Today we remember King's mother, Alberta Williams King, on the anniversary of her murder. Alberta was 71 years old when she was shot while playing the organ during Ebenezer Baptist Church's Sunday service. Learn more: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-alberta...

"Now, this is what I try to teach in this struggle in the South—that we are not engaged in a struggle that means we sit down and do nothing, that there’s a great deal of difference between nonresistance to evil and nonviolent resistance." -MLK, Interview by Kenneth Bancroft Clark, 24 June 1963.

#OTD In 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that should have come two and a half years earlier: all enslaved people were free. #Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom and a reminder that freedom delayed is justice denied.

🎉💕Happy anniversary to Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King! The couple was married #OnThisDay in 1953. Learn about the couple's courtship and early marriage in the introduction to Vol. II of The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/introduction...

Listen below to King Institute director Dr. Lerone Martin's keynote address at Stanford's 2026 Baccalaureate ceremony!

"The brutal murder of Medgar Evers came as shocking and tragic news to all people of good will... this reveals that we still have a long, long way to go in this nation before we achieve the ideals of decency and the ideals of brotherhood." -MLK on the Murder of Medgar Wiley Evers, 12 June 1963.

#OnThisDay in 1955, King earned his doctorate in systematic theology from Boston University. Under theologians Edgar S. Brightman and L. Harold DeWolf, King developed his understanding of the social gospel, which formed the foundation of his civil rights advocacy.

"We are going to have to do more to get across our message that there is strength in non-violence, not weakness... This does not mean we don't resist. We resist with all our might, but non-violently." -MLK in "New Attack on Violence By Dr. King," San Francisco Examiner, 2 June 1963.

The King Institute mourns the loss of our great friend, the legend Dr. Clarence B. Jones. Rest in power.

"We must not allow state wrongs to exist under the banner of State Rights. To deny individuals the right to vote through threats, intimidations and other insidious methods is not a State Right, But a State Wrong." -MLK, Address at Freedom Riders Rally, 21 May 1961.

"I left India more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and human dignity. In fact, there is no other lasting way." -MLK, Letter to G. Ramachandran, 19 May 1959.

Hear Dr. Lerone Martin discuss his new book, Young King, in conversation with King Institute staff member Dr. Jorden Sharick at Kepler's Books!

"If physical death is the price that some must pay to free their children from a permanent life of psychological death, then nothing can be more Christian. Keep going today. Keep moving amid every obstacle. Keep moving amid every mountain of opposition." -MLK, "Give Us the Ballot," 17 May 1957.

"One day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves. We will so appeal to your heart and your conscience that we will win you in the process. And our victory will be a double victory." -MLK, "The American Dream," 14 May 1963.

"We have a greater weapon... We have the power of our souls, the power of our standing up together, and this amazing unity and this soul force is the thing—are the things that will free us in this day." -MLK, "Statement on Nonviolence at New Home Billiard Parlor," 13 May 1963.

#OnThisDay in 1963, the day after civil rights leaders announced a negotiated settlement to conclude the Birmingham campaign, bombs exploded at the A. G. Gaston Motel outside of the room where King had been staying as well as at his brother A. D.’s home.

Check out King Institute director Lerone Martin discussing his new book Young King on the Tavis Smiley podcast (starting at 1:04:30)!

This weekend we had the honor of hearing Anna Malaika Tubbs and Lerone Martin discuss the hidden histories of Black excellence in their respective books The Three Mothers and Young King. The incredible event was beautifully moderated by Juliette Whittaker. Thank you, Stanford Black Alumni Summit!

"Tell your children and tell them early that they are significant, that they are God’s children, and that nobody in the world is supposed to take away from them their sense of dignity and their sense of worth." -MLK, Address at Birmingham campaign mass meeting at St. Paul AME Church, 1 May 1963

🎉🎊 Happy birthday to Coretta Scott King! As the founder of the King Papers Project, we are grateful for her vision every day. Learn more about the Project here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/...

"Bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent issues. What is most tragic is the silence. We must not become a nation of onlookers ... All Americans must take a stand against evil." -King, Speech on the Boston Common, 23 April 1965.

"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability." -King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 16 April 1963.

On 12 April 1963, King was arrested in Birmingham, Ala., for violating an injunction against protesting. The Birmingham campaign included sit-ins at lunch counters and libraries, an economic boycott, and picketing of downtown stores to put pressure on merchants to desegregate public accommodations.

#OTD in 1968, King was laid to rest. After a funeral service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, approximately 100,000 mourners processed behind King's casket to Morehouse College. Following a second ceremony at Morehouse, King was buried at South-View Cemetery. He was later reinterred at the King Center.

