11 Interesting And Little-Known Facts About Martin Luther King Jr.

Although Martin Luther King Jr. was only 39 at the time of his death, autopsy results revealed that he had the heart of a 60-year-old. Doctors believed this was a result of stress. King's original name was Michael King Jr. In 1931, his father became pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and adopted the name Martin Luther King Sr. When King was 6 years old, his father officially changed his name on his birth certificate to Martin Luther King Jr. King skipped ninth and 12th grades in high school and entered Morehouse College in Atlanta at age 15. King earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and one in theology. In 1955, he received his doctorate from Boston University. When King married his wife Coretta, the newlyweds were rejected by a whites-only hotel. The couple opted to spend their wedding night at a Black-owned funeral home. In 1939, 10-year-old King sang in his father's church choir at the Atlanta gala premiere of the movie "Gone With The Wind." There are over 900 streets worldwide named after King. Forty U.S. states have at least one Martin Luther King Jr.-named street of their own. From 1957 until his death in 1968, King gave over 2,500 speeches; he traveled more than 6 million miles; and he wrote five books and countless articles published in newspapers and magazines. In 1964, at age 35, King was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. King is America's' second most-admired person of the 20th century, topped only by Mother Teresa, according to a 1999 Gallup poll. King is one of 10 world martyrs of the 20th-century who are depicted in life-size statues at the entrance of Westminster Abbey in London.

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