Martin Luther King Jr. Born in Atlanta

Our society owes one tremendous individual for his great accomplishments in the improvement of equal rights in the 1950’s and 60’s. This person is Martin Luther King Jr. born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. He was an extremely exceptional child skipping three grade levels and attending college at age fifteen. While attending college he studied the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, another great leader who was an enormous influence in Dr. King’s life. In the development of his career he was ordained a Baptist Minster, which helped make him the great orator he was, and the person we celebrate to this day!

Martin Luther King Jr. as a leader took the inside-out approach vs. what most leaders use the outside-in approach, focusing on the rules they must follow to fit the stature of the leader. Martin Luther King Jr. was an effective leader because he spoke about possibility for others, made a vision, made others feel powerful, and never said “I can’t do this”, “We can’t do this”. He felt the need to make others believe!

Rosa Parks, a forty-two year old seamstress refused to give up her seat to a white passenger, and was later arrested. This incident began a bus boycott, which in turn started the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in 1955. Dr. King became involved and was named President of the Montgomery Improvement Association, which lead him on the road to become one of the most famous civil rights leaders to this day.

As Dr. King kept with his dream of making equal rights and better living for everyone, he was certainly not appreciated by everyone for all of his efforts and time involved. There are many different stories for the assassination of Dr. King. One stated that