Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, in his family's house at 501 Auburn Avenue N.E. The son of a Baptist minister, King was raised in the segregated South. He chose to follow in his father's footsteps. He was a young and relatively unknown pastor at a Baptist church in Montgomery, Ala., when he was thrust into a much more central role.

Credit: AP