Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Georgia in 1929. He was a good student, and went to college to become a preacher. He went on to become a great speaker and a famous American leader.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the main leaders of the civil rights movement. “Civil rights” are rights that should belong to all of the citizens of the country. The civil rights movement in the 1960s focused mainly on equal rights for African-Americans. Dr. King worked to make things equal for people regardless of their race, or color of their skin.

Dr. King was a minister. He made many speeches and he gave sermons in his church about what was and was not fair. His speeches helped many people to understand these issues.

Dr. King believed that it was important to fight for what was right without using violence. The nonviolent protests that Dr. King organized and in which he participated, including marches and sit-ins (where people would sit in an area where something bad had happened, and they wouldn’t do anything, but they wouldn’t leave), persuaded many Americans that the civil rights movement was right.

Although Dr. King was a powerful leader and had many followers, not everybody liked him. Some people even hated him or thought he was dangerous. He was assassinated, or murdered, in Tennessee in 1968. He is buried at the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Martin Luther King is remembered for his famous speeches, for his strong principles, and for his tireless work for equality and peace. He is honored in the United States every year in January. A national holiday, called Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, is celebrated on the third Monday in January.