Martin Luther King Jr.

Released

Date of birth:15. 01. 1929

Date of death:04. 04. 1968

Age:39^{† Deceased}

Gender:Male

Race:Black

Era:1960s

State:Alabama

Time Imprisoned:

1 Month 13 Days

Support

Black Nationalism Civil Rights

Biography

Martin Luther King Jr. was a prominent civil rights leader who developed nonviolent civil disobedience techniques during his leadership in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. King was arrested 29 separate times during the civil rights movement on spurious charges.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was the 27-year-old president of the Montgomery Improvement Association when he was arrested and indicted under a 1921 Alabama anti-boycott statute for leading the Montgomery bus boycott against segregation. Tried in March 1956 — the test case for nearly 90 indicted boycotters — he was convicted and fined $500 while his home was bombed and the protest continued.

Cases

Montgomery City Jail

Charges: Speeding — driving 30 mph in a 25 mph zone during the bus boycott

Arrested: Jan 26, 1956

Incarcerated: Jan 26, 1956

Released: Jan 26, 1956

Sentence: Arrested during the Montgomery bus boycott; spent part of the day in the Montgomery City Jail and was released. The precise hour and release terms are not in the surviving court summary.

Institution State: Alabama

Montgomery County Jail

Charges: Alabama anti-boycott law

Arrested: Feb 23, 1956

Incarcerated: Feb 23, 1956

Released: Feb 23, 1956

Sentence: Surrendered after being indicted with the boycott leaders, was fingerprinted and photographed, and was released on bond the same day (February 23, 1956). Verdict as recorded: Convicted March 22, 1956; $500 fine or 386 days, jail sentence suspended pending appeal Charges as recorded: Alabama anti-boycott law — for leading the Montgomery bus boycott

Convicted: Yes

Institution State: Alabama

Montgomery City Jail

Charges: Loitering — while attempting to attend an arraignment

Arrested: Sep 3, 1958

Incarcerated: Sep 3, 1958

Released: Sep 3, 1958

Sentence: Arrested outside Recorders Court in Montgomery and released a short time later on $100 bond. Charges as recorded: Loitering — while attempting to attend an arraignment over an assault on Ralph Abernathy

Institution State: Alabama

Montgomery City Jail

Charges: Disobeying a police officer

Arrested: Sep 5, 1958

Incarcerated: Sep 5, 1958

Released: Sep 5, 1958

Sentence: Chose 14 days in jail rather than pay the fine, but Police Commissioner Clyde Sellers paid it and King was released almost immediately.

Convicted: Yes

Institution State: Alabama

Fulton County Jail

Charges: Perjury on Alabama state tax returns (held on an Alabama warrant)

Arrested: Feb 17, 1960

Incarcerated: Feb 17, 1960

Released: Feb 17, 1960

Sentence: Taken into custody at the Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta, arraigned, and released the same day on $2,000 bond.

Institution State: Georgia

Montgomery County Jail

Charges: Alabama tax-perjury case (formal surrender)

Arrested: Feb 29, 1960

Incarcerated: Feb 29, 1960

Released: Feb 29, 1960

Sentence: Formally surrendered to Alabama authorities in the tax-perjury case and was released the same day on $4,000 bail.

Institution State: Alabama

Georgia State Prison

Charges: Sit-in at the Rich department store, Atlanta — held as a probation violation from an earlier driver-license case

Arrested: Oct 19, 1960

Incarcerated: Oct 19, 1960

Released: Oct 27, 1960

Sentence: After the other demonstrators were released, King was held on the probation-violation theory, transferred to the Georgia State Prison at Reidsville before dawn on October 26, and freed October 27 on $2,000 bond.

Convicted: Sentenced October 25, 1960 to four months hard labor

Institution State: Georgia

Sumter County Jail

Charges: Parading without a permit, obstructing traffic, and congregating on the sidewalk — Albany prayer march

Arrested: Dec 16, 1961

Incarcerated: Dec 16, 1961

Released: Dec 18, 1961

Sentence: Arrested after leading a prayer march to Albany City Hall and held at the Sumter County Jail in Americus; negotiations produced the release of King and the other demonstrators two days later.

Institution State: Georgia

Albany City Jail

Charges: Convicted for the December 1961 Albany demonstration

Arrested: Jul 10, 1962

Incarcerated: Jul 10, 1962

Released: Jul 12, 1962

Sentence: Chose jail over the fine, but an unidentified person paid it, causing his release after two days.

Convicted: Fine or 45 days; chose jail

Institution State: Georgia

Albany City Jail

Charges: Prayer vigil, Albany

Arrested: Jul 27, 1962

Incarcerated: Jul 27, 1962

Released: Aug 10, 1962

Sentence: Arrested during a prayer vigil and held about two weeks; on August 10 he and Ralph Abernathy received suspended 60-day sentences and $200 fines and were released.

Convicted: Suspended 60-day sentence and $200 fine (August 10, 1962)

Institution State: Georgia

Birmingham City Jail

Charges: Defying an injunction against demonstrations

Arrested: Apr 12, 1963

Incarcerated: Apr 12, 1963

Released: Apr 20, 1963

Sentence: Arrested with Ralph Abernathy, initially held in solitary confinement, and wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail. Released April 20, 1963 (one Stanford chronology lists April 19, apparently a bond-arrangement or one-day dating discrepancy). Charges as recorded: Defying an injunction against demonstrations — the Good Friday march

Institution State: Alabama

St. Johns County Jail

Charges: Seeking service at the segregated Monson Motor Lodge restaurant

Arrested: Jun 11, 1964

Incarcerated: Jun 11, 1964

Released: Jun 12, 1964

Sentence: Arrested in St. Augustine, spent one night in the St. Johns County Jail, and was released the following day.

Institution State: Florida

Selma City Jail

Charges: Parading without a permit — voting-rights march toward the Dallas County courthouse

Arrested: Feb 1, 1965

Incarcerated: Feb 1, 1965

Released: Feb 5, 1965

Sentence: Arrested with hundreds of voting-rights demonstrators in Selma; contemporary reports and photographs document his release on February 5, 1965.

Institution State: Alabama

Jefferson County Jail (Birmingham)

Charges: Criminal contempt

Arrested: Oct 30, 1967

Incarcerated: Oct 30, 1967

Released: Nov 4, 1967

Sentence: King and Abernathy returned to serve five-day contempt sentences after their Supreme Court appeal failed; admitted October 30, 1967. The five-day term is confirmed; the November 4 release is calculated from the sentence (no original discharge record located). Verdict as recorded: Yes — affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, 5-4 (1967) Charges as recorded: Criminal contempt — for the 1963 Birmingham marches in defiance of the anti-demonstration injunction (Walker v. City of Birmingham)

Convicted: Yes

Institution State: Alabama

Martin Luther King Jr.

Biography

Cases

Related Cases