How Did Martin Luther King Jr Impact Society

Many of us have dreams, but the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. had surpass most and changed the course of history and the lives of the African American people. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most prominent African American civil rights leaders of his era. Beginning in 1955 King worked tirelessly to bring about social change and change the laws of the United States America to end the plight, despair and inequality that plagued the African American people. Martin Luther King Jr. King was the most popularized leader of the civil rights movement and was revered and respected due to his tactics of peaceful protest to help end discrimination. Martin Luther King Jr. led an activist group to end racial discrimination against African Americans.
He devoted himself, and everything he had, his time, his money, his influence to the rights of humanity. The importance of acceptance, love, and equality for African Americans was where King began and ended his proselytization expedition.
Martin Luther King Jr. is debatably the greatest activist of all time. Born as Michael Luther King, but died as Dr. Martin Lither King, Martin Luther King Jr lived on this planet for just thirty nine short years. In those thirty nine years he made one of the greatest impacts on the rights for African Americans and for America itself. How could a man dedicate himself fighting for what is right in this world and be assassinated by the time he was thirty nine? Dr. King did what many at the time believed to be the impossible; he fought injustice against an entire nation. By the time he was fifteen he was in college learning and studying his planned future career, The Law. He changed direction and from there he went to Boston University to
receive his doctoral degree and become Dr. King. His focus was on being a minister. While going to school and preaching at churches, he was doing something much greater; he was slowly starting to change America. On December 5th, 1955 the great bus boycott had begun. Four days early Rosa Parks, a African American of Montgomery Alabama, was told she had to ‘give up’ her seat to a white person on the bus. Martin Luther King Jr. reacted to this and reached out to the people of the city to boycott the transit system. To his surprise it worked, not just for one day but for 381 days. The city changed the laws on buses after that and it was Martin Luther King Jr’s first big victory against discrimination in America. After the victory he came out saying “we are not advocating violence… I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. Love them and let them know you love them.” . This was the first of many great speeches he gave, using peaceful tactics. Although the victory was a small one in one city, it was a very important turning point for Dr. King and his followers. Over the next two years Dr.
King had formed groups and organizations to help fight the cause in many communities, but it wasn’t until 1957 that his movement went national. Time magazine published an article on how King was becoming a hero to the people of his community. It discussed how he transformed the city of Montgomery, and gave insight of his leadership. Following the article king received invitations to speak and meet leaders in countries around the world. After the international tour he received a prestigious award, the Spingarn medal. The medal recognized him for “the greatest contribution of race relations.” Even though King was grateful to receive the medal he was still focused on the fact that he and all African Americans would not being able to vote in the upcoming election. This is an example of how desperately he wanted civil rights. Voting in an election was having a voice, being equal to all other Americans and having a say in how the country was governed. Less than a year later after King’s movement went national, a book promotion occurred in New York City and King was there signing autographs when he was stabbed with a letter opener. Even in the fact of possible death, amazingly he wasn’t worried, he kept calm. King had said it made him more committed than ever to fight for equality. He left his job as a part time minister and the civil rights movement into was his only focus. In December 1959, King said “the time has come for a broad, bold advance
of the southern campaign for equality.’ King was ready for real change to happen in America. Other activists also began taking up the cause and John F. Kennedy, while running for President of the United States got involved. Things were moving in a positive direction but King was still not satisfied, there was still a great amount of work to do.
The work continued through to 1963 which is known as the year of Birmingham. King and his peers went to Birmingham, Alabama to help fight the problem of equality there. If your skin was dark it was dangerous to live in Birmingham; there were bombings almost every day. On April 13, 1963 King led a march through the city; he was arrested and put in a jail. While he was in jail a group of clergy men got together and put an advertisement in the newspaper calling King a troublemaker. King responded with a letter, it reprimanded the men who wrote the ad. King wrote “we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with…injustice must be exposed…to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured”. The letter was to be considered a manifesto for the civil rights movement. King was released days later, and the history books would consider the letter of Birmingham one the greatest letters off all time.