"I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without first having spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government." -King, "Beyond Vietnam," 4 April 1967.

On 4 April 1968, King was shot and killed in Memphis, Tenn., after stepping out onto the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Coretta Scott King shared that notes found in King's pockets included "Ten Commandments on Vietnam," which are listed below:

We wish Reverend Bernice King a very happy birthday weekend! 🎉The youngest child of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King, Rev. Bernice King is a champion for peace and nonviolence and serves as the CEO of the King Center. Read more here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-bernice...

King Institute director Dr. Lerone Martin reflects on King's 25 March 1965 address, which reminds us that the arc of the moral universe bends only when we bend it. Read more here:

#OnThisDay in 1965, around 25,000 demonstrators completed the 5-day, 54-mile march from Selma, Ala., to the state capitol in Montgomery to demand voting rights for Black Americans.

Happy birthday to Ralph Abernathy, who would be 100 today! "My great friend and my brother, Ralph Abernathy. I will not leave Ralph because we will be together forever.... We have worked together across these years and have developed a relationship that nothing in all the world can separate."

#OnThisDay in 1965, King and over 2,000 marchers approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge in support of SNCC's disrupted Selma to Montgomery March. Upon reaching the bridge, the demonstrators knelt and prayed before returning to Selma. Learn more: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/selma-montgo...

The King Institute mourns the passing of Dr. Bernard Lafayette, a Freedom Rider, long-time SNCC organizer, and coordinator of SCLC efforts in Chicago and the 1968 Poor People's Campaign, amongst innumerable other contributions to the civil rights struggle. 🕊

#OnThisDay in 1964, King participated in the March on Frankfort to the Kentucky state capitol. The 10,000 demonstrators, including Jackie Robinson and Ralph Abernathy, protested Governor Breathitt's refusal to pass legislation integrating public accommodations.

King Institute director Dr. Lerone Martin's forthcoming book was named one of the most anticipated nonfiction titles of 2026! Learn more about Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King Jr., forthcoming from HarperCollins this May:

#OnThisDay in 1948, at age 19, King was ordained and appointed assistant pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. "I felt an inescapable urge to serve society. In short, I felt a sense of responsibility which I could not escape."

“I’m hoping that the ability to take a class at Stanford, and do well, will be transformative—both in terms of how these students see the world, and in terms of how they see themselves.” Read more: momentum.stanford.edu/stories/titl...

"The things that drive Jesse are a combination of factors produced by his childhood, but also the moral legacy of Martin Luther King and he feels a kind of responsibility to live up to that mantle. And, that's always driving him." -Andrew Young, Frontline interview, PBS, 30 April 1996.

#OnThisDay in 1959, the Kings laid a wreath at the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi in New Delhi during their month-long trip to India. Learn more about King's pilgrimage here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/india-trip

🔥Join us for a Fireside Chat with Congressman Jim Clyburn as we celebrate the release of his new book! This event is open to the public. Attend in person at Stanford Law School @law.stanford.edu or virtually via livestream. 🔗 RSVP now! kinginstitute.stanford.edu/events/lectu...

We join the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in celebrating a century of Black history commemorations this #BlackHistoryMonth ✊🏿 Learn more: asalh.org/black-histor...

Happy birthday to Dexter King on his 65th birthday! In the photo below, Dexter (striped shirt) enjoys a meal with Bernice, Coretta, Martin III, and Yolanda King at home. Learn about Dexter's life and work here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-dexter-...

💫 Today the nation commemorates King's life and enduring legacy. How will you remember King today? 👉 Learn how the King National Holiday came to be: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-nationa...

Happy birthday to Martin Luther King, Jr.! Today would have been King's 97th birthday. How will you celebrate King today? 🎊 Learn more: kinginstitute.stanford.edu

We mourn the passing of Claudette Colvin. At just 15 years old, she refused to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus and became a key figure in the legal battle that ended bus segregation. May her legacy and her bravery endure for generations.

Happy birthday to James Farmer, co-founder of the Congress of Racial Equality! Farmer was born 106 years ago today.🎊 Learn more: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/farmer-james

Rare photographs of Rosa Parks and the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March have recently been discovered at Stanford University Library! Researchers found the never-printed images amongst photographer Matt Herron's contact sheets. Learn more: news.stanford.edu/stories/2026...

"He has an indescribable capacity for empathy that is the touchstone of leadership. By deed and by preachment, he has stirred in his people a Christian forbearance that nourishes hope and smothers injustice." -"Man of the Year: Never Again Where He Was,” Time magazine, 3 January 1964.

👀 Psst.....something NEW is here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/mapping-mlk

#OnThisDay in 1964: "I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up."