Martin Luther King, Jr.
The son of a Baptist minister, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the second of three children. In 1939, his church choir sang at the premiere of Gone With the Wind. His nonviolent activism for civil rights and racial equality transformed the United States, particularly because it drew media coverage of the struggle and showed a face of America which many never had seen, galvanizing the country toward social justice. During the 13 years of his activism, he faced violence and death seemingly at every turn, as opponents of integration sought to protect their entrenched position at all costs. At his death by an assassin's bullet at age 39, he had become a symbol of peaceful protest against bigotry and indifference. His influence on struggles for equality continues to extend throughout the world long after his death.
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