Martin Luther King Jr was born on January 15 1929, Atlanta, Georgia. Due to his skin colour, Martin Luther King Jr spent the majority of his life being racially discriminated against. When he was a young child, he became friends with a white boy, whose father owned a business close to his house. At the age of six they went to different schools and they lost their friendship because the boy’s father didn’t want his son to be friends with an African- American (The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, 2004). Growing up in a community where he was constantly discriminated against, he made it his life goal to fight for equality for African- …show more content…
During his life King made many accomplishments although he is probably best remembered from his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech which asked for an end to racism in the US and also called for civil and economic rights of the African- Americans. . This speech was delivered in front of approximately 250 000 civil rights supporters and it was a distinguished moment in the history of the American Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King Jr’s vision still continues to inspire people today. He made America a more equal nation and many other parts of the world have followed in his footsteps. King is recognised by the Catholic Church for being a man of change and fighting for what he believed in. Although he faced many difficulties throughout his battle for equality he fought past the prejudice to create a fairer country. Martin Luther King Jr was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his work and upon hearing he had won, he immediately declared that his prize money $54 123 (US) would go towards continuing the civil rights