He did not always want to be a pastor.

King with his mother and civil rights advocate Henry Elkins at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
He was only 26 when he began his career as an activist.

Rosa Parks being fingerprinted after her arrest.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
He survived an early assassination attempt.
His “Letter from Birmingham Jail” became an iconic text of the Civil Rights Movement.

King being arrested in 1958.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
One of his most important advisors was nearly written out of history.

Bayard Rustin (left) with Cleveland Robinson, Chairman of the Administrative Committee of the March on Washington.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
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The March on Washington.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
When he won the Nobel Peace Prize, King was the youngest person to have ever received the award.

King watches on as President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
At the end of his life, King's activism was expanding into new areas.

The Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington, D.C.
Photo Credit: National Park Service