Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He entered Moorhouse College at age fifteen and graduated with a degree in sociology in 1948. He attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and studied concurrently at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in systematic theology from Boston University in 1955. After graduation, King became the minister at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. He was president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which was responsible for the 1955 bus boycott. In 1959 he resigned his church position to direct the activities of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta. He was arrested thirty times for his involvement in the civil rights movement. King was the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he received in 1964. On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

Source:
"Biographical Outline of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." The King Center. 2003. http://thekingcenter.com/mlk/bio.html. 11 February, 2005.