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t. e. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Christian minister, activist, and political philosopher who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. A black church leader and a son of early civil rights activist and ...
- When Was Martin Luther King born?
- Montgomery Bus Boycott
- Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- Letter from Birmingham Jail
- March on Washington
- "I Have A Dream" Speech
- Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
- MLK Day
- Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, the second child of Martin Luther King Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher. Along with his older sister Christine and younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams, he grew up in the city’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood, then home to some of the most promine...
The King family had been living in Montgomery for less than a year when the highly segregated city became the epicenter of the burgeoning struggle for civil rights in America, galvanized by the landmark Brown v. Board of Educationdecision of 1954. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, secretary of the local chapter of the National Association for the Ad...
Emboldened by the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in 1957 he and other civil rights activists—most of them fellow ministers—founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a group committed to achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest. The SCLC motto was “Not one hair of one head of one person shou...
In 1960 King and his family moved to Atlanta, his native city, where he joined his father as co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. This new position did not stop King and his SCLC colleagues from becoming key players in many of the most significant civil rights battles of the 1960s. Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a particularly seve...
Later that year, Martin Luther King Jr. worked with a number of civil rights and religious groups to organize the March on Washingtonfor Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful political rally designed to shed light on the injustices Black Americans continued to face across the country. Held on August 28 and attended by some 200,000 to 300,000 participants, t...
The March on Washingtonculminated in King’s most famous address, known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, a spirited call for peace and equality that many consider a masterpiece of rhetoric. Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial—a monument to the president who a century earlier had brought down the institution of slavery in the United States—h...
The events in Selma deepened a growing rift between Martin Luther King Jr. and young radicals who repudiated his nonviolent methods and commitment to working within the established political framework. As more militant Black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism to address issues such as the...
After years of campaigning by activists, members of Congress and Coretta Scott King, among others, in 1983 President Ronald Reagansigned a bill creating a U.S. federal holiday in honor of King. Observed on the third Monday of January, Martin Luther King Daywas first celebrated in 1986.
While his “I Have a Dream” speech is the most well-known piece of his writing, Martin Luther King Jr. was the author of multiple books, include “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength to Love,” “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” and the posthumously published “Trumpet of Conscience” with a foreword...
3 days ago · Martin Luther King, Jr. (born January 15, 1929, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.—died April 4, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee) was a Baptist minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968. His leadership was fundamental to that movement’s success in ending the ...
- What did Martin Luther King, Jr., do?Martin Luther King, Jr., was a Baptist minister and social rights activist in the United States in the 1950s and ’60s. He was a leader of the Ameri...
- What is Martin Luther King, Jr., known for?Martin Luther King, Jr., is known for his contributions to the American civil rights movement in the 1960s. His most famous work is his “I Have a D...
- Who did Martin Luther King, Jr., influence and in what ways?Martin Luther King, Jr., influenced people around the world. He advocated for peaceful approaches to some of society’s biggest problems. He organiz...
- What was Martin Luther King’s family life like?Martin Luther King, Jr., grew up as the middle child of Michael (later Martin Luther) King, Sr., and Alberta Williams King. His father was the mini...
- How did Martin Luther King, Jr., die?Martin Luther King, Jr., was standing on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, when he was shot by James Earl Ray. An hour later...
Apr 3, 2014 · Learn about the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister and civil rights leader who fought for racial justice and nonviolence. Explore his achievements, speeches, assassination, and more.
- editor@biography.com
- 2 min
- Staff Editorial Team And Contributors
- Early life. Though King's name is known worldwide, many may not realize that he was born Michael King, Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. His father, Michael King, was a pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
- Becoming a civil rights leader. In 1954, when he was 25 years old, Dr. King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. In March 1955, Claudette Colvin—a 15-year-old Black schoolgirl in Montgomery—refused to give up her bus seat to a white man, which was a violation of Jim Crow laws, local laws in the southern United States that enforced racial segregation.
- Fighting for change through nonviolent protest. From the early days of the Montgomery boycott, King had often referred to India’s Mahatma Gandhi as “the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change.”
- Economic justice and the Vietnam War. King’s opposition to the Vietnam War became a prominent part of his public persona. On April 4, 1967—exactly one year before his death—he gave a speech called “Beyond Vietnam” in New York City, in which he proposed a stop to the bombing of Vietnam.
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s less than thirteen years of nonviolent leadership ended abruptly and tragically on April 4th, 1968, when he was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King’s body was returned to his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, where his funeral ceremony was attended by high-level leaders of all races ...
Learn about the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights leader who advocated for nonviolent resistance and racial equality. Find out how he influenced the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the world with his words and actions.
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