Born: January 15, 1929
Died: April 4, 1968 Place of Birth: Atlanta, Georgia
Major Notes:
Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights leader whose oratations touched the heart of a nation.
Both King's grandfather and father were church ministers.
King followed in their footsteps by earning a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozier Theological Seminary in 1951 and his Doctor of Philosophy from Boston University in 1955.
During that time, King studied the teachings of Mohandas Gandhi, India, and his methods of non-violent protests.
At one point, he led a group to protest against segregation on public buses by having blacks boycott them.
In 1957, King helped in the formation of what is now known as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
He was selected the first President of the SCLC and began aiding other communities with peaceful protests.
King organized a group protest against the hiring practices and segregation used in department stores.
For his part in the above, he was arrested and confined in jail giving him time to write "Letter from a Birmingham Jail."
In 1963, he was named by Time Magazine as the Person of the Year.
Because King had always promoted peaceful demonstrations in trying to reach civil-rights reforms, he was presented the Nobel Peace Award in 1964.
In 1968, King was assassinated by James Earl Ray with a rifle bullet to the neck in Memphis, Tennessee.
Martin Luther King Jr, through writing and stirring speeches, made America aware of the great injustices that were being faced by its black population.
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