• King was born on 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a Baptist minister, his mother a schoolteacher. Originally named Michael, he was later renamed Martin.
• He entered Morehouse College in 1944 and then went to Crozer Religious Seminary to undertake postgraduate study, receiving his doctorate in 1955.

Martin Luther King Junior first became famous when he helped with the black boycott of the Montgomery bus system in 1955. This was organised after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus. The 382-day boycott meant the bus company had change its regulations.

Following that, in 1963, King led mass protests against discrimination in Birmingham, Alabama where the white population were against desegregation. Black people of all ages, including high school students participated in marches. Police tried to break it up by arresting hundreds and then turning fire hoses and police dogs on them.

1. Nobel Prize biographies