#OTD in 1955, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was founded to guide a mass boycott of the city's segregated bus system. As the organization's president, King encouraged all Black citizens to participate, saying, "the great glory of American democracy is the right to protest for right."

70 years ago today, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, after refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus. Learn more here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/parks-rosa

🎥Watch the grand opening celebration of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University! This special event featured a panel discussion with Dr. Lerone Martin, Martin Luther King III, Arndrea King, Evan Spiegel, and Marina Limón at Stanford's Memorial Church.

After FBI director J. Edgar Hoover called him "the most notorious liar in America," King released a 19 November 1964 statement in response: "He has apparently faltered under the awesome burdens, complexities and responsibilities of his office."

🎊Happy birthday to Yolanda Denise King, who would have been 70 today! 📸Bob Fitch Photography Archive, © Stanford University Libraries.

✨ Two Generations, One Vision ✨ Martin Luther King, Jr., speaks at Stanford University in 1967, and Martin Luther King III speaks at Stanford University in 2025. 🎥 Watch King, Jr.’s powerful 1967 "The Other America" speech: searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1738074

After the panel discussion at Stanford University's Memorial Church, guests were invited back to the King Institute for tours and a reception in our new space as well as a book signing with the Kings. Thank you to all who celebrated with us! 🎉 📷: David Gonzales @gonzalesphoto

The King Institute was delighted to launch our grand opening celebration with a distinguished panel discussion at Stanford's Memorial Church, featuring esteemed guests Evan Spiegel '12; Arndrea Waters King; Marina Limón '25; Martin Luther King, III; and Dr. Lerone Martin.

Happy birthday to Martin Luther King, III! As we celebrate your special day, may your tireless pursuit of love and equality embolden us all to strive for a brighter tomorrow! 🎉 Read more here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-martin-...

This weekend, we were thrilled to host Stanford alumni—including former King Institute affiliates, employees, and student researchers—for #StanfordReunion! Thank you so much for visiting. We were proud to show you our new space!

There’s something powerful about being in a sacred space — you can feel the weight of history, the celebrations held, the tears shed, the prayers that have been whispered, the peace that lingers in the air.

Wonderful evening at Stanford celebrating the grand opening of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Honored to reflect on my father’s legacy of scholarship and activism and moved by the passion of young people continuing his work. stanforddaily.com/2025/10/15/s...

🎉 It's #Friday and we're more focused on our party prep than King is on sinking that tricky shot 🎱️! Don't forget to RSVP for our Tuesday, October 14th Grand Opening. See the link below for details!

This week in 1963, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy authorized the FBI to wiretap the phones at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Atlanta headquarters as well as at King's home. He later claimed there would have been “no living with the Bureau” if he had not signed the authorization.

"All you have to have is a heart to serve. All you have to do is figure out how you can use your time, your talent, or your treasure, to help bring about the end of the triple evils.” - Dr. Lerone Martin, Kaleidoscope Community Conversations, 10/2/2025

Dream big with us as we unveil our brand new space, featured in today's Stanford Report! 🌟 Learn more about how King's life influenced the design of the space by clicking below, and join us for our Open House on Tuesday, October 14th to experience the King Institute's new home in person.

Get ready, Ohio! 💫 Dr. Lerone Martin is bringing MLK's powerful message of community and compassion to the Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield on Thursday, October 2. 🕊

Join us as we make history at the King Institute's grand opening on October 14th! Register here: conta.cc/4mxQxYrs

62 years ago, white supremacists bombed Birmingham's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing four young girls: Cynthia Dionne Wesley, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Rosamond Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair. In the aftermath, Virgil Ware and Johnny Robinson, both teenage boys, were also murdered.

The Kings recently explored the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute's new exhibits with Director Dr. Lerone Martin. Come check them out for yourself at our Grand Opening on October 14th!

This Labor Day weekend, we were honored to welcome @officialmlk3.bsky.social and his family to the new home of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute! Thank you Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, and Yolanda Renee King for your continued support of our work.

#OnThisDay in 1963, 200,000 demonstrators gathered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In the final address of the day, following musical performances and speeches from other leaders, King departed from his prepared remarks to speak extemporaneously about his dream for the nation.

King Institute director Dr. Lerone Martin discusses insights from the recent release of King assassination files: “The real story here is not about the purported failings of a human being; it is about what happens when you have a government that is not accountable to the people that it governs."

We are excited to invite you to the grand opening of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research & Education Institute’s new home on the Main Quad at Stanford University. Please join us as we open our doors to Stanford and the broader community!

61 years ago, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) challenged the all-white Democratic Party delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, arguing that their biracial delegation better represented the will of all Mississippi citizens.

