Martin Luther King Facts

Martin Luther King Jr was one of America’s most influential civil rights activists. Find out more about this eloquent orator!

• He was born Michael King Jr. on January 15th 1929 in Atlanta Georgia.

• He is often referred to by his initials MLK.

• Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist in the 1950s and 1960s.
  

  “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood” – Martin Luther King

• In 1955 he took leadership of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

• From 1957 until his death in 1968, King gave over 2,500 speeches.

• Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to India to study Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of non-violence.

• In 1963 at a historic march in Washington for jobs, freedom, racial equality and the end of discrimination Martin Luther King delivered his “I have a dream” speech.

• In 1963, he became was the first African-American to be named Time magazine’s Man of the Year.

• At the age of 35, he became the youngest man to have been honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

• Martin Luther King also protested against the Vietnam war.

• He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

• King was arrested 30 times and was awarded at least 50 honorary degrees from colleges and universities.

• In his honor America have instigated a national Martin Luther King Day.

• Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated the third Monday on January.

• There are over 730 streets in the United States named after Martin Luther King Jr.

• On April 4th 1968, King was assassinated.