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Books
People of many races supported Dr King and the Civil Rights movement. Among them were Charleton Heston and Marlon Brando
| Date of birth: |
January 15, 1929(1929-01-15) |
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| Place of birth: | Atlanta, Georgia, United States | | Date of death: | April 4, 1968 (aged 39) |
| Place of death: | Memphis, Tennessee, United States | | Movement: | African-American Civil Rights Movement and Peace movement | | Major organizations: | Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) | | Notable prizes: | Nobel Peace Prize (1964)
Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977, posthumous)
Congressional Gold Medal (2004, posthumous) | | Major monuments: | Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial (planned) | | Alma mater: | Morehouse College
Crozer Theological Seminary
Boston University | | Religion: | Baptist | | Influences | Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, Theodor Herzl, Mahatma Gandhi, Benjamin Mays, Rosa Parks, Bayard Rustin, Henry David Thoreau, Howard Thurman, Leo Tolstoy | | Influenced | Albert Lutuli, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton |
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an African American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the American civil rights movement. His main legacy was to secure progress on civil rights in the United States and he is frequently referenced as a human rights icon today. A Baptist minister,[1] King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, serving as its first president. King's efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest
orators in U.S. history. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the Vietnam War, both from a religious perspective. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. national holiday in 1986.
To Be Continued! Stories wanted from the rank and file soldiers of the Civil Rights movement, or stories
of your life before this Great Civil War and your life after.
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