【明報專訊】Martin Luther King, Jr (馬丁．路德．金) is widely recognised as a humanitarian and the leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the US. His ''I Have a Dream'' speech has inspired many and is still often mentioned. On 4 April 1968, he was assassinated by a white racist at the balcony of his hotel room in Tennessee, when he was about to lead a workers' protest. He was then 39. King did what was very significant in the history of the global human rights movement.

1. Early life

Martin Luther King, Jr was born Michael King in 1929. The Kings had a long history as pastors (牧師) in Georgia, the US. When he was 25, he became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Alabama. In addition, he was an advocate for American coloured people's civil rights. He became a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).

2. The Montgomery bus boycott

In 1955, King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the first black (黑人的), non-violent demonstration in the US. Before that, segregation (種族隔離) applied to all buses in Montgomery. Under this system, white people had priority and black people, allowed only to board a bus at the back of it, were required to give their seats to white people if it was full. The bus boycott lasted 382 days and ended with the abolition (廢除) of racial segregation on vehicles.

After he had achieved that, King travelled extensively and delivered over 2,500 speeches between 1957 and 1968. In 1963, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, which drew attention from other parts of the world. King said in a TIME magazine interview of 1963, ''It was the most decisive year in the fight for racial equality. Never before had there been such a coalition of conscience (良知的聯盟) on this issue.''

King was arrested more than twenty times and assaulted at least four times. But he is regarded as one of the world's greatest leader.

3. ''I have a dream''

In August 1963 King directed the great march on Washington, at which he delivered his ''I Have a Dream'' speech to 250,000 people. In it he called for an end to racism in the US. That was considered an important moment in the protracted civil rights movement in the US. The following year, Congress adopted the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits all racial discrimination.

An excerpt of the speech:

''I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

[One] day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.''

4. Recognition

King was chosen Man of the Year by the TIME magazine in 1963. He was the first African-American to be featured as its annual figure. In 1964 he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. King, who was then 35, was the youngest recipient of the prize.