The Civil Rights leader was born Michael King Jr. But when he was 5-years-old, his father, a pastor at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, traveled to Germany and was so inspired

by the Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther that he changed his own name as well as that of his son.

The first U.S. President, George Washington, is the only other American to have his birthday observed as a National holiday. MLK Day became official in 1983 when Ronald Reagan signed

a bill that created a federal holiday to honor the Reverend. 

On June 18, 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. was put in the back of a cop car in St. Augustine, Florida.  A German Shepherd police dog was placed into the

car with him in an apparent attempt to intimidate the Civil Rights leader. It didn’t work. The dog immediately warmed up to King, standing by his side and gently nuzzling

his face. 

Dick Gregory, widely recognized as the first Black American satirist, was a close friend of Martin Luther King...and Malcolm X, and Robert Kennedy. He paved the way for the likes

of Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Dave Chappelle by using his stand-up comedy as a vehicle to raise political awareness. Gregory is the author of more than a dozen books,

most notably the bestselling classic N##ger: An Autobiography. He died in 2017.

King had two siblings: a sister, Christine King Farris, who is still with us; and A. D. Williams King, a brother who drowned in his own swimming pool July 21,1969.

A. D.’s drowning was officially ruled an accident. Some folks question that conclusion, but not the King family.

When Ray, a career criminal, pled guilty to King’s assassination, he later recanted. King’s widow, Coretta, believed the Mafia and local, state and federal government agencies were involved in the

heinous murder. But a U.S. Department of Justice investigation released in 2000 reported no evidence of a conspiracy. Questions still linger. 

Dr. King’s name is on nearly 1,000 street signs in the United States, including in Puerto Rico, according to research by Derek Alderman, head of the geography department

at the University of Tennessee. Cities began naming and renaming streets following his assassination in 1968.

MLK was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He pledged while attending Morehouse College but was initiated while he was attending Boston University. Founded in 1906, Alpha Phi

Alpha was the first African-American, intercollegiate Greek-lettered fraternity. Its motto is: First of All, Servants of All, We Shall Transcend All.

70-year-old Alberta Williams King was murdered in cold blood on June 30, 1974, as she played The Lord’s Prayer on the organ at a Sunday service at the family’s Ebenezer

Baptist Church. Marcus Wayne Chenault Jr. suddenly stood up in the the front pew, drew two pistols and fired numerous shots. The gunfire also left a church deacon, Edward Boykin,

69, dead. The target apparently was King Sr., but the deranged gunman, who reportedly said “voices” made him do it, decided to just snipe whoever was closest.