Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American Baptist minister, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the AfricanAmerican Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs.
King was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr., and Alberta Williams King. Kings legal name at birth was Michael King, and his father was also born Michael King, but the elder King changed his and his sons names following a 1934 trip to Germany to attend the Fifth Baptist World Alliance Congress in Berlin. It was during this time he chose to be called Martin Luther King in honor of the German reformer Martin Luther. King had Irish ancestry through his paternal greatgrandfather.
Source: Wikipedia