Martin Luther King Jr. is best known for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his leadership of the nonviolent civil rights movement in the United States.

Quick Scoop

  • In 1964, at age thirty-five, Martin Luther King Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “dynamic leadership” in the civil rights movement and his commitment to nonviolent action.
  • At the time, he was the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • He pledged the prize money to support ongoing civil rights work rather than keeping it for himself.

Other Major Honors

  • King was later honored posthumously with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the highest civilian award in the United States, recognizing his struggle against racial prejudice.
  • In 1994, he and Coretta Scott King were jointly awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their impact on the civil rights movement and American society.

Key Award Table

[10][7] [7] [5] [5] [3][5] [3][5]
Award Year Reason
Nobel Peace Prize 1964Nonviolent leadership of the U.S. civil rights movement
Presidential Medal of Freedom 1977Posthumous honor for his fight against prejudice
Congressional Gold Medal 1994Recognition of the Kings’ lasting civil rights legacy
**TL;DR:** When people ask “what award did MLK receive?”, they almost always mean the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, given for his nonviolent leadership in the civil rights movement.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.