12 Interesting Martin Luther King Jr Facts You May Not Know KEY POINTS The civil rights leader survived an assassination attempt a decade before his murder in 1968 King first met his wife, Coretta Scott, over the phone Martin Luther King Jr. is a name most have likely already heard of but not everyone knows the details of his duty-filled life. King is widely recognized as the most prominent figure of the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s. To commemorate what would have been his 92nd birthday, here are 12 of some of the most interesting facts about King. 1. He wasn't always Martin Luther King Jr.