Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the main leaders of the American civil rights movement. A Baptist minister by training, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, raising public consciousness of the civil rights movement and establishing King as one of the greatest orators in American history. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end racial discrimination and desegregation through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 39. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977. Martin Luther King Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.