Adapted from The Nobel Prize Website (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1964/king/biographical/)
Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born on January 15, 1929. His grandfather became the first of the King men to serve as a pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. King Jr.'s also served as a pastor at the church, acting as co-pastor with Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. attended segregated public schools in Georgia and graduated from high school at the age of fifteen. He attended Morehouse College, graduating with a BA degree in 1948. He then attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, studying theology, and was elected class president of his predominantly white senior class. He was awarded his BD from Crozer in 1951. After being awarded a fellowship, King enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for a doctorate in 1953 and receiving his doctorial degree in 1955. It was during his time in Boston that he met and married Coretta Scott - a union that produced two sons and two daughters.
In 1954, King became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He had always been a strong advocate for the Civil Rights movement, and by 1954, he was a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In December of 1955, King accepted the leadership position of the first large-scale Negro nonviolent demonstration in modern United States history. The bus boycotts lasted over a year, and on December 21, 1956, the US Supreme Court declared bus segregation laws unconstitutional. During the boycotts, King was arrested, his home was bombed, and he was subjected to much personal abuse. It was during this time that he truly emerged as a leader.
In 1957, King was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization that had been formed to provide new leadership for the Civils Rights Movement. Between 1957 and 1968, King travel, speaking over 2,500 time and appearing wherever injustice, protest, and action for the movement were happening. He also authored five books and numerous articles during these years. Additionally, King led a protest in Birmingham, Alabama that caught the attention of the world, inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" manifesto of the Negro revolution. He also planned voting registration dives for Alabama Blacks, directed a peaceful mark on Washington DC where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, met with President John F. Kennedy, campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson, was arrested over twenty times, awarded five honorary degrees, was named the Man of the Year by Time Magazine, and became a symbolic leader of Black Americans. At the age of thirty-five, King was given the Novel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest man to receive this honor.
On the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while standing on the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee.
