Martin Luther King, Jr. Born January 15th, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Martin Luther King was an eloquent black Baptist minister, who led the mass civil rights movement in the United States from the mid 1950's until his death by assassination, in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4th, 1968. He rose to national prominence through the organization of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, promoting nonviolent tactics such as the massive March on Washington (1963) to achieve civil rights. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964. The U.S Congress voted to have a national holiday in his honor, beginning in 1986, on