martin luther king

English - English

Definition of martin luther king in English English dictionary

a black US religious leader who became the most important leader of the civil rights movement and worked hard to achieve social changes for black people. He was a great public speaker, and many people remember his famous speech that starts with the words "I have a dream". He encouraged people to try to achieve changes without using violence, and in 1964 he won the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1968 he was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. In the US there is a national holiday in January to celebrate his birthday (1929-68)

Related Terms

Martin Luther King Day

{i} holiday in the United States observed on the 3rd Monday in January commemorating the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr

Martin Luther King Day

an American holiday on the third Monday in January to remember the day that Martin Luther King Jr. was born

Martin Luther King, Jr.

{i} (1929-1968) black American clergyman and civil rights leader, winner of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, outspoken advocate of nonviolent protest (assassinated by James Earl Ray)

martin luther king jr's birthday

observed on the Monday closest to January 15

Martin Luther Jr. King

born Jan. 15, 1929, Atlanta, Ga., U.S. died April 4, 1968, Memphis, Tenn. U.S. civil-rights leader. The son and grandson of Baptist preachers, King became an adherent of nonviolence while in college. Ordained a Baptist minister himself in 1954, he became pastor of a church in Montgomery, Ala.; the following year he received a doctorate from Boston University. He was selected to head the Montgomery Improvement Association, whose boycott efforts eventually ended the city's policies of racial segregation on public transportation. In 1957 he formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and began lecturing nationwide, urging active nonviolence to achieve civil rights for African Americans. In 1960 he returned to Atlanta to become copastor with his father of Ebenezer Baptist Church. He was arrested and jailed for protesting segregation at a lunch counter; the case drew national attention, and presidential candidate John F. Kennedy interceded to obtain his release. In 1963 King helped organize the March on Washington, an assembly of more than 200,000 protestors at which he made his famous "I have a dream" speech. The march influenced the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and King was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize for Peace. In 1965 he was criticized from within the civil-rights movement for yielding to state troopers at a march in Selma, Ala., and for failing in the effort to change Chicago's housing segregation policies. Thereafter he broadened his advocacy, addressing the plight of the poor of all races and opposing the Vietnam War. In 1968 he went to Memphis, Tenn., to support a strike by sanitation workers; there on April 4, he was assassinated by James Earl Ray. A U.S. national holiday is celebrated in King's honour on the third Monday in January

Hyphenation

mar·tin Lu·ther King

Turkish pronunciation

märtın luthır kîng

Pronunciation

/ˈmärtən ˈlo͞oᴛʜər ˈkəɴɢ/ /ˈmɑːrtən ˈluːθɜr ˈkɪŋ/