The LOC.GOV Wise Guide : Martin Luther King Jr.

He had a very powerful dream... And shared it with all Americans.

The 20th century's most influential civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Ga. King entered the civil rights movement in 1955. That same year, he led a bus boycott that was initiated by Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Ala., where blacks were made to sit at the back and give up their seats to whites. In 1963, King participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his famous "I Have A Dream" speech to a crowd of 250,000.

Read more about King in the "Jump Back in Time" section of America's Library.

African American History Month is February. You can learn more about the history of African Americans in American Memory. Click on "Collection Finder" and begin your search in the following collections, among others: "African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907," "The African American Experience in Ohio: Selections from the Ohio Historical Society," "From Slavery to Freedom: The African American Pamphlet Collection, 1824-1909," "African American Sheet Music, 1850-1920: Selected from the Collections of Brown University," "African American Odyssey" and "By Popular Demand: Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s."

A. "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968--In Memoriam," New York, N.Y.: Distributed by Personality Posters, [between 1968 and 1980]. Reproduction No.: LC-USZ62-100009

B. "March on Washington, August 28, 1963." 1963. U.S. News and World Report Photograph Collection. Reproduction No.: LC-U9-10360-23 (9-13)