Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended all black schools while growing up because black people could not go to school with white people.

In 1953, Martin Luther King married Coretta Scott. A year later, he became a minister at a church in Alabama. They had four children.

Martin Luther King thought that black people should be able to sit anywhere they wanted, even next to white people. He led the boycott against the bus company in Montgomery, Alabama. A boycott is when you refuse to do something. Blacks were not permitted to sit in the front of a bus. They had to sit in the back where it was hot. The blacks won the boycott. They were allowed to sit anywhere they chose on the buses.

Martin Luther King wanted all people to be treated equally. He gave his famous I Have a Dream speech in Washington D.C. to people who believed in equal rights. In 1964, Martin Luther King received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work towards equal rights. Equal rights are when everyone is treated the same.

Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis, Tennessee. He was killed by a man who did not believe in equal rights. The world was sad when Martin Luther King, Jr. died. Every January we celebrate Martin Luther King Day and honor his life.