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Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968, when King walked onto the deck of the Lorraine Motel and was fatally shot. Shortly after his death, a lot of different things happened. For example, there were riots in cities, Martin Luther King day became a national holiday, and he was awarded the noble peace prize. They also made the King memorial to honor everything he did for the civil rights movement. His words will not be forgotten and will go down in history as one of the most important civil rights figures of all time.

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Even after his death and decline in prominence, he was still regarded as one of the largest and most influential leaders during the Civil Rights Era, with his progress and work in Civil Rights being continued by many generations and generations to come of new leaders fighting for the same justice.

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned discrimination based on race, sex, religion, and national origin. The act was passed sometime after the "I Have a Dream" speech. This speech had a significant effect on the nation's opinion on segregation.

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The voting rights act of 1965 eliminated discriminatory laws used to prevent African Americans from voting. It removed poll taxes and literacy tests. The literacy test made it necessary to know how to read and write to be able to vote. Poll taxes made people need to pay a tax in order to vote. African Americans often were poor and were illiterate.

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Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Georgia, Atlanta, an extremely prejudiced area in the South. Martin Luther King Jr, Christian family and lifestyle contributed to his fight for Civil rights. He became a minister and was known for his talent in speechwriting and public speaking skills. He studied theology at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, and there he found that he was often portrayed as different and strange compared to his white counterparts. This made him more interested in Civil Rights, eventually became a famous Civil Rights activist in the South.

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Martin Luther King Jr. described many of his beliefs in his letter from the Birmingham Jail when he was arrested for protesting. In this letter, he expressed his belief in peaceful protest and nonviolent methods. He tried to understand the other side of the issue to make progress toward better conditions for the African American community. King disagreed with segregation and discrimination and believed people should not be treated differently based on their skin color. He defended his ideals and explained why activism must be open and public, not just in court or a legislative room. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that protesting and breaking the rules was necessary if the perpetrators were morally right. His goal was to achieve equality and end segregation for African Americans.

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The March on Washington was an extremely influential march with over 250,000 regular Americans in attendance. King played a large role in this event, delivering his infamous "I Have a Dream" speech which inspired thousands and largely impacted the Civil Rights Movement. The March also helped achieve larger goals such as pressuring the government into finally passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending segregation in many public places. To this day, the March on Washington is still known as one of the highest points for the Civil Rights Movement and one of the most important peaceful protests in history.

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Civil rights leaders organized a protest on August 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C. They called it the March on Washington, and this is also where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have A Dream” speech. His speech stated that African Americans were not free even 100 years after Abraham Lincoln. He called for Americans to live up to their word of the Declaration of independence that all people have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He told others to continue to fight for freedom and equality. He spoke about how he hoped one-day racial injustice would be gone and both white people and black people would come together. One of his most famous lines in the speech was when he said, “I have a dream that 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.” The I Have A Dream speech became a symbol of the civil rights movement. It helped the civil rights movement because it inspired many people and helped congress pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

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Shortly after King's death, President Johnson urged congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1968. This act expanded on the previous Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 made it illegal to deny housing based on race, sex, religion, or national origin.

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The movement began because of an incident where a woman refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery bus. The laws in the area were extremely prejudiced and unfair to African Americans which Civil Rights leaders were determined to challenge. They eventually began to adopt a strategy of refusing to board the buses and Civil Rights movements began to lay out demands to the city including a first come first serve seating style and acceptable treatment by bus drivers. After an unrelenting fight against the bus company, the bus company lost a large amount of profit because of the giant decline in income with many in the black community deciding to walk to work instead in dedication to the cause. Finally, their work paid off when the courts ruled that the Montgomery Bus program would have to get rid of its segregationist practices.

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Martin Luther King Jr. was prominent during a time of extreme segregation and open racism. He was essential for civil rights because of his influence on the opinion of the movement and how he was able to inspire a large amount of reform to help the Civil Rights movement and better conditions for African Americans. Through his actions, including powerful speeches and large protests, he was able to achieve reform, such as helping push acts in government that gave the government the power to desegregate public places and facilities and acts that prevented unlawful discriminatory voting practices that, in both examples, would not have been put in place without him.

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How and why did King join the Civil Rights Movement?

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How and why did King join the Civil Rights Movement?

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King was inspired by Gandhi's work and supported his efforts of peaceful protesting and non-violent methods, even traveling to India to see his work firsthand. Throughout his journey to fame, after studying many different texts and beliefs such as religious texts and the methods of popular activists he came to the conclusion that the only way to beat evil and hat was through kindness and good.