Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. | Minister, Activist, Leader

MARTIN Luther King Jr. was an iconic civil rights activist who believed in non-violent protest. The Baptist minister was a key player in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. Born on January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr was a social activist who sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the socially and economically disadvantaged and victims of injustice. He advocated peaceful protest and was the driving force behind both the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington. The March actually helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is honoured each year on Martin Luther King Jr Day, which has been a federal holiday in the USA since 1986. Martin Luther King Jr was born in Atlanta, Georgia and was the second child of pastor Martin Luther King Sr and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher