Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist minister and pivotal leader of the American civil rights movement.

He led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the 1963 March on Washington established him as one of America's greatest orators.

In 1964, he became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination.

King was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal, and a national holiday was established in his honor.