Martin Luther King Jr.: An Innovator of Change

Martin Luther King Jr.: An Innovator of Change Martin Luther King Jr. was a peaceful and courageous man who used a non-violent manner to stand up for all that he believed in. King Jr. sought for equal rights for African Americans during his life. He not only participated but led many of the acts to push equal rights such as the bus boycott, antisegregation campaigns, the March on Washington, and civil rights rallies throughout the United States. Due to his strenuous work for equal rights, King Jr. was one of the major reasons for the passing of the Civil Rights Bill in 1964 (Bennett). Martin Luther King Jr.’s hard-working, dedicated personality is one of the predominant reasons that there are civil rights in the United States; if it were not for his actions, today’s society would be completely different. Michael King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia (Quayle 9). His name would later be changed to Martin Luther King Jr. due to his father’s success at Ebenezer Baptist Church (16). Religion was sewn deep into his blood as his father Michael King Sr., was a pastor at a Baptist church and his mother, Alberta Williams King, was the daughter of a renowned minister in Atlanta (9). The King’s already had a daughter, Christine, by the time of King Jr.’s birth, and only seventeen months later, they were once again blessed with another boy, Alfred Daniel (13). During his early childhood, King Jr. followed in his sister’s footsteps. For instance, when Christine was baptized in 1934, King Jr. insisted on being baptized as well (15-16). Also, once he started school, King Jr. was able to skip a grade just as Christine did (16). King Jr. experienced tragedy at the early age of 12 after a heart attack in May of 1941 led to the death of his mother (19). After the death of Alberta King, the remaining family members moved to the west side of Atlanta to a place called Hunter Hills (20). King Jr. then began working even harder as a student and in 1942, at the

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