Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who was a leader in the African-American 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 became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia (the Albany Movement), and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history.

Filmography

• 2023Betye Saar: Drifting Toward Twilight
• 2023Jim Crow: The History of Africans in America
• Andy Warhol's America
• 2022Martin Luther King: More Than One Dream
• 2019England 79
• 2018Robert Penn Warren: A Vision
• 2006Never Lose Sight of Freedom
• Assassinations That Changed the World
• 1995Nixon — (Archive footage)
• 1992Murderers, Mobsters, & Madmen: Volume 2: Assassination in the 20th Century
• 1992The Real Malcolm X
• Dispatches
• First Tuesday
• 1978James Brown Soul Brother No. 1
• 1973Contradictory America. Faith, hope, love and hate. Film 2 — Self/Cameo (archive footage)
• 196713 November 1967: Martin Luther King Interview
• 1965The Bus
• 1963The Negro and the American Promise
• World in Action

Appearances as themselves (159)

• America Who Are You? — Self (archive footage)
• 2026Martin Luther King Jr.: Enemies of the Dream — Self (archive footage)
• 2025Breakdown: 1975 — Self (archive photo)
• 2025Clock - Socialist Burgers Inc. — Self (archive footage)
• 2024America's Woman — Self
• 2024Becoming King — Self (archive footage)
• 2024Faye — Self - Civil Rights Leader (archive footage) (as Martin Luther King)
• Hollywood Black — Self (archive footage)
• 2024Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley — Self (archive footage)
• 2024The Beach Boys — Self (archive footage)
• 2024The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump — Self (archive footage)
• 2024Zeitgeist: Requiem — Self (archive footage)
• Bill Russell: Legend — Self (archive footage)
• 2023Four Died Trying: Prologue — Self (archive footage)
• La Californie ! — Self (archive footage)
• 2023Origin — Self (archive voice)
• 2023Stand — Self (archive footage)
• 2023The Universe — Self (archive footage)
• A History of Antisemitism — Self - Civil Rights Activist (archive footage)
• 2022A History of the World According to Getty Images — Self (Archive Footage)
• 2022Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues — Self (archive footage)
• 2022Sammy by Sammy: My Tale of the 60's — Self (archive footage)
• 2022Say Hey, Willie Mays! — Self (archive footage)
• The Century of Icons — Self (archive footage)
• 2022The Janes — Self (archive footage)
• 2022Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America — Self (archive footage)
• 2021Killing Martin Luther King Jr. — Self
• 2021Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) — Self - Activist (archive footage)
• 2021The Art of Dissent — Self - Subject (archive footage)
• This Is Pop — Self (archive footage)
• 2021Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror — Self (archive footage)
• 2020Da 5 Bloods — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2020De Cabral a George Floyd: Onde Arde o Fogo Sagrado da Liberdade — Self
• First Ladies — Self (archive footage)
• Helter Skelter: An American Myth — Self (archive footage)
• History 101 — Self (archive footage)
• 2020John Lewis: Good Trouble — Self (archive Footage), Self (archive footage)
• 2020Killing John F. Kennedy — Self (archive footage)
• Ku Klux Klan: An American Story — Self - Civil Rights Activist (archive footage)
• 2020MLK/FBI — Self (archive footage)
• 2020The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show — Self (archive footage)
• 2020The Soul of America — Self (archive footage)
• 2019Demokratie unter Druck – Europa vor der Wahl — Self - Civil Rights Activist (archive footage)
• 2019Geek, and You Shall Find — Self (voice)
• 2019Hesburgh — Self (archive footage)
• 2019Manson: Music from an Unsound Mind — Self (archive footage)
• 2019Mike Wallace Is Here — Self (archive footage)
• 2019Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook — Self (archive footage)
• 2019The Green Book: Guide to Freedom — Self - Civil Rights Activist (archive footage)
• What's My Name | Muhammad Ali — Self (archive footage)
• 2019Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation — Self
• 20181968: A Year of War, Turmoil and Beyond — Self (archive footage)
• Basketball: A Love Story — Self (archive footage)
• Bobby Kennedy for President — Self (archive footage)
• Elvis Presley: The Searcher — Self (archive footage)
• Explained — Self (archive footage)
• 2018I Am MLK Jr. — Self
• 2018Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening — Self (archive footage)
• 2018King in the Wilderness — Self (archive footage)
• 2018Martin Luther King by Trevor Mcdonald — Self (archive footage)
• 2018Martin Luther King, Jr. : Marked Man — Self (archive footage)
• 2018The Corporate Coup D'État — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2017August 28: A Day in the Life of a People — Self (archive footage)
• 2017Burn Motherfucker, Burn! — Self (archive footage)
• 2017Chasing Trane — Self - Civil Rights Activist (archive footage)
• 2017Dolores — Self (archive footage)
