Martin Luther King Jr., born in Atlanta, comes from a pastoral family and enjoys a rather favorable social background. In 1954 he became a Baptist pastor and practiced in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1955, he took the lead in the support movement to Rosa Parks arrested by the police for refusing to give way to a white on a bus, and called for a boycott of the bus company in the city. Despite the intimidation, the boycott will last one year until the Supreme Court rules the bus company.
The media impact of this victory led Martin Luther King to found the SCLC (Conference of Southern Christian Leaders) with other black personalities and to become president. A supporter of non-violence, he decided to extend the struggle for civil rights of blacks to the whole of the United States.
Inspired by Henri-David Thoreau (1817-1862), author of "Civil Disobedience", and admirer of Gandhi (1869-1948), Martin Luther King traveled in 1959 to India to deepen his knowledge of Satyagraha, the principles of Gandhi.
In 1963, he led major campaigns for civil rights, the right to vote blacks, the end of segregation, better education. He is arrested several times. In his speech of August 28, 1963, "I have a dream", in front of 250,000 people, he calls for a country where all men share the same rights in justice and peace. The violence of the security forces and the harassment of segregationists in the face of peaceful struggles engender a wave of sympathy among the public for the civil rights movement.
In 1964, Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for which he is the youngest laureate.
Martin Luther King was murdered by a white segregationist on April 4, 1968 in Memphis while supporting a garbage strike.
