How Did Martin Luther King Jr Impact Society

During one of his many famous speeches, Martin Luther King expressed his feelings about the mistreatment of African Americans by iterating these powerful sentiments, " Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." It’s no secret that Martin Luther King Jr spoke his mind about segregation and racial injustices. In fact, King was one of the main reasons that the Civil Rights Act was put into effect. Martin Luther King Jr influenced and acknowledged many controversies of the time, often times gaining enough popularity on an issue to solve it. Undoubtedly, Martin Luther King Jr left a lasting impact on the 1960s era by delivering the most influential speeches of all time, through his peaceful protests/marches, and

through his unfortunate passing.
In one of the most influential movements of all time, King among many other peaceful protesters planned a march on Washington; he may not have known it, but this is where King would give the most important speech of his life. At the march they spoke about some of the most crucial issues of the 1960s. Some of these issues pertained to equal rights for African-Americans as a whole, others about fair employment, and even went so far as to speak about setting a minimum wage. This caused a large group of people to pressure John F. Kennedy into speeding up the civil rights bill through congress, and making civil rights a nation wide topic of discussion (“What Did Martin”). Although Martin Luther King Jr is known as a national icon, there are still a plethora of people that don’t think that he made much change in the ways of civil rights (Burns 49). Following the years and years of inspirational speeches, of course came Martin Luther King’s last speech.
Martin Luther King Jr seemed to acknowledge his own death with his last speech. In it he talks about finding a 'promised land' and ' not fearing any man'. Unfortunately King was right about not making it to the 'promised land' with the rest of the people who fought to end segregation. Martin Luther King’s last speech entitled “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” expresses his wishes for people to carry on fighting to gain their rights even after he is gone. This means that even after his death, Martin Luther King Jr created a lasting impact on society (“Martin Luther”). His influence continued on even when he was imprisoned for speaking his mind.
After being thrown into the Birmingham jail, King wrote a letter to his supporters.

He refused to leave the jail until he got what he wanted. King believes that he was ‘invited’ to go to the Birmingham jail, but simply was there due to an injustice. In his letter King states that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”(King). There are many ideas and social ideals that anyone could take away from reading or listening to Martin Luther King’s speeches. It’s whether or not you want to listen to the other side of the story before creating your own that counts. Martin Luther King Jr left a lasting impact on society starting with the smallest act of kindness and the biggest piece of hope for a new beginning. Even when King said that he would serve his unjust time, he was bailed out by an African American millionaire who feared that the civil rights movement would fall apart without him. King’s letter to the American people made them question what was just and unjust. King led people in the direction of having their own opinion, this would impact society to start changing the way they thought about things (King). Martin Luther King’s speeches would spur up protests and marches

everywhere.
It’s very important to realize that even the buses were segregated during this time. That was until Rosa Parks refused to move from her seat. The Montgomery bus boycott was a campaign for African Americans to be able to sit in the same seats as the white people. To be more specific, the Montgomery bus boycott was meant to give Americans the mindset that being equal could be easy. Bringing equality to a bus, could bring equality to a world in need of change. Martin Luther King Jr. was a part of this boycott. He and many other peaceful protesters refused to get onto buses until they were no longer segregated. This caused many companies to suffer a massive deficit in their income. The reason for this being that African Americans made up a lot of the customers for these buses. Due to these boycotts, many people started acting out in violence. For example, there was a group of people who supported segregation. That group firebombed Martin Luther King Jr’s home. King was a major part of this boycott, not only did he lead the people, but he also listened to the opposing side’s viewpoint. The Montgomery bus boycott was an influential event in itself, but what made it even more influential, was the most famous civil rights leader (Mach). Martin Luther King fought for more than just equal rights, he also fought for better workers rights.
Martin Luther King held a protest to get better rights for workers. At this protest he talked about unemployment, better pay for workers, and even spoke out about his disagreement with the Vietnam War. Martin Luther King Jr not only fought to end segregation, but also fought to end poverty and unemployment.In 1968 Martin Luther King, among many other workers, prepared to strike for workers rights. Soon that peaceful protest turned violent. Among the protesters were thieves that broke into stores, this caused law enforcement to show up and attack the protestors. In the end 62 were injured and 1 was dead, all because of a few bad people (“City of Memphis”347). Although the end result of the protest was somewhat disastrous, it was still impactful. At this point the American people saw what they needed to see; after this event Martin Luther King Jr would be assassinated. Martin Luther King Jr was a part of many different protests and movements, one of which being the Albany movement.
In 1961, there was a protest against segregation, King of course was part of this.

