Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the principal leaders of the American Civil Rights movement and an important supporter of nonviolent protests. King was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 15, King went to Morehouse College in Atlanta and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1948. He was then ordained as a Baptist Minister at age 18. Then he studied at Crozier Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1951. While at Crozier, he was named outstanding student and won a fellowship to study for his doctorate at any school he chose. He went to Boston University, from where he