Martin Luther King Jr.

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a prominent civil rights leader and Baptist minister.  In a nonviolent protest of segregation in the 1950s, he spearheaded a disciplined and successful bus boycott that lasted 382 days.  In 1957, Dr. King founded and became president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), where he continued to promote nonviolent civil disobedience.  In 1963, he led more than 250,000 people on a peaceful march on Washington, D.C., and delivered his famous "I Have A Dream" speech.  At age 35, he became the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize.  King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968 at age 39.