Martin Luther King, Jr., was an important Amercian civil rights activist and minister. Just a few of his achievements include overseeing the Montgomery bus boycott and co-leading the March on Washington in 1963. It was on this occasion that he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was assassinated in 1968. The holiday celebrating his birth was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1986.