Random Surprising And Little-Known Facts About Martin Luther King Jr. (15 items)

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  (#1) He Tried To Commit Suicide At Age 12

  When King was 12 years old, he decided to go to a parade instead of staying home and watching his little brother A.D., who was six at the time. In his absence, A.D. slid down a banister and ran into their grandmother, knocking her unconscious. She then had a heart attack, which killed her.

  King blamed himself for her death, even though his grandmother's heart attack had nothing to do with her having been knocked unconscious. Embroiled with grief, King tried to kill himself by jumping out of the second-story window of his family's home. His father later recalled that King was troubled for many days following the passing of his grandmother and had difficulty sleeping.
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  (#2) He Fell In Love With A White Cafeteria Worker

  While attending seminary school in Pennsylvania in the 1940s, King dated a German woman named Betty, who was working as a cafeteria employee. His friends urged him to break up with Betty, pointing out that his father would not approve of their interracial relationship, nor of his son dating someone below his station.

  According to David Garrow, author of Bearing The Cross, King was heartbroken after he split with Betty and had a difficult time getting over their relationship. However, King's father did not ultimately like his son's wife Coretta Scott either. He had hoped Martin Jr. would marry opera singer Mattiwilda Dobbs.
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  (#3) Working At A Tobacco Farm Opened His Eyes To Racial Equality

  When King was a teenager, he got a summer job harvesting tobacco near Hartford, CT. As a teen from a middle-class southern family, he quickly learned that not everyone in the United States treated African-Americans as second-class citizens. He wrote in a letter to his father:

  “On our way here we saw some things I had never anticipated to see. After we passed Washington there was no discrimination at all. The white people here are very nice. We go to any place we want to and sit anywhere we want to.”

  He added in a note to his mother, “I never thought that a person of my race could eat anywhere, but we ate in one of the finest restaurants in Hartford. And we went to the largest shows there.”
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  (#4) His Mother Was Also Murdered

  Six years after King was assassinated, his mother Alberta Williams King was playing the organ at church when she was shot to death. In 1974, a man named Marcus Wayne Chenault Jr. stood up in the front pew of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, pulled out two pistols, and began firing. He had intended to kill King's father, but killed Alberta instead because she was closer to him.

  She died in the same church where her son preached nonviolence. Initially, he was given the death penalty, but King's family opposed the death penalty and levied for him to receive life imprisonment instead.
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  (#5) He Was Smoking A Cigarette When He Was Shot

  There are very few photos of King smoking, even though he was known to smoke regularly. On the day he was assassinated, he was on the balcony of his hotel smoking a cigarette.

  He actively hid the habit for two major reasons: First, there was a social stigma attached to the habit, particularly since he was a minister. Second, he didn't want his children to see him smoke and take up the habit themselves. After he died, Rev. Kyles allegedly removed the pack of cigarettes from his pocket to conceal the fact that King was smoking when he was killed.
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  (#6) He Was Nearly Killed By A Letter Opener A Decade Before His Assassination

  During a book signing in 1958, a woman named Izola Ware Curry approached King saying, “I’ve been looking for you for five years,” and then stabbed him in the chest with a letter opener. Doctors spent a labor-intensive three hours trying to remove the instrument, as it was positioned dangerously close to King's aorta and even the slightest slip would have killed him.
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  (#7) He Started College At Age 15

  King did so well in school that he was able to skip grades 9 and 12, and was even accepted into college as a freshman at age 15. He attended Morehouse College in 1944, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Initially, King had no interest in becoming a Baptist minister even though his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all been called to the ministry; however, Benjamin E. Mays - the president of Morehouse - persuaded King to finish his work with the ministry.

  He also received his undergraduate degree in sociology, and went on to obtain his second bachelor's degree in divinity from Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, PA. And by the time he was 25, he had attained his PhD in systematic theology from Boston University.
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  (#8) He And Coretta Spent Their Wedding Night In A Funeral Home

  King and his wife, Coretta, spent their wedding night together in a funeral home, but not because someone died. In 1953, hotels didn't offer honeymoon suites to African American couples, so a friend offered King and Coretta an evening at his funeral home to celebrate.
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  (#9) He Was Arrested 29 Times

  During his many years of social advocacy, King was arrested on numerous occasions. In fact, he was sent to jail a total of 29 times for various acts of civil disobedience as well as other fabricated charges. One situation, which occurred in 1956, resulted in his being sent to jail in Montgomery, AL, for driving only five miles over the speed limit.
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  (#10) He Applied For A Permit To Carry A Concealed Firearm

  In the 1950s, King applied for a permit to carry a concealed weapon - this being before he had begun advocating for passive resistance. He possessed a collection of firearms for self-defense, and was often surrounded by armed guards who protected him and his family.

  One of King's colleagues, Glenn Smiley, even referred to King’s home as being “an arsenal.” King had good reason to fear for his life, as the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama had a target on his head, and he was threatened daily. His home and churches in Montgomery had even been bombed.
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  (#11) He Didn't Leave His Wife Or Children With Any Money After His Death

  King did not have a will when he died and did not set aside any money to send his four children to college. Even though he wrote four books, received over $50,000 for winning the Noble Peace Prize, and earned money through public speaking events and his ministry, he didn't put aside any funds for his wife or kids. Instead, King donated any money he earned to the Civil Rights movement - as a minister, he believed it was necessary to take a vow of relative poverty.
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  (#12) He Was A Trekkie

  King can be credited with persuading Nichelle Nichols to stay on as Uhura on Star Trek following the end of season one. Nichols later recalled that King wanted her to stay on the show not only because she was a Black woman playing a main character on television, but because her character wasn't written based on popular stereotypes. Nichols's character was intelligent and the other crew members regarded her as an equal.
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  (#13) He Got A "C" In Public Speaking

  While attending his first year of seminary school, King surprisingly got a "C" in public speaking.  However, it wasn't because he was bad at talking in front of people, In fact, his father said that King was one of the best public speakers he'd ever encountered. By the time he graduated from seminary, King had managed to raise the grade to an "A." He also was the student body president and valedictorian.
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  (#14) He Foretold His Own Death

  King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, TN. The night before he died, he spoke to group of people at Mason Temple Church, telling his audience that he may not get to see the Promised Land alongside them:

  “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now…I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
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  (#15) He Won A Grammy Award

  No, King did not possess a secret singing ability (that we know of). However, following his death, King won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 1971. He received the honor for his album Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam. On it, he said:

  "Now, let me make it clear in the beginning, that I see this war as an unjust, evil, and futile war. I preach to you today on the war in Vietnam because my conscience leaves me with no other choice. The time has come for America to hear the truth about this tragic war."

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