Born in Atlanta, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-68) traveled north to receive his Ph.D. in theology from Boston University in 1955.
He returned to the South to become pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where he met Rosa Parks and was chosen to lead the bus boycott.
An advocate of nonviolent protest, King went on to co-found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957 and worked until his death on behalf of civil rights for African-Americans.