Statue of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the Kelly...

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.) was born January 15th, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia to Baptist minister Martin Luther King (born Michael King) and his wife, Alberta. He was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968, preaching Christian values and social equality for all races. King advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through nonviolence and civil disobedience. With inspiration from both his own Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Gandhi, he was able to lead targeted, and most importantly nonviolent, resistance against Jim Crow laws and other forms of discrimination in the United States. He is most famously known for being one of the leaders of the The March on Washington in 1963, where he delivered his famous Martin Luther King Jr. Last Speech "I Have a Dream" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in DC. See Passage from the "I Have a Dream Speech" for part of the speech.