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Michael King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta. His father was a minister, so he memorized the Bible by the time he was 5. -
An American pacifist with a dream
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The high school he went to was the only one in the city for African-American students. He joined the school's debate team and won a contest with his speech "black America still wears chains."
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He enrolled at Morehouse, a College for the black, at 15, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1948, aged nineteen. Then, he became a minister.
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King married Scott on June 18, 1953, and had four children.
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King led a bus boycott and became a national figure and the best-known spokesman of the civil rights movement. He organized and led marches for blacks' right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and other basic civil rights.
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More than a quarter of a million people attended. It was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington, D.C.'s history.
King delivered a 17-minute speech, later known as "I Have a Dream". -
King talked to American Presidents and worked to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, spoke about nonviolent tactics, supported workers' strikes, delivered speeches in several cities, was against the Vietnam war, went to jail
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His legacy influenced civil rights movement in South Africa, the U.K., the U.S.A. Annual holidays were made in his honour.
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King was fatally shot on Thursday, April 4, 1968 in Memphis, where he went to support workers.