INTERNET SCAVENGER HUNT

The goal of this activity is to have students to discover

information about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life through Internet
research. If computers are unavailable, students can use books
for their research (see Bibliography).

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Give each student a copy of the question sheet. You could
have students work in pairs, or alone. You could also add
additional questions about Dr. King if you choose to.
2. You may provide a list of websites that will give the most
accurate information. Include https://thekingcenter.org
3. One option is to post the questions on chart paper, and as
students find answers, they could write them on the chart
paper. Or, you could assign certain questions to groups of
students (this would save time).
4. You might consider having students do the research over a
few class periods.
5. Once all of the questions have been answered, have a class
meeting and go over the answers. If students ask questions
that the teacher is unable to answer, write them down for
future research.
6. To broaden the study of Nonviolence, have students create
questions to research about Mohandas Gandhi.

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 INTERNET SCAVENGER HUNT QUESTIONS

1. When and where was Martin Luther King, Jr. born? What were his parents and
siblings’ names?
2. What was Dr. King’s birth name? Why was it changed, and how old was he when
it was changed?
3. What was Dr. King’s wife’s name before she was married? Where did the King’s
meet? What did Mrs. King study in college?
4. What are the names of the King’s children, in order from oldest to youngest?
5. Name the schools and colleges that Dr. King attended. Why did Dr. King go to
college at the age of 15, when most students begin college at age 18? What did
Dr. King study at each college he attended?
6. How did Dr. King develop his philosophy of Nonviolence? Name another person
whose life he studied to learn about Nonviolence.
7. How old was Dr. King when he was asked to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
Why was there a boycott of the city buses in Montgomery?
8. What award did Dr. King get in 1964? Why did he get it?
9. Why did Dr. King deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech? Where did he give this
speech? How many people came to hear his speech?
10. How did Dr. King help black people in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963?
11. What were people marching for in Selma, Alabama in 1965?
12. What happened during “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, 1965?
13. Where and when did Dr. King give his last speech? Why was Dr. King invited
there?
14. Where and when was Dr. King killed? How old was he when he died?
15. Where is Dr. King buried? What are the words on Dr. King’s tombstone?
16. What is the purpose of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social
Change, in Atlanta, Georgia?

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 ANSWERS TO THE INTERNET SCAVENGER HUNT QUESTIONS

1. Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929.

Parents: Alberta Williams and Martin Luther King, Sr. (“Daddy” King)
Siblings: Christine and Alfred Daniel (nicknamed A.D.)
2. He and his father shared the same name, Michael King. After Daddy King
visited Germany he came home and decided to change his and his son’s names to
Martin Luther, after the Protestant leader.
3. Coretta Scott, Boston, Massachusetts, music education
4. Children: Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, Bernice Albertine
5. Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia (he went at age 15 because he skipped
grades 9 and 12)-B.A. in Sociology 1948
Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania-Bachelor of Divinity
1951 (received an award for being the top student)
Boston University-PhD in systematic theology (the study of religious beliefs)
1955
6. He studied many different philosophers while in college. Some he agreed
with, others he did not. One of his greatest influences was Mohandas Gandhi, as
well as the life of Jesus Christ.
7. He was 26 years old. Dr. King and his team tried to negotiate with the bus
company to desegregate the buses and the company refused to negotiate. The
boycott was employed to pressure the bus company to negotiate again. After 381
days the boycott ended because the bus company agreed to the demands of the
black citizens in Montgomery.
8. Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership during the civil rights movement and for
working towards racial justice using Nonviolent actions. He was the youngest
person and second African American to receive the award, in 1964.
9. Dr. King was the featured speaker at the March on Washington for jobs and
freedom. He wanted Congress to pass laws giving black Americans their civil
rights. This event was held in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln
Memorial. An estimated 250,000 people attended.

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 10. He was invited to come to Birmingham to work on desegregating public
facilities and changing the segregation (Jim Crow) laws. This was done through
boycotts of businesses and marches. King was arrested and put in solitary
confinement, where he wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail”.
11. Black people were marching for voting rights in Selma. Through voting,
people could change discriminatory laws and practices.
12. As a direct action, people came to march from Selma to Montgomery to
protest inequality. Police officers and deputized citizens met the protestors on the
Edmund Pettus Bridge and forced them to retreat by using tear gas, cattle prods,
clubs, whips and men on horseback. Thankfully, no one was killed, but because
there were so many injuries, March 7, 1965 became known as Bloody Sunday.
On March 25 a successful march was completed which led to the Voting Rights Act
of 1965.
13. Memphis, Tennessee. His last speech was on April 3, 1968. He was there to
support the striking black sanitation workers. His last speech is known as “I Have
Been to the Mountaintop”.
14. Dr. King was on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis,
Tennessee when he was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. He was 39 years old.
15. Dr. King is buried in Atlanta, Georgia at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center
for Nonviolent Social Change. His tombstone says, “Free At Last, Free At Last,
Thank God Almighty, I’m Free At Last”, a phrase taken from his “I Have a Dream”
speech.
16. The purpose of the King Center is to “prepare global citizens to create a
more just, humane and peaceful world using Dr. King’s nonviolent philosophy and
methodology.”

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