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Who was he?
Martin Luther King Jr., was one of the foundational figures in the history of racial reform. He participated in and led various protests to try to reduce racial discrimination, and he was a person who was highly trusted by those around him.
What he did?
Martin Luther King Jr., was born on January 15, 1929, into a relatively wealthy family and was well educated, but despite growing up in a safe environment, he faced the prejudice that was prevalent in the southern United States at the time. During his high school years, he stood out for his eloquence and was elected student body president despite the fact that the majority of the students were white. He also received a letter of recommendation for college, which was rare at the time for a black person. After college, he was on the road to becoming a pastor when his past experiences led him to be chosen to lead the boycott, and he went on to solve one problem after another. He was also concerned with issues of poverty as well as racism.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s first boycott was in 1955, when black people refused to give up their seats on buses to white people, a movement he led that eventually shifted to less segregation of public transportation. He continued to campaign in various places for the abolition of racial discrimination.
One day, Martin Luther King Jr., was arrested during an anti-discrimination demonstration and imprisoned for violating the law and court orders related to demonstrations because he was conducting them without permission. But he did not give up. Even during his arrest, he continued to speak out against racial discrimination in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” While incarcerated during his activism, King vividly illustrated his philosophy of nonviolence.
He resumed his activities after his release from prison. He played a central role in the 1963 March on Washington, which drew over 200,000 people, and later influenced the creation of the Civil Rights Constitution in 1964, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that same year. He worked to guarantee the right to vote to all Americans, culminating in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which ended Jim Crow laws and achieved the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr., went to Memphis, Tennessee to support a sanitation workers' strike, but he was shot and killed there at the age of 39. In recognition of his work during his lifetime. His death was mourned not only by black people but by all people, such was his impact on the entire United States during his lifetime.
After his death, he received numerous other awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Those got by his wife. His birthday is also a national holiday. He became known as one of the most persuasive and influential civil rights leaders in America in the 20th century, with many speeches and boycotts during his lifetime that saved the civil rights of black people.
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