Today, we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Below are 10 facts about Martin Luther King, Jr.

1. Martin Luther King Jr’s father was the pastor of the Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States of America.
2. Martin was a gifted student. He was awarded several university degrees.
3. He decided he wanted to become a minister and delivered his first sermon at his father’s church at the age of 18.
4. In December 1955, in Montgomery Alabama, Rosa Parks, a black woman, was arrested for failing to give up her bus seat to a white man.
5. Martin Luther King, Jr. was appointed president of the Montgomery Improvement Association which led the boycott of the Montgomery bus services. (A boycott is where you stop using goods or services to bring about a change.)
6. The bus boycott lasted 381 days at the end of which the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation was illegal.
7. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a very brave man who believed in non-violent protest. During the course of his campaign his house was bombed, he was arrested on numerous occasions, and he was stabbed. Finally, he was shot and killed at the age of 39 in Memphis, Tennessee.
8. Dr King was a very powerful orator (speech maker). His most famous speech, “I Have A Dream”, was delivered to an audience of 250,000 people.
9. Following Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder, a national day of mourning was declared in the USA.
10. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, held on the third Monday of January, is now a public holiday in the USA.

Have you heard of Kid President? Click on the video below to watch him tell the story of Martin Luther King, Jr. Then, in the comments, tell us how will you celebrate and honor Dr. King on his special day.