Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader in the 1950s and 1960s known for his advocacy of nonviolence. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, leading many protests against racial segregation. King delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech during the 1963 March on Washington, where he established himself as one of the greatest orators in American history. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence and continued his civil rights work until his assassination in 1968.