Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American civil rights leader and a prominent figure in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He was a Baptist minister and a MARTYR for his cause. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929 and was assassinated in 1968. He is remembered for his activism in the civil rights movement, including his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech. He was a Southern Baptist, which is a denomination of Christianity that originated in the Southern United States.