Born January 15, 1929
Atlanta, Georgia
Died April 4, 1968
Memphis, Tennessee

African American civil rights leader and minister

Martin Luther King, Jr., spent the final decade of his life in relentless pursuit of racial equality and social justice. As president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King led a peaceful movement for racial equality and justice in the southern United States. With his gift for impassioned and inspirational speech, King convinced ordinary people to take courageous actions they would have never before imagined possible. In a span of ten years, King and his fellow civil rights activists transformed the American South from a bastion of white supremacy into a region where African Americans had the right to vote, the right to attend integrated schools, and the right to take any seat on a public bus.

Religious upbringing and education

King was born in 1929 in Atlanta...