Martin Luther King Jr.
While Martin Luther King Jr Day is officially observed on Monday the 20th this year, the 15th is his date of birth - 1929.
Born in Atlanta to a Baptist minister, King obtained a doctorate degree in theology.
Following the teachings of Mohandas Ghandi, King advocated peaceful protests and nonviolent resistance.
He organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott in December 1955 following Rosa Parks' personal stand against giving up her seat for a white man. Approximately 40,000 African Americans refused to ride, demanding courtesy and a first-come-first-serve seating policy. Ultimately the system was desegregated.
In 1963 he participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom - the event ended with King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, King said it was nothing less than a "second emancipation." Later that year, he became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
His pacifism extended to the Vietnam War, and he openly criticized America's involvement.
He was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968.
True peace is not the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
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