Martin Luther King Jr. — Age, Birthday & Biography
Born: 15 January 1929 · Died: 4 April 1968 · Age at death: 39
How old was Martin Luther King Jr. when he died?
Martin Luther King Jr. died aged 39. He was born on 15 January 1929 and died on 4 April 1968.
Baptist minister who led the American civil rights movement, delivered the I Have a Dream speech and won the Nobel Peace Prize
Did you know?He entered college at the age of fifteen after skipping two grades in high school.
Quick facts
Date of birth15 January 1929
Date of death4 April 1968
Age at death39
Cause of deathGunshot wound
NationalityAmerican
BirthplaceAtlanta, Georgia, USA
Occupationminister, civil rights activist
Editor's Take:
What makes Martin Luther King Jr. endure is not only the moral force of his cause but the discipline of his method. He turned nonviolence from a private conviction into a public strategy, staging boycotts, marches and sit-ins that forced America to look at its own laws in the mirror. His speeches borrowed the cadence of the Baptist pulpit and the language of the Constitution, which let him speak to the conscience of the nation and the letter of its founding promises at once. He was only 39 when he was killed, yet in barely thirteen years of public life he helped bring about the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Every January, a national holiday on his birthday asks Americans to measure how far the dream has travelled.
Key Milestones
1955: Leads the Montgomery bus boycott
1957: Co-founds the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
1963: Writes Letter from Birmingham Jail
1963: Delivers I Have a Dream at the March on Washington
1964: Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
1968: Assassinated in Memphis
Baptist minister and leader of the American civil rights movement, known for his 'I Have a Dream' speech.
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
— Martin Luther King Jr., March on Washington, 1963
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
— Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, 1963
Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is January 15. He was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
How old was Martin Luther King Jr. when he died?
Martin Luther King Jr. died on April 4, 1968, aged 39.
Who shares a birthday with Martin Luther King Jr.?
Famous people who share Martin Luther King Jr.'s January 15 birthday include Molière, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Giorgia Meloni, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Ibn Saud.
