Martin Luther King Jr -
Baptist,
Pastor - Born January 15th 1929- Died April 4th 1968
Born the son of a Baptist Pastor, he gained the middle name after a family trip to Germany. He didn't formally graduate High School, but studied Theology and went on to get a PHd. He was made pastor of a Montgomery Alabama Baptist Church at the age of 25.
His first major protest, which brought him to national attention, was the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1965. From this he went onto acheive national and international prominence, ultimately winnning the Nobel Peace Prize.
His "I have a dream speech" is possibly amongst the most quoted speeches in US history.
He was shot and killed on 4th April 1968 on Memphis motel balcony.
Oscar Romero -
Roman Catholic,
Archbishop Born August 15, 1917– March 24, 1980
He studied for the priesthood in Italy during the rule of Mussolini. He worked for 20 years and a parish priest and then as secretary of the bishops' conference of El Salvador. Made auxillary bishop of San Salvador in 1970, he went onto become archbishop in 1977. He was considered a conservative pleasing to the government and not popular with the priests who favoured the Marxist Liberation Theology. In 1979 a revolutionary junta came to power and Romero critised the Americans for supplying military aid to the new government.
Over the next few months, a large number of priests were arrested, tortured and killed and Romero denounced this regularly. He was shot dead, while celebrating Mass in a hospital chapel on 24 March 1980
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