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Martin Luther King, Jr.: Quick Facts

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News •

Martin Luther King Jr.'s handwritten draft of 'I Have a Dream' speech found in desk drawer • Nov. 11, 2026, 6:16 PM ET (CBC)
Handwritten draft of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech to go on display in Atlanta • Nov. 10, 2026, 12:37 PM ET (CBS)
Only known handwritten final draft of MLK Jr’s I Have A Dream speech to be auctioned • Nov. 9, 2026, 4:08 PM ET (The Guardian)
Georgia Democrats take a victory lap from the pulpit of MLK’s church • Nov. 8, 2026, 3:38 PM ET (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
500 Black Christian leaders arrive in Israel for 'Unfinished Business' pilgrimage • Nov. 5, 2026, 6:25 PM ET (Jerusalem Post)

Facts

Also Known As Michael King, Jr.
Born January 15, 1929 • Atlanta • Georgia
Died April 4, 1968 (aged 39) • Memphis • Tennessee
Founder Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Awards And Honors Grammy Award (1970) • Nobel Prize (1964)
Notable Works “I Have A Dream”
Notable Family Members spouse Coretta Scott King
Role In American civil rights movement • March on Washington • Memphis sanitation workers’ strike • Montgomery bus boycott • Selma March • Poor People’s Campaign

Photos and Videos

Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King
Martin Luther King, Jr., and Lyndon Johnson
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his "I Have A Dream" speech at a podium surrounded by microphones and supporters during the 1963 civil rights rally in Washington, D.C.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
March on Washington
White House meeting of civil rights leaders in 1963
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act at a desk in the White House, surrounded by Martin Luther King, Jr. and a group of witnesses.
Martin Luther King, Jr., 1964
Martin Luther King, Jr., at Montgomery
Black and white portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Black and white image of the Greensboro Sit-In, in which young African American students staged a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter.
Timeline labeled "Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Life and Legacy" on graph paper.
Learn how the invention of dynamite led, in part, to the global recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr., as a civil rights leader
Black and white portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking.
See All Videos, Images and Interactives →
Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth stands in a suit outside the heavily damaged remains of his house after a bombing, with collapsed roof and debris behind him, Montgomery, Alabama.
Fred Shuttlesworth
American minister and civil rights activist
James Lawson
James Lawson
American minister and civil rights activist
Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin
American civil rights activist
John Lewis
John Lewis
American civil rights leader and politician
Diane Nash
Diane Nash
American civil rights activist
Hosea Williams
Hosea Williams
American civil rights leader and politician
Hooks, 1991
Benjamin L. Hooks
American jurist, minister, and government official
default image
James Luther Bevel
American minister and political activist
Ralph David Abernathy
Ralph David Abernathy
American pastor and civil rights leader
Confident, compassionate, controversial
Jesse Jackson
American civil rights leader
Rosa Parks sitting on a bus
Rosa Parks
American civil rights activist
Septima Poinsette Clark
Septima Poinsette Clark
American educator and civil rights advocate
A. Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph
American trade unionist and civil rights leader
Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King
American civil rights activist
Ella Baker
Ella Baker
American activist
Whitney Young
Whitney Young
American civil rights leader
Andrew Young
Andrew Young
American politician, civil rights leader, and clergyman
Roy Wilkins
Roy Wilkins
American civil rights leader
Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Indian social activist, lawyer, and politician
Pauli Murray
Pauli Murray
American civil rights activist, lawyer, and writer

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