Who was Martin Luther King Jr.?
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and leader of the civil rights movement. He used nonviolent protest to fight racial segregation and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929. He rose to national prominence leading the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 and 1956, which began after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. The boycott led to a Supreme Court ruling against segregated buses.
On August 28, 1963, he delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech to about 250,000 people at the March on Washington. His work helped bring about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
His death and legacy
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had come to support striking sanitation workers. Since 1986, the United States has honored him with a federal holiday on the third Monday of January.
Did You Know?
At 35, King was the youngest person at that time to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He donated the prize money to the civil rights movement.