Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968) 

 He won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was a leader of the American civil rights movement.

The I have a Dream Speech in Full 

King was born on 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a Baptist minister, his mother a schoolteacher.  He entered Morehouse College in 1944 and then went to Crozer Religious Seminary to undertake postgraduate study, receiving his doctorate in 1955.

The Bus Boycott

Returning to the South to become pastor of a Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, King first achieved fame when he helped mobilise the black boycott of the Montgomery bus system in 1955.

This was organised after Rosa Parks, a black woman, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man - in the segregated south, black people could only sit at the back of the bus. The 382-day boycott led the bus company to change its regulations, and the supreme court declared such segregation unacceptable.

In 1957 King was active in the organisation of the Southern Leadership Christian Conference (SCLC), formed to co-ordinate protests against discrimination.

 He believed in non-violent direct action based on the methods of Gandhi, who led protests against British rule in India culminating in India's independence in 1947.

Protests

In 1963, King led mass protests against discriminatory practices in Birmingham, Alabama where the white population were violently resisting desegregation. The city was dubbed 'Bombingham' as attacks against civil rights protesters increased, and King was arrested and jailed for his part in the protests.

 March on Washington

After his release, King participated in the enormous civil rights march on Washington in August 1963, and delivered his famous 'I have a dream' speech, predicting a day when the promise of freedom and equality for all would become a reality in America.

Peace Prize

 In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1965, he led a campaign to register blacks to vote. The same year the US Congress passed the Voting Rights Act outlawing the discriminatory practices that had barred blacks from voting in the south.

Shot in 1968 in Memphis

As the civil rights movement became more complicated, King found that his message of peaceful protest was not shared by many in the younger generation. King began to protest against the Vietnam war and poverty levels in the US. He was assassinated ( shot)  on 4 April 1968 during a visit to Memphis, Tennessee.