Early Life
Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up in a middle class family. Both his father and his grandfather were Baptist preachers and ministers. Growing up in the segregated South meant that King faced heavy prejudices and faced personal adversity from as young as six years old. Spending a summer in the north, seeing how races peacefully mixed without segregation led him to hate the deep racial prejudice in the south.
Leadership
Martin Luther King Jr. began his leadership early in life toward the American Civil Rights Movement from 1955-1968. He became an advocate for nonviolence and drew inspiration from Christianity. Dr. King led the prominent movement from the late 1950s to 60s with the key goal to achieve extended rights for African Americans peacefully. Through acts of nonviolent resistance, King was able to serve as a leader of campaigning against poverty internationally, and still holding his beliefs of both black men and women as equal.
Important Achievements
One of MLK Jr.’s most important achievements was the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which caused the Supreme Court to make segregation unconstitutional on buses. Famously, the March on Washington in which a group of 200,000 interracial people were peacefully gathered near the Lincoln Memorial in hopes to achieve equal justice. During this event, he delivered his most famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” which forever changed the civil rights movement in U.S history with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Legacy
Martin Luther King Jr. fought fearlessly to secure the rights of all U.S. citizens. Through the courage and determination of his leadership and fight for justice, Martin Luther King Jr. has served as a model to combat inequality. As a country, he has taught us to not fall into laziness or comfort, but recognize and fight for the voices that are suppressed daily. King influenced a fight for civil rights that is still prevalent today and has influenced young leaders to take a stand across this nation. The next generation needs leaders who will choose to fight to make change.
