Martin Luther King Jr.

    We all know who Martin Luther King Jr. is, but do we know how he got to be such an influential figure in the black rights movement? He was born as Michael King Jr. only to adopt the name Martian Luther later in life just as his father did. MLK's father, Michael, was a sharecropper who later in life took over his father-in-laws church. Michael King Jr. was the middle child of Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. Growing up MLK Sr. worked to fight racism and segregation because he saw them as going against god's will. Growing up Martin Luther King Jr. did not take a liking to the religion. King entered Morehouse college in Atlanta at the age of 15. He drifted through his freshman and sophomore years with no real motivation. Even though Kings father wanted him to join the ministry MLK Jr. did not feel overly comfortable showing "emotional displays of religious worship".  However during Kings senior year of college he took a bible class and found a renewed liking for religion and decided that he would follow in his fathers footsteps and join ministry. Martin Luther King came under the guidance of the Morehouse college president Benjamin E. Mays. Mays encouraged King to view Christianity as a force that could be used to force social equality and social change. While working on his doctorate at Boston university MLK became the pastor of the Dexter Avenue baptist church in Montgomery Alabama.  King and other civil right activists in montgomery put together a city wide bus boycott after Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man. This was King's first chance at leading a protest.  MLK jr. brought a new energy to the civil rights movement that lighted a fire underneath them. King started to gain popularity as his peaceful protests gained traction. Once Martin Luther King Jr. had a following there was more attention given to the black civil rights movement.