Martin Luther King: 50th anniversary " I Have a Dream"

Martin Luther King was one of the most famous activists for civil rights. He raised his voice in the 1950s to fight for social equality and peace with nonviolence and civil disobedience.
He was assassinated in 1968 by James Earl Ray on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee

If you want to know more about his biography, click on this link by the BBC

In August 1963 after leading a peaceful march, he gave one of the most outstanding speeches in history, known as "I have a dream" right in the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC in front of a crowd of 250,000 demonstrators. He and other leaders then met with President John F. Kennedy. They asked for many things including an end to segregation in public schools, greater protections for African-Americans, and more effective civil rights legislation.

M L King was honored as the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He was awarded this on December 10, 1964 at the age of thirty-five. He gave the entire amount of the prize money to help the Civil Rights movement.

He didn't live to see that  all his fight for civil rights for black people was successful. In 2009 Barack Obama, the first black President, was elected.
On August 28th, 2013 the 50th anniversary of the famous speech was commemorated and Obama wanted to pay tribute to him with King's family and former Presidents in the same place.

Read the full speech here

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

In USA legislation was signed in 1983 creating a federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  In 1994, Congress designated the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday as a national day of service  taking place each year on the third Monday in January.

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Martin Luther king's speech and his whole life have had a big influence on people.