Martin Luther King Jr. Day Jeopardy
Dr. King's education, faith, writings, the cities in his story, his honors and the holiday itself, for a January class. Free to copy, with phone buzzers.
6 categories · 30 clues · Final Jeopardy · everyone buzzes in from their phone
Copies all 30 clues into an editor of your own. Free, no account needed.
Every clue on this board
This page is public, so anyone can read the answers — copy the board and swap a few clues before game day.
Early Life and Education
- $200
King was born in this Georgia city on January 15, 1929.
What is Atlanta?
- $400
King's name at birth was this, until his father changed both of their names in 1934.
What is Michael King?
- $600
At just 15, King enrolled at this historically Black men's college in Atlanta.
What is Morehouse College?
- $800
King earned his doctorate in systematic theology in 1955 from this university in Massachusetts.
What is Boston University?
- $1,000
King graduated as class valedictorian in 1951 from this Pennsylvania seminary.
What is Crozer Theological Seminary?
Faith and Family
- $200
King's wife, a trained singer and activist, founded the King Center in Atlanta after his death.
Who is Coretta Scott King?
- $400
King and his father served as co-pastors of this Atlanta church.
What is Ebenezer Baptist Church?
- $600
King's commitment to nonviolent resistance was shaped by this Indian leader, whose country King visited in 1959.
Who is Mahatma Gandhi?
- $800
In 1957 King helped found this organization of Black ministers and served as its first president.
What is the Southern Christian Leadership Conference?
- $1,000
In 1954 King became pastor of this Montgomery church, a short walk from the Alabama State Capitol.
What is Dexter Avenue Baptist Church?
Writings and Speeches
- $200
King delivered this speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963.
What is I Have a Dream?
- $400
Written in 1963 in response to eight white clergymen, this open letter was composed while King was behind bars.
What is Letter from Birmingham Jail?
- $600
King's first book, published in 1958, told the story of the Montgomery bus boycott.
What is Stride Toward Freedom?
- $800
King's final speech, delivered in Memphis on April 3, 1968, is known by this title.
What is I've Been to the Mountaintop?
- $1,000
King's 1964 book about the Birmingham campaign argued against telling Black Americans to be patient for their rights.
What is Why We Can't Wait?
Places in His Story
- $200
King was assassinated in this Tennessee city in 1968.
What is Memphis?
- $400
King rose to national attention leading a 381-day bus boycott in this Alabama city.
What is Montgomery?
- $600
The 1965 marches for voting rights set out across the Edmund Pettus Bridge from this Alabama city.
What is Selma?
- $800
King was shot on the balcony of this building, now part of the National Civil Rights Museum.
What is the Lorraine Motel?
- $1,000
In 1966 King moved into an apartment in this Northern city to campaign against housing discrimination.
What is Chicago?
Honors and Legacy
- $200
King received this international award in 1964 and gave the prize money to the civil rights movement.
What is the Nobel Peace Prize?
- $400
In 1977 King was posthumously awarded this, the nation's highest civilian honor, by President Jimmy Carter.
What is the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
- $600
Time magazine named King its Man of the Year for this year, the year of the March on Washington.
What is 1963?
- $800
At King's memorial in Washington, D.C., his figure emerges from a granite block given this name.
What is the Stone of Hope?
- $1,000
The sculptor who carved the statue at King's memorial, Lei Yixin, comes from this country.
What is China?
The Holiday
- $200
Martin Luther King Jr. Day always falls on this day of the week.
What is Monday?
- $400
The federal holiday was first observed nationwide in this year, three years after the bill creating it was signed.
What is 1986?
- $600
This president signed the bill creating the federal holiday in 1983.
Who is Ronald Reagan?
- $800
This musician's 1980 song Happy Birthday helped build public support for the holiday.
Who is Stevie Wonder?
- $1,000
A 1994 law asked Americans to treat the holiday as a day on, not a day off, by making it a national day of this.
What is service?
Final Jeopardy — Memphis, 1968
King was in Memphis in April 1968 to support a strike by these city workers, who marched carrying signs that read I AM A MAN.
Who are sanitation workers?
How to run this board
Most students arrive knowing one speech and one date. This board fills in the rest of the person: where Martin Luther King Jr. grew up and studied, the churches that shaped him, the books and letters he wrote, the cities where his work happened, the honors that followed, and the long campaign to make his birthday a national holiday.
It is meant to sit alongside a broader civil rights unit rather than repeat one, so it stays close to King himself. The Holiday column makes a good closer on the Friday before the long weekend, and the 1994 clue about a day of service is an easy lead-in to a class volunteering project.
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