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The Life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Can you guess these facts about the life of this civil rights leader?
Quiz by Aaron197
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Last updated: November 5, 2021
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First submittedDecember 4, 2020
Times taken9,532
Average score55.0%
Rating4.79
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Hint
Answer
Martin Luther King's most famous speech
I Have a Dream
City in which he delivered that speech
Washington D.C.
City where he was born
Atlanta
His birth name
Michael King Jr.
His wife's name
Coretta Scott King
King's profession before becoming a civil rights leader
Pastor
Major international prize he won in 1964
Nobel Peace Prize
Civil rights organization he was the first President of
Southern Christian
Leadership Conference
War that he protested against
Vietnam War
World leader who inspired King's non-violent approach
Mahatma Gandhi
Civil rights leader who had very different approach to the civil rights movement
and called Martin Luther King a "chump"
Malcolm X
In 1965, King led three marches between these two cities in Alabama
Selma
Montgomery
Head of the FBI who investigated and harassed King
J. Edgar Hoover
City in which King was assassinated in 1968
Memphis
Man who was convicted of that crime
James Earl Ray
President who signed the bill making
Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday
Ronald Reagan
 
 
Complete these Martin Luther King quotes
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
A riot is the language of the unheard
... judged by the color of their skin but by
the content of their character
26 Comments
+1
Level 85
Nov 5, 2021
Gandhi wasn't a world leader, in terms of holding office.
+14
Level 89
Nov 5, 2021
The question says nothing about holding office. Holding an office is not a prerequisite of becoming a world leader. Plenty of people have been considered world leaders and have become extremely influential without ever being elected to, or even running for, political office.
+1
Level 85
Nov 5, 2021
Nope. You can be a leader in your field. You can be influential. You can be famous. You can be powerful. The definition of "world leader" is, was, and will be until the average IQ drops at least 12 more points, a head of state or head of government.

But, just so that I can understand your point of view, who do you think is a world leader who is not a president, prime minister, premier, governor, chancellor, taoiseach, pope, king, queen, prince, grand duke, grand duchess, or emir? (Please don't say Kim Kardashian. Please don't say Kim Kardashian.)

+19
Level 74
Jan 17, 2022
Your "(Please don't say Kim Kardashian)" has got to be the most condescending trite I've ever had the displeasure of seeing on this website.
+2
Level 78
Jan 17, 2022
@sumguy - Well, let me ask you. Which end of the "world leader" scale, from "Kim Kardashian" to "Winston Churchill," do you think Gandhi is closer to?
+1
Level 90
Jan 17, 2022
I was thrown off a bit by that question at first too, but it didn't take me too long to figure out the answer.
+2
Level 85
Nov 5, 2021
By the reasoning of the middle quote, Kristallnacht was the language of the unheard. (Apologies to Godwin.)

But perhaps, to steal the language of Seinfeld, slogans are like gossamer, and one doesn't dissect gossamer.

+23
Level 83
Nov 5, 2021
Methinks you need to look up the difference between a riot and a pogrom
+17
Level 83
Nov 5, 2021
Yeah you can find faults in any quote when dissected, but here's quite obvious he meant more or less spontaneous, grassroots riots, not state-organized violence.
+7
Level 86
Nov 5, 2021
Not all riots are created equal.
+3
Level 67
Jan 17, 2022
He also was not advocating or justifying riots in that speech. Later in the same conversation, he says "riots are self-defeating and socially destructive" and reiterates that non-violence is the only way. He was more offering an explanation than a defense. If you listen to the conversation, he is vehemently anti-riot in any context.
+4
Level 83
Nov 5, 2021
I had to look up the story of how his name changed. I knew his father was inspired by Martin Luther, but didn't realize it happened after he was already given another name. Updated his birth certificate at age 28, apparently!
+1
Level 71
Jan 17, 2022
That answer shocked me. I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't know that though--only 20% of quiztakers got it right!
+6
Level 82
Nov 6, 2021
An all-important "not" is missing from the third quote.
+1
Level 85
Jan 17, 2022
The "not" comes before the quote excerpt: "...not be judged by the color of their skin..." (Although it would be helpful to include more of the quote, for clarity.)
+6
Level 93
Nov 8, 2021
I guessed Loretta for his wife's name; so close yet so far.
+1
Level 83
Mar 28, 2022
same lol
+1
Level 79
Jun 15, 2023
same 🤦‍♂️
+2
Level 63
Nov 9, 2021
I did an essay and a presentation on MLK in school. Appearently I stored some information in the back of my brain. It hadn't been used in a long time.
+1
Level 68
Jan 17, 2022
Yes, I didn't think I knew the answers but my brain brought forward the answers. My knowledge must be held in my subconscious brain somewhere!
+1
Level 62
Jan 17, 2022
While I am not denying its relevance, identifying who King's assassin was is information worth forgetting... I think the city where he was killed is good enough.
+2
Level 75
Jan 18, 2022
I am old enough to remember when he was killed, and with all the news about it at the time I was very surprised when I couldn't recall the name of his killer. I was expecting a question about the name of the motel where he was killed - The Lorraine Motel. No idea why I could remember that but not the name of his assassin.
+1
Level 45
Jan 17, 2022
Can priest be accepted for pastor?
+1
Level 66
Jan 18, 2022
Nothing about him plagiarizing his speech? Or his abuse of dozens of prostitutes? Or giving his wife STDs? Or his affiliation with communism and foreign adversaries of the United States?
+6
Level 80
Feb 6, 2022
• Barely true. It was only the ending (which he'd not prepared beforehand and performed spontaneously), and it's barely plagiarism anyways.

• That is an obscene exaggeration of a widely condemned interpretation of a single hand-written addendum (containing unprovable accusations) to a single FBI file.

• I can find no reference to this (not even in a trash article).

• He had two associates with previous ties to the American Communist party a decade prior, but both had long since left it behind by their SCLC days. Regardless, if you do literally any reading about it (from a real source), it will be clear that everyone involved knew King wasn't tied to Communism and that they were simply worried J. Edgar Hoover would twist the truth.

Hoover had an obsession with discrediting King bordering on the pathological. While King was far from perfect, most of the libelous drivel one reads about him on the scummy parts of the Internet are just the impotent echoes of that obsession.

+1
Level 76
Jan 19, 2022
I think "Black Power leader," or something along those lines, would be a better descriptor for Malcolm X than "civil rights leader." Not all active Black people at the time were focused on the very distinct targets of civil rights equality and ending of legal segregation.