• 2017I Am Not Your Negro — Self (archive footage)
• Monochrome: Black, White & Blue — Self (archive footage)
• 201613th — Self (archive footage)
• 2016Andrew Cohen on Crisis and Its Outtakes — Self (archive footage)
• Great Literary Tour — Self (archive footage)
• 2016O.J.: Made in America — Self (archive footage)
• O.J.: Made in America — Self (archive footage)
• Race for the White House — Self (archive footage)
• 2016We Have A Dream — Self (archive footage)
• 2016Året var 1966 — Self (archive footage)
• 2015Children of the Civil Rights — Self (archive footage)
• 2015Imminent Threat — Self (archive footage)
• In Their Own Words — Self (archive footage)
• 2015Klansville U.S.A. — Self (archive Footage)
• Leif GW Persson - Min klassresa — Self (archive footage)
• 2015Listen to Me Marlon — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2014An American Ascent — Self (archive footage)
• Emancipation Road — Self
• 2014Freedom Summer — Self (archive footage)
• 2013Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia — Self (archive footage)
• 2013High and Hallowed: Everest 1963 — Self (archive footage)
• 2013Martin Luther King and the March on Washington — Self
• 2013Speeches That Shook the World — Self (archive footage)
• 2013Året var 1963 — Self (archive footage)
• 2012Ethel — Self (archive footage)
• I Am — Self
• Infamous Assassinations — Self (archive footage)
• 2012MLK: The Assassination Tapes — Self (archive footage)
• 2012Picture Me Rollin' — Self (voice)
• 2012The House I Live In — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2011J. Edgar — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Mentiras verdaderas — Self (archive footage)
• 20102012: Time for Change — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2010COINTELPRO 101 — Self (archive footage)
• 2010Roads to Memphis — Self (archive footage)
• 2010When You're Strange — Self (archive footage)
• 2009Capitalism: A Love Story — Self (archive footage)
• 2009Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire — Self (archive footage)
• 2009Stand — Self (archive footage)
• 2008Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene — self - archival footage
• 2008James Brown - The Night James Brown Saved Boston — Self (archive footage)
• 2008The Day the Troubles Began — Self
• 2008The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306 — Self
• 2007King: Man of Peace in a Time of War — Self (archive footage)
• 2007L'altra Dallas - Chi ha ucciso RFK? — Self (archive footage)
• 2007RFK Must Die: The Assassination of Bobby Kennedy — Self (archive footage)
• 2006...So Goes the Nation — Self (archive footage)
• 2006Bobby — Self (archive footage)
• Folk Britannia — Self (archival footage)
• 2005No Direction Home: Bob Dylan — Self (archive footage)
• 2004Citizen King — Self (archive footage)
• Days That Shook the World — Self (archive footage)
• 2003The Corporation — Self (archive footage)
• 2002Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks — Self (archive footage)
• 2002Naqoyqatsi — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2002Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2002The Year That Trembled — Self (archive footage)
• 2001A Huey P. Newton Story — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Democracy Now! — Self (archive footage)
• 2000The American Nightmare — Self
• 1999Fists of Freedom: The Story of the '68 Summer Games — Self (archive footage)
• 19974 Little Girls — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1997Martin Luther King: Days of Hope — Self
• 1996All Power to the People! — Self (archive footage)
• 1996Blue Eyed — Self (archive footage)
• 1994Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Historical Perspective — Self (archive footage)
• 1992Death Scenes 2 — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1991The Doors — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• American Experience — Himself (archive footage)
• 1986In Remembrance of Martin — Self
• 1985Disasters of the Century — Self (archive footage)
• 1985Good Intentions — Self (Archival Footage)
• 1981The Killing of America — Self (archive footage)
• 1979The War at Home — Self (archive footage)
• 1973Today: While You Were Away (1964-1973 Retrospective) — Self (archive footage)
• 1970King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis — Self (archive footage)
• 1970Владыки без масок. Гарольд Хант - апостол «ультра» — Self (archive footage)
• 1969Martin Luther King, Jr: From Montgomery to Memphis — Self
• 1968LBJ — Self
• 1967After Civil Rights... Black Power — Self
• 1967I Am Curious (Yellow) — Himself
• 1967Martin Luther King at Newcastle University — Self
• Omnibus — Self
• 1966Anno Domini MCMLXV — Self (archive footage)
• 1964The March — Self
• 1964Union and Freedom — Himself
• 1964Wealth of a Nation — Self
• 1963David Susskind Archive: Interview With Dr. Martin Luther King Jr — himself
• 1963I Have a Dream — Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
• 1960Integration Report 1 — Self
• The David Susskind Show — Self
• King vs. the United States of America — Self (archive footage)