one on December eighth, nineteen ninety nine, twelve jurors reached a unanimous decision that King's death was a result

of a conspiracy. The trial took place in Memphis, Tennessee, and included four weeks of testimony and over seventy witnesses, the jury was convinced by the evidence and reached a verdict after only an hour of deliberation. Overwhelming evidence showed James Ray was not the shooter, but was set up to take the blame. After the evidence showed Ray did not pull the trigger, local state, and federal US government

agencies and the mafia were to blame. The King family was awarded one hundred million dollars, which they donated to charity. To them, it was never about the money. They just wanted the truth out and for justice to be served. Established in nineteen sixty eight by Miss Kretiescott King, the Martin Luther King Junior Center for Non Violent Social Change has been a global destination, resource center, and community institution for over a quarter century.