Facts about Martin Luther King Jr

Laws called “Jim Crow laws” (also known as segregation) in the southern states of America separated black and white people. They also took away the right for black people to vote.

His first experience of segregation was when the parents of his white friends said he couldn’t play with them because he was black.

He gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, in Washington (America’s capital) with other activists. Over 250,000 people from around America gathered to listen to it.

In October 1964 he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was told he won it over the phone whilst suffering from exhaustion. Fighting for equality was extremely exhausting for him.

In 1968 Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated by James Earl Ray. Martin was standing on the balcony of his hotel when he was shot. James spent the rest of his life in prison despite claiming to be innocent. He died in 1998.