1929 : Martin Luther King Jr. born
On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. is born in Atlanta,
Georgia, the son of a Baptist minister. King received a doctorate
degree in theology and in 1955 organized the first major protest of the
African-American civil rights movement: the successful Montgomery Bus
Boycott. Influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, he advocated nonviolent civil
disobedience to racial segregation. The peaceful protests he led
throughout the American South were often met with violence, but King
and his followers persisted, and the movement gained momentum.
A
powerful orator, he appealed to Christian and American ideals and won
growing support from the federal government and northern whites. In
1963, he led his massive March on Washington, in which he delivered his
famous "I Have a Dream" address. In 1964, the civil rights movement
achieved two of its greatest successes: the ratification of the 24th
Amendment, which abolished the poll tax, and the Civil Rights Act of
1964, which prohibited racial discrimination in employment and
education and outlawed racial segregation in public facilities. Later
that year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In the late 1960s,
King openly criticized U.S. involvement in Vietnam and turned his
efforts to winning economic rights for poor Americans. He was
assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Video of "I have a Dream"
