On January 15, 1929, Michael King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia and was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. after his father had changed his name in 1934. MLK Jr. had lived in a religious household which influenced his life when he pursued a religious calling and devoted his life to God. King Jr. served in the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church located in Montgomery where he would begin his leadership during the Montgomery Bus Boycott which Rosa Park's is well known for. He continued on with his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement through his leadership in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) which organized churches and Christian morality against racism. 

Since the start of his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, King was a leader who knew the dangers which he was getting himself into. His speeches and demonstrations against Jim Crow Society had brought him against many people in the South and those in power. Him and the Civil Rights movement had been slandered and attacked by racists, some police officers, and the secretive FBI who were all trying to destroy the threat he posed to the establishment. Throughout his activism, he was arrested 29 times, stabbed near his heart, and continuously threatened. But he continued on in his famous March on Washington where he spoke his 'I Have a Dream' (1963), later organizing the brutal march for voting rights from Selma-Montgomery (1965), and the Poor Peoples Campaign (1968) for the impoverished of the nation.

Martin Luther King Jr. went to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers and as we know, on April 4, 1968, while talking with his colleagues from the SCLC was fatally wounded in an assassination attempt which continues to be controversial and unclear.

While the sudden death of his life had come, his legacy continues on to this day. The movement he fostered continued on until the collapse of racist society in the Southern United States. The movement fought against inequality of all forms and brought us a step forward in addressing issues that have continued on since the founding of the nation. With time moving forward it remains important that people participate in their communities and remain strong during dark times.