#OTD in 1962, King led a prayer service at the ruins of southwest Georgia's Shady Grove Baptist Church. The church, which had also been a center for voting clinics and registration classes, was 1 of 8 Black churches that was burned down or bombed in the region between August and September 1962.

Today we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The bill abolished literacy tests and enabled the federal government to oversee voter registration in counties with histories of discrimination.

63 years ago this week, King and nine others marched to Albany's City Hall to speak with City Commissioners about ongoing segregation and discrimination. After leading a prayer, they were instead arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, failure to obey an officer, and congregating on a sidewalk.

Statement from the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute on the release of Dr. King's assassination files:

Statement from the King Family on the Release of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination Files:

This year we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Following a voter registration campaign in Selma in the early months of the year and the Selma to Montgomery March in the spring, the Senate approved the Johnson Administration’s bill on 26 May in a 77 to 19 vote.

63 years ago this week, King and Ralph Abernathy were convicted for demonstrating without a permit during a December 1961 protest in Albany, Georgia. They chose 45-day jail sentences over paying $178 fines, proclaiming, "Peaceful protest is a part of our American tradition. If we succumb..."

#OnThisDay in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law. The final bill prohibited discrimination in public accommodations based on race, color, religion, sex, and national identity. Learn more here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/civil-rights...

#OTD in 1966, 15,000 demonstrators arrived at Mississippi's state capitol building to conclude James Meredith's March Against Fear. Meredith had begun a solitary march to Jackson from Memphis, Tennessee, on 5 June in order to protest racial violence and encourage African American voter registration.

This week in 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were murdered by Ku Klux Klansmen and Mississippi law enforcement officials. The civil rights workers were volunteers for the Mississippi Summer Project, a campaign to register African Americans across the state.

#OTD in 1964, King was arrested in St. Augustine, Florida, after being denied service at the Monson Motor Lodge's segregated restaurant. Learn more about the campaign in St. Augustine and how it helped secure passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/st-augustine...

#OTD in 1963, Strength to Love was published. King's landmark collection of sermons emphasized the relationship between Christian teachings and social reform, though Harper & Brothers editors removed some of his strongest criticisms of capitalism, colonialism, and war from the manuscript.

#OnThisDay in 1961, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy ordered the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce a ban on segregation in interstate travel. The action followed weeks of Freedom Ride demonstrations and appeals for federal intervention. Learn more: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/freedom-rides

Congratulations to King Institute director Dr. Lerone Martin for his receipt of Heidelberg University's James W. C. Pennington Award! The award recognizes groundbreaking work on topics related to civil rights, peace, education, religion, and intercultural understanding.

Today we celebrate Malcolm X's 100th birthday! Born on 19 May 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm X met King only once, during Senate debate on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Learn more about Malcolm X and his relationship with King here: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/malcolm-x

On 17 May 1957, 25,000 demonstrators marched to the Lincoln Memorial to demand federal action on the desegregation of public schools 3 years after the Brown v. Board decision. King concluded the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom rally with his first national address, "Give Us the Ballot."

62 years ago this week, the Birmingham campaign concluded after civil rights leaders successfully reached a negotiated settlement with local white businessmen that included promises to desegregate facilities and to institute nondiscriminatory hiring practices.

#OnThisDay in 1963, hundreds of Black students left school to protest segregation in Birmingham. Youth involvement revitalized the local campaign and helped to secure not only the 10 May truce with white business leaders but also the eventual passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The King Institute was honored to welcome prospective students and their families to our new office space last week during @stanford.edu's annual Admit Weekend! Photographs by Seo Hee Koh.

The King Institute celebrates Coretta Scott King, born 98 years ago this week! Coretta Scott King's lifetime of activism included demonstrating against South African apartheid, calling for global nuclear disarmament, championing labor movements, and advocating for the rights of LGBTQ+ people.

62 years ago this week, King was arrested for violating a court injunction against protests in Birmingham, Alabama. While in the city jail, he read a statement published in the Birmingham News in which 8 white clergymen condemned the escalating local desegregation campaign as "unwise and untimely."

#OnThisDay in 1968, King was laid to rest in Atlanta. In his eulogy, Benjamin Mays noted that King “believed especially that he was sent to champion the cause of the man farthest down," concluding, "there was no greater cause to die for than fighting to get a just wage for garbage collectors."

#OnThisDay in 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had arrived on 3 April to support a group of striking sanitation workers demanding improved safety standards, a living wage, and the recognition of their union. Learn more: kinginstitute.stanford.edu/memphis-sani...

#OnThisDay in 1965, over 25,000 rallied at Alabama's state capitol building to conclude the Selma to Montgomery March. "The confrontation of good and evil compressed in the tiny community of Selma," King stated in his address, "generated the massive power to turn the whole nation to a new course."