He was the first Black person to be named Time Person of the Year.
King was chosen 1963's "Man of the Year" following the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in the January 1964 issue of Time Magazine. This is one of the interesting facts about Martin Luther King Jr. As the first African American to win this accolade, he made history. He had already been on the Time cover. He was featured on the cover of a magazine in 1957 for organizing the Montgomery bus boycott.
In honor of King, Time published a picture of the civil rights activist on the cover and a seven-page article with images from some of the most significant occasions in his life, such as a meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson and King's imprisonment in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. King received several congratulatory telegrams, especially from Nelson A. Rockefeller, governor of New York, Roy Wilkins, secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and A. Philip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Although many of King's fans rejoiced over the tribute, King was secretly furious by some of the story's comments. He was stated to have "very little sense of humor" and to dress in a "funeral conservative" manner. King was criticized for his use of metaphors, which the author considered "downright embarrassing," having gained tremendous fame through his speeches and oratory abilities ("Man of the Year," 13).
