Some of America’s most famous names weren’t birth names. Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III, John Wayne was originally Marion Robert Morrison, and Martin Luther King Jr. was Michael King Jr. until he was 5 years old. The change was prompted by his father, Reverend Michael King. In 1934, King Sr. attended the Fifth Baptist World Congress in Berlin. In response to the rise of Nazism, the BWA put out a fierce proclamation condemning all racial discrimination and oppression.
The elder King traveled throughout Germany during his stay, learning more about the German theologian Martin Luther in the process. Born in the town of Eisleben in 1483, Luther began the Protestant Reformation when he posted his Ninety-five Theses on the door of a castle church in 1517. Reverend King was so inspired by the reformer that he changed both his own name and that of his son, though the younger King’s birth certificate wasn’t officially amended until July 23, 1957, when he was 28 years old.
