Person · 1929–1968
Martin Luther King Jr.
The Baptist minister whose philosophy of nonviolent direct action made him the face of the Civil Rights Movement — and, by his death, a critic of poverty and war.
The central figure of the modern [[civil-rights-movement]].
From the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 to the March on Washington in 1963 to the Selma voting-rights campaign of 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. fused Black church tradition, Gandhian nonviolence, and soaring oratory into a movement that broke the legal back of Jim Crow. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
In his last years King turned to economic justice — the Poor People's Campaign and a fair-housing fight — arguing that civil rights without economic power were incomplete. He was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968, while supporting striking sanitation workers.
On the timeline
- December 5, 1955The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Sparked by Rosa Parks, a 381-day boycott launches Dr. King and mass nonviolent protest.
- January 10, 1957The SCLC is founded
Dr. King and allies form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
- May 2, 1963The Birmingham Campaign
Children marchers face dogs and fire hoses; the images shock the nation.
- August 28, 1963The March on Washington
250,000 gather as Dr. King delivers "I Have a Dream," pressing for jobs and freedom.
- March 7, 1965Selma and Bloody Sunday
Marchers for voting rights are beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, spurring the Voting Rights Act.
- April 4, 1968Dr. King assassinated
King is murdered in Memphis while supporting striking sanitation workers; uprisings follow nationwide.
Resources
Primary sources·1
Videos·1
The web
Connections to other moments, systems, and investigations — the links rarely drawn together.
- connects to·ThreadGreed — The Root
By 1968 King had turned to economic justice — the Poor People's Campaign — arguing civil rights without economic power were hollow.