Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929. He became a Baptist minister. In 1956, because blacks had to sit in the back of buses, he led a 381-day boycott of (refusal to use) the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama. He was the leader of many protests in the 1950s and 60s. The police often arrested King’s followers or used dogs and fire hoses to oppose them. On August 28, 1963, King joined 200,000 black and white protesters called Freedom Marchers at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. to support new laws for civil rights. There, his “I have a dream...” speech moved the nation.
Martin Luther King, Jr. used only peaceful methods to fight against unjust laws because he opposed violence. He said that it was important to change laws but even more important to change minds and hearts. He helped blacks win their legal rights and made progress in the cause of integration (the mixing of the races) in schools, churches, and public places. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. But on April 4, 1968, he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Now on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Americans remember a great man and promise to work hard for civil rights.
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