See who predict Obama becoming a president, Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Redirected from Martin Luther King, Jr. Day ) Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964 Official name Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. Also called MLK Day, King Day, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Observed by United States Type National Date Third Monday in January 15.Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. King in 1964 1st President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference In office 1957–1968 Preceded by Inaugural holder Succeeded by Ralph Abernathy Personal details Born Michael King Jr. January 15, 1929 Atlanta , Georgia, U.S. Died April 4, 1968 (aged 39) Memphis, Tennessee , U.S. Cause of death Gunshot head wound Nationality American Spouse(s) Coretta Scott (m. 1953) Children Yolanda Denise King Martin Luther King III Dexter Scott King Bernice Albertine King Parents Martin Luther King Sr. Alberta Williams King Relatives Christine King Farris (sister) Alfred Daniel Williams King (brother) Alveda King (niece) Alma mater Morehouse College Crozer Theological Seminary Boston University Occupation Minister • activist Known for Civil rights movement , Peace movement Awards Nobel Peace Prize (1964) Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977, posthumous) Congressional Gold Medal (2004, posthumous) Monuments Martin Luther King Jr.King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, he led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama . He also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington , where he delivered his famous " I Have a Dream " speech. On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches , and the following year he and SCLC took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregated housing. In the final years of his life, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War , alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled " Beyond Vietnam ". In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign , when he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee . King's death was followed by riots in many U.S. cities. Ray, who fled the country, was arrested two months later at London Heathrow Airport . Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison for King's murder, and died in 1998 from hepatitis while serving his sentence. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal . Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, and as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington State was also rededicated for him. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.