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Born January 15, 1929
Atlanta, Georgia
Died April 4, 1968
Memphis, Tennessee

American civil rights leader

Martin Luther King, Jr., was America's most influential leader in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. His campaign of nonviolent protest helped usher in a new era of equality and opportunity for blacks and other minorities across America. But King's deep desire to bring about peace and social justice in the United States and around the world also led him to turn his attention to the Vietnam War. In fact, by 1967 he had become an outspoken critic of American involvement in Vietnam. He charged that U.S. military policies in the war-torn country were immoral, and claimed that the war had terrible economic and social consequences for America's black communities. King's stand was bitterly criticized by Americans who supported the war and even by some members of the...