Martin Luther King Jr. a famed civil rights activist, made the United States citizens sit on the edge of their seats for what he would do next. Martin Luther left a mark on this nation that will never fade.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 to Alberta Williams King and Martin Luther King Sr. in Memphis, TN.  He was born Michael Luther King Jr. but his name was later changed to Martin. Martin Luther had two siblings, Christine King Farris, and Alfred Daniel Williams King.

Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating high school at age fifteen. He attended Morehouse College a distinguished Negro institution on Atlanta, from which his father and grandfather had both graduated. He received the B. A. in 1948 and the B. D. (Bachelor of Divinity) in 1951. He enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, due to a fellowship won at Crozer Theological Seminary. He completed his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and received the degree in 1955.

In Boston, he met and married Coretta Scott, a young women of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. They later had two sons and two daughters named Yolanda King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King, and Bernice King.

In 1957, Martin Luther King Jr. was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, he traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action. During his time, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote five books and numerous articles. Martin Luther King led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama. The protest in Alabama caught the attention of the entire world. He planned the drives in Alabama for the registration for Negros to vote. King directed the peaceful march on Washington D.C., of two hundred and fifty thousand people to whom he delivered his address, “I Have A Dream” speech.

“ I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty on the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.”

Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times. At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King Jr. was the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his winning, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement. King was named the Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963, and also was awarded five honorary degrees. Martin Luther King Jr. became not only a symbolic leader of American blacks, but also a world figure.

On the evening o April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, TN, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

It has been 46 years since the day that Martin Luther King died. The world has greatly changed since 1968, but King’s message survives intact. Even though King has been gone from us for so long, we never will forget him. Every year on January 20, people throughout the world remember the legacy that he left. MLK day is a day just for doing good. People around the world volunteer in order of continuing the amazing work Martin Luther King Jr. left behind.  King once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is “What are you doing for others?” Each year, Americans across the country answer that question by coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and community. Together, we can honor Dr. King’s legacy by volunteering our time, for a good cause.