Dr Martin Luther King Jr ‘I have a dream’

Early life He was born on 15 th January 1929, in Atlanta Georgia. He skipped ninth and twelfth grade at high school and entered college at the age of 15. After graduating from a second degree, he married Coretta Scott in He became the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in 1954.

Rosa Parks Rosa Parks was arrested on 1 st December 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama. Dr Martin Luther King, Pastor of a Baptist church in the town, felt that a protest was needed.

Peaceful protests Martin Luther King headed up a Civil Rights organisation. Their motto was: ‘ Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed.’

‘I have a dream…’ In 1963 Martin Luther King led 250,000 people in a peaceful march to Washington, ‘for jobs and freedom’. It was here that he delivered one of the most famous speeches of the 20 th century.

Nobel Peace Prize At the age of 35 Martin Luther King was the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He handed over his prize of nearly $55 million dollars to the Civil Rights Movement.

By this time Martin Luther King had been… arrested twenty times assaulted 4 times awarded five honorary degrees

On April 4 th 1968, in Memphis Tennessee Martin Luther King made his last speech. As he walked out on to the balcony of his hotel that evening, a single gun shot rang out. Martin Luther King had been struck down by an assassin’s bullet

Sacrificing all for the dream His funeral was held five days later. A crowd of 70,000 stood at the sides of the street to watch his cortege pass.