Martin Luther King, Jr. American Civil-Rights Leader 1929 - 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. King was an eloquent Baptist minister and leader of the civil-rights movement in America from the Mid-1950s until his death by assasination in 1968. King promoted non-violent means to achieve civil-rights reform and was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Both King's father and grandfather were Baptist preachers. He earned his own Bachelor of Divinity in 1951. While at seminary King became acquainted with Mohandas Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolent social protest. While on a trip to India in 1959 King met with followers of Gandhi. During these discussions he became more convinced than ever that nonviolent resistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom. In the years from 1960 to 1965 King's influence as a civil-rights leader had reached its zenith. The tactics of active nonviolence (sit-ins, protest marches) had put civil-rights squarely on the national agenda. However, by 1966 impatience among young Black activists was eroding some of King's support. His strategy had proved inadequate to solve some of the more complex racial problems of America. King was only 39 at the time of his death. He had never wavered in his insistence that nonviolence must remain the central tactic of the civil-rights movement, nor in his faith that everyone in America would some day attain equal justice. Speeches of Martin Luther King Books of Martin Luther King National Civil Rights Museum Martin Luther King's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech