5 Things: Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today we celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Schools in the tri-boro are closed, and some of you may have the day off from work. In honor of this holiday, we thought we’d bring you five facts about Martin Luther King, Jr.

1. Birthday: His birthday was actually Jan. 15. He was born in 1929 in Atlanta.
2. Name Change: King and his father were both originally named Michael King. However, after a visit to Germany in 1934, King’s father changed both their names to Martin in honor of the Protestant leader Martin Luther.
3. 15 Minutes of Fame: King sang in the choir at the Atlanta movie premiere of Gone With the Wind in 1939.
4. Brain Power: King skipped ninth and twelfth grade math in high school. He started at Morehead College at age 15, without having formally graduated from high school.
5. Holiday: President Ronald Regan signed Martin Luther King Day as a holiday into law in 1983, and it was observed for the first time on Jan. 20, 1986. The first time all 50 states celebrated the holiday was in 2000.