I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech
December 10, 1964.


Born at noon on Tuesday, January 15, 1929 at the family home in Atlanta, Martin Luther King, Jr. was the first son and second child born to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. More from the King Center.

More than a million documents associated with Dr. King's life are available at the Center's Digital Archive.