On January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr was born in Atlanta,
Georgia, the son of a Baptist minister. King received a doctorate
degree in theology and in 1955 helped organize the first major
protest of the African American civil rights movement: the
successful Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, he advocated civil disobedience
and nonviolent resistance to segregation in the South. 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.

Martin Luther King Jr.
(born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)