King got arrested, and served his time until he got what he wanted. He refused to get out of jail on bail, until he was released by the city. King was thrown back into jail a year later when he came back to Albany. Again, he served his time and refused bail until he got what he wanted. King’s protest would lead to many more of its kind in the future. Martin Luther King Jr was more than prepared to fight for everyone’s rights, big or small (“City of Memphis”347). This was still not the end of Martin Luther King Jr’s journey towards ending segregation, King also took part in the Birmingham

Campaign.
The Birmingham Campaign was an effort for African Americans to bring attention to racial integration. At the campaign King delivered a plethora of speeches and participated in many different protests. Martin Luther King Jr along with other African Americans attempted to end segregation in Alabama City. After all of the protests, sit-ins, marches, and boycotts the community became less infatuated in segregation. Martin Luther King Jr used his own methods to fully confront segregation along with many other societal problems of that time (“City of Memphis”376). King was a major influence for a majority of topics in the 1960s, even after his death King still managed to impact society.
Although there was much disagreement on whether Martin Luther King Jr should have his own holiday, it went into effect in 1983. Martin Luther King day is a day to celebrate the life of Rev Martin Luther King Jr. Rather than being a day off, MLK day is seen as a day for giving back to the community. Martin Luther King’s legacy remains relevant even years after his death because of MLK day. MLK day gives people a little sense of what hope and happiness everyone had in the 1960s. Even when some people disagreed with having a holiday to celebrate King’s life, the majority of people wanted to keep the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr alive (“A Day to Serve”3). King’s unfortunate death brought along a sense of mourning and violence.
After Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination, there were large groups of African Americans that fought back in violent outbursts. King’s death would lead to a significant change in everyone’s lives. It’s easy to see why African Americans would be upset over their most influential and inspirational protester being assassinated, but that’s not the most important thing that everyone should know about Martin Luther King Jr. When anyone hears the name Martin Luther King Jr, they should think about how memorable he was. King changed an entire public opinion, he talked about topics that no one wanted to talk about. He brought issues to the surface, and let everyone have their own opinion about it. Shortly after Reverend Martin Luther King Jr’s death, Lyndon B. Johnson told the public to ignore the ‘blind violence’ that had killed King. This of course made African Americans even angrier. As a result of this, Lyndon B. Johnson rushed the Civil rights act through congress (“Martin Luther”).
The civil rights act would forever change the way of the world, it would bring equality for African Americans. Even at the age of 39, Martin Luther King made a lasting impact on society. Due to his death, the civil rights act was pushed through. Martin Luther King Jr created a widespread fanbase that supported and stood by him in the toughest of times. This ended up helping him in the end. Martin Luther King Jr isn’t the only reason for the civil rights act. The accomplishment goes to all African Americans as a whole; they all had to work together to accomplish the thing that they truly wanted, freedom. They chose to make Martin Luther King Jr their leader, and he led them through difficult situations. Overall, Martin Luther King was a major influence for the civil rights act.
In the end, Martin Luther King Jr will continue to be a memorable name. King left a lasting impact on society by changing the way that people thought. Martin Luther King left a mark on the civil rights movement, and in many people’s hearts. All because of Martin Luther King and his African American supporters, everyone is seen as equal. Despite his challenges, Martin Luther King changed the world with his speeches, protests, and even with unfortunate passing.