Can you imagine having to sit in the back of a bus just because you are black? If it were not for Martin Luther King Jr., that would still be the law. Martin accomplished a lot in his lifetime, but there were many obstacles along the way. Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. He was a smart student who skipped two grades at Booker T. Washington high school. He went to Morehouse College at the age of fifteen. Martin’s father was a preacher, which inspired Martin to become one too. His first congregation was in Alabama, where segregation and racism were very strong (Quayle 3). Martin Luther King Jr. overcame many obstacles in his career, including racism and became an amazing Civil Rights leader who changed …show more content…
King became active in the NAACP, which was involved with demanding desegregation in the South. At the young age of 26, King began “The Montgomery Bus Boycott”. After many weeks of boycotting, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional. King and the other civil-rights leaders had won! (Quayle 54). He then moved on to trying to bring the civil rights movement to other cities in the South. From 1957-1959, it is estimated that he gave one thousand speeches (Quayle 60). The March On Washington was an event in which King delivered his most famous speech. “I have a dream my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!” (Quayle 99). Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to Congress and pushed for Kennedy’s Civil Right Bill to be passed, even though Kennedy had been assassinated (Quayle 103). In July 1964, the Civil Rights act became a law, and discrimination was outlawed. Of course, the Civil Rights movement was not over, and it was a lot of work yet to be done for equality. Unfortunatley, Martin Luther King Jr. was unable to complete his life’s work because he was assasinated in