Martin Luther King Jr. Trivia Questions

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, not in Washington, D.C.

King's speech lasted about 17 minutes. Many longer speeches have been given at the Lincoln Memorial throughout history, so the claim is false.

Martin Luther King Jr. earned his Ph.D. in systematic theology from Boston University in 1955, not from Harvard University.

He started writing in the margins of a newspaper, then used scraps of paper smuggled in by supporters, as his writing materials were initially limited.

They met only once, on March 26, 1964, in Washington D.C. It was a brief, impromptu encounter, not a debate, and they did not engage in a substantive conversation.

He won the prize in October 1964, months after the Civil Rights Act was signed into law in July 1964. The timing is often confused.

King never registered as a Republican. He was a registered Democrat and criticized both parties, but leaned toward Democratic policies.

Martin Luther King Jr. skipped the ninth and twelfth grades and enrolled at Morehouse College at age 15, graduating in 1948 with a B.A. in sociology.

Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1964, for his nonviolent resistance to racial prejudice in the United States.

While imprisoned in April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the letter on the margins of a newspaper and on scraps of paper, smuggled out by his lawyers.

Ralph Bunche won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, making him the first African American recipient. Martin Luther King Jr. won in 1964.

FBI investigations and historical records consistently show no evidence that King was a member of the Communist Party. He publicly denied such affiliations multiple times, and no credible source has ever proven membership.

After the bombing, he legally applied for a permit to carry a concealed weapon but was denied. He later fully embraced nonviolence.

He won posthumously for his album 'Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam,' which included the famous Riverside Church speech.

Martin Luther King Jr. was originally named Michael King Jr. after his father. His father changed both their names to Martin Luther in 1934 after a trip to Germany.

Early drafts of the speech used that title, reflecting his frustration with racial complacency. He improvised the famous dream section live.