Dr. Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States in 1929. He is one of the most important figures in American Civil Rights Movement. King helped give African-American citizens a voice and fight for rights. His movement was also focus in the Southern States of United States where there was still segregation on systematic level. King’s life ended with his assassination. This demonstrates that the parts of the United States was not ready for the radical changes which Martin Luther King proposed. However, he remained an inspirational figure in American history which is still try to forget its racist history which formed the nation.
King was raised in Baptist Christian family. This arguably give him a spiritual side which helped in his sense for struggle against injustice. In other words, he was both an African-American from the South of the United States where racism was everywhere. African-Americans were for example given to different school systems and many different segregation forms were in the south. The racist policy wanted to separate the white from the black population. But it also meant that the blacks had a lower social status. They were not given equal rights and showed that the American system of equal rights for all was a lie.

King became an activist for black causes in the South and nationwide. One of the key methods of King was to use the practice of non-violence used by Gandhi. He wanted to make a movement that would slowly take away the segregation elements of American society. With the policy of non-violence he knew that his opponents could not criticize him because of the peaceful nature of his protesting. He thought this was the best strategy for African-Americans to reach their goals of liberty in the racist United States.

King arrive in the nationwide spotlight with the incident in Montgomery, Alabama where a black citizen did not give his seat to a white person which was supposed to happen according to segregation law. Rosa Parks also did the same action. King then started a movement in the region to boycott the use of Alabama. King transformed a moment of injustice into a form of political protest. The bus boycott could be use to give attention to the humiliating segregation in the United States.

The South was extremely racist in King’s time. These were the Jim Crow laws. King lead protest for widespread systematic change in the South. King organized movements to get blacks to have rights such as labor rights, voting rights. Also he organized further mass movement in Alabama. Even though there were non-violent protest King was put in prison in Birmingham, Alabama. From his cell he write the famous Letter from Birmingham Jail where many of his key ideas are written for how a racially equal America should be.

King was ultimately successful. The Civil Rights Act was sign by U.S. government in 1965. It meant a great leap forward in the elimination of system racism in the United States law and society. There is still however much racism in Ameriacn society. This was also shown when King himself was assassinated by a white American. This shows that King’s changes were clearly not welcomed by all.

King is obviously one of the most key figures in U.S. history. He bring attention to the racist history of the United States. He made tremendous gain for African-American population. However, as many incidents show, like Ferguson, Missouri, that King dream is not yet a reality. The racism is extremely deep in the United States, from murder of Native Americans and the taking of their land to slavery. King made many successes but it is still an open question if racism in a historically racist country like United States can be truly eliminated.