Martin Luther King, Jr. was an activist who contributed to the end of segregation in Alabama and parts of the United States. Dr. King’s contribution to the cause made him the most influential man in the history of the United States. Before being an activist, Martin was known as an intellectual child. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a part of a nonviolent organization called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Martin continues to fight for equality across the United States. Despite another argument, Martin Luther King, Jr was an influential person because he was an intellectual child, a part of a nonviolent organization, and continue to fight equality across the United States.
Since he was a young boy, Martin was an intellectual person. Martin attended David T. Howard Elementary and Booker T. Washington High School. In high school, Martin was the quarterback of his school’s football team. While attending Booker T. Washington High school Martin “skipped both the ninth and eleventh grades, and entered Morehouse College in Atlanta at age 15, in 1944. He was a popular student, especially with his female classmates, but an unmotivated student who floated through his first two years (“Martin Luther King Jr.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 18 Jan. 2018,).” After graduating from Morehouse College, King attended Crozer Theological Seminary. Unlike Morehouse, King “excelled as a student.
Crozer was the first integrated school King attended; he soon became the school’s first African American student body president and later graduated at the top of his class. It was here that he awakened intellectually, reading voraciously, particularly in theology and secular philosophy; and it was here that he was exposed to currents of thought that guided his thinking for the rest of his life. Even though Dr. King did efficiently well at Morehouse, he was able to become an overachiever and be at the top of his class. Overall King’s understanding of human behavior leads him to become a non-violent activist.
Dr. King was a part of a nonviolent organization called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was a group committed to achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest. The organization was founded by Martin Luther King, Jr., Bayard Rustin, Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, and mother civil rights activists. Dr. King was the president of the SCLC. In the text it states, “In his role as SCLC president, Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled across the country and around the world, giving lectures on nonviolent protest and civil rights as well as meeting with religious figures, activist, and political leaders (History.com Staff. “Martin Luther King Jr.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009,).” King was able to spread the word of equality throughout different continents and meet leaders who are fighting for the same cause. In addition to reason one and two, Dr. King was an intellectual man who wanted to fight for what he believes in.