Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today we celebrate one of the most inspiring men of the 20th century, Martin Luther King, Jr. Beginning with the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 until he was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, MLK was a fearless leader who fought for racial justice.

But inevitably there are things that we don't know about even the most famous of cultural icons like King. It's infinitely fascinating to me that in the age of the Internet and non-stop news, that there are things that we don't know about anyone famous. There is also an e-mail/web meme that you may get on e-mail called something like, "Four Things You Didn't Know About MLK." Snopes does a great job of looking into that e-mail and the mixture of truth and falsehood within. This list is not the same, though there is some overlap.

1. His real name was Michael King. His father then changed his name to Martin early in his life, though it appears that the name on his birth certificate remained "Michael" in perpetuity.

2. He plagiarized some of his PhD in Theology dissertation for Boston University. Though this is inarguably true and many investigators and committees have agreed on the evidence, all parties have chosen not to revoke or change the status of his degree.

3. He was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize, getting it at age 35 for his civil rights work. Upon receiving it, King said, "I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when 22 million negroes of the United States are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice."

4. His "I Have a Dream" speech, given in 1963, is about 15 minutes and just over 1500 words long. If you haven't listened to is or it's been a while, I highly recommend you take this opportunity.

Image courtesy of NewsHour via flickr