Archie Hayes 
Martin Luther King Jr. is a civil rights activist and minister who became the most visible spokesman for equality in America after being gunned down while delivering his speech, “I’ve been to the mountaintop.” He was born Michael King but changed his name upon becoming an adult; this act symbolized how he didn’t want people looking at him as just another Negro with little power over their lives like so many others from that era could be labeled by society since they did not have access or knowledge about what else there might be outside only menial labor opportunities available without any other choice given if you’re colored downtown Memphis between 1908-1958 where residential segregation still remained heavily practiced even in mustering up a sufficient enough potential economic opportunity or being able to obtain a good education in order to advance in a bigger picture in the future just by having to pick and choose between two different worlds hasn’t been without its own consequences where segregation is concerned between blacks and whites had only gotten worse with time especially if you were looking for any type of employment or service related to a Caucasian at one of their professional establishments. King was an influential and important individual who stood up and made a name for himself in history while leading the civil rights movement during his lifetime through nonviolent means such as boycotts, sit ins, marches and speeches that he delivered on college campuses everywhere.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and became involved with other civil rights leaders like Daisy Fucik- salmom to fight for desegregation and voting rights in Alabama -no one could’ve predicted how much this small victory would eventually mean! After their success at achieving basic human freedoms through peaceful protest tactics such as sit ins or marches; they turned towards more violence when it came time for GainesVsJohn W But after 2 years without any progress made on integrationism laws (which were still illegal up until 1960) something changed: black churches started becoming targets because there was “something to” be said about a Negro church” and this was where their power came from to help the civil rights movements: if you took that away then they would have no money or places for them to meet behind closed doors. Martin Luther King Jr. had watched his father get killed in front of his own eyes while he was still very young so this didn’t take long before it became a reality for him and his brothers and sisters; along with the rest of his family to face yet another emotional tragedy in their lives.
With only having the rights to go where they were allowed and being able to fill up an actual bus as if it were a clown car, African Americans started boycotting public transportation buses and walking everywhere they went throughout the city and this made a difference in more ways than one: it took an important toll on white citizens’ pockets while there were still many blacks who needed to get around.
Their morale was at an all time high and they felt empowered by their decision to go through with such a bold move that would affect everyone on both sides of the spectrum for generations to come.
Martin Luther King Jr went on to finish college at Boston University where he became inspired by an old minister named Mordecai Johnson before attending Crozer Theological Seminary in Philadelphia where he received his doctorate degree and it wasn’t long after that time before he started feeling uneasy within himself because of the lack of progress that was made in the civil rights movement when it came to getting more civil liberties when black citizens weren’t even considered as “fully American” like their white counterparts.
Martin Luther King Jr did not have any set plan for exactly what his next move would be but he did know one thing for sure: he wanted freedom, and he and other black citizens were willing to give up their lives just so that they could get it.
King had started something huge while at a book signing function in 1955 where he was approached by Rosa Parks who wanted to thank him for the amazing work that his father had done as an activist before him: she went on to explain how she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger and since then had been arrested as well as fired from her job as a seamstress because of it.
