Iconic photos of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
America honors civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. every January at the time of his birthday. This collection of photos takes a look at the legacy of the famed civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray.
In this Sept. 16, 1963, photo, Dr. King gives a news conference in Birmingham, Ala., announcing he and other African-American leaders have called for federal Army occupation of Birmingham in the wake of the previous day's church bombing and shootings which left six African-Americans, including four young girls, dead.
Martin Luther King Jr.
In this Aug. 28, 1963, photo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., gives his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington. Actor-singer Sammy Davis Jr. is at bottom right. The speech has been cited as an expression of America's essential ideals, its language suggestive of a constitutional amendment on equality: People should "not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivers his "I have a dream" speech on Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington DC.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is seen in a mugshot from Montgomery Alabama Sheriff's Office on Feb. 22, 1956.
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Ralph Abernathy, left, James Forman, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Rev. S.L. Douglas and John Lewis during a protest march to the courthouse on March 17, 1965, in Montgomery, Ala.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and wife Coretta Scott King are seen in a photo taken in 1964.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and wife Coretta Scott King are seen outside a court after the Rev. King was found guilty of conspiring in the Montgomery Bus Boycott on March 22, 1956, in Montgomery, Ala.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., then 27, and his wife, Coretta Scott King, emerge, from Montgomery Court House, March 23, 1956, following his trial on charges of conspiring to boycott segregated city buses.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is welcomed with a kiss by his wife Coretta Scott King after leaving court on March 22, 1956, in Montgomery, Ala.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., attends a prayer pilgrimage for freedom, May 17, 1957, in Washington.
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Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., are taken away by police during protests on April, 12, 1963, in Birmingham, Ala.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Coretta Scott King lead a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., on March 21, 1965.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., waves to supporters, Aug. 28, 1963, on the National Mall in Washington, during the "March on Washington."
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., center right, and other major leaders of the civil rights movement meet on March 6, 1963, in New York during a meeting dedicated to the organization of the "March on Washington." From left to right: John Lewis, Whitney Young, Philip Randolph, M. L. King, James Farmer and Roy Wilkins.
Martin Luther King Jr.
In this April 2, 1965, photo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., second from right, speaks at a news conference next to John Lewis, to his left, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, in Baltimore.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., delivers a speech at the Mason Temple on April 3, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., waves to supporters, Aug. 28, 1963, on the National Mall in Washington, during the "March on Washington."
King said the march was "the greatest demonstration of freedom in the history of the United States.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speaks at a civil rights rally at the Lincoln Memorial, Aug. 28, 1963, in Washington.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., displays his Nobel Peace Prize on Dec. 10, 1964, in Oslo, Norway.
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President Lyndon Johnson, left, shakes hands with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., July 3, 1964, in Washington, after handing him a pen during the ceremonies for the signing of the civil rights bill at the White House.
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Coretta Scott King and her husband Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dec. 9, 1964, in Oslo where the civil rights leader received the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Coretta Scott King shakes hands with French Medicine Nobel Prize winner professor Jacques Monod, center, as her husband Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., third from the right, looks on March 29, 1966, in Paris' Sport Palace during the meeting of the "Movement for the Peace." From left to right, French actress Simone Signoret, U.S. actor and singer Harry Belafonte, French actor and singer Yves Montand.
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking Sept. 21, 1964, in London at the press conference. King was launching the British version of his latest book on the civil rights struggle in America, "Why We Can't Wait."
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., looks at a bullet hole in the glass door of his rented beach cottage on June 5, 1964, in St. Augustine, Fla.
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Roy Wilkins, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and other civil rights leaders speak to the media after meeting with President Kennedy, Aug. 28, 1963, at the White House.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., receives the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1964.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., addresses, March 29, 1966, in Paris' Sport Palace the members of the "Movement for the Peace".
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., addresses the members of the "Movement for the Peace" on March 29, 1966, in Paris' Sport Palace.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is seen in a photo taken in 1964.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., center, is accompanied by famed pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock, Father Frederick Reed and union leader Cleveland Robinson, March 16, 1967, during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration in New York.
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Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell, right, shakes hands with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as Vice President Richard Nixon looks on Aug. 8, 1957, in Washington.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with President Lyndon B. Johnson in the background, March 18, 1966, at the White House.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is seen testifying before the U.S. Senate Government Operations subcommittee on Dec. 15, 1966, in Washington, DC.
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Coretta Scott King, left, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and Constance Baker Motley are seen at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Aug. 9, 1965, in Birmingham, Ala.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., sits in the back seat of a police car before returning to jail after a grand jury testimony in St. Augustine, Fla., on June 12, 1964.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is seen in a photo taken on Sept. 17, 1964.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., right, and Ralph Abernathy are barred from entering a restaurant by the manager James Brock on June. 12, 1964, on St. Augustine, Fla.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is seen in an undated photo.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and his associates lead a procession behind the casket of civil rights marcher Jimmy Lee Jackson during a funeral service on March 1, 1965, in Marion, Ala.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speaks at civil rights rally on June 11, 1964, St. Augustine, Fla.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., pats a young picketer on the back on June 10, 1964, St. Augustine, Fla.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is seen in a photo taken on Oct. 10, 1966.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., at the civil rights rally at the Lincoln Memorial, Aug. 28, 1963.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is seen in a portrait taken on Feb. 1, 1968.
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Jesse Jackson, left, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Ralph Abernathy are seen on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, on April 3, 1968, the day before King's assassination.