Imagine going to jail 29 times because you stood up for injustice. Imagine your house just got bombed and now you live in fear all because you spoke out wanting to end segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. had to live with all of this. King was born on January 7, 1929 in Atlanta Georgia. King was one the greatest upstanders, someone who speaks out and takes action when they see injustice happening, and ended segregation in the United States. Martin Luther King Jr is deemed an upstander by starting the bus boycott, going around giving speeches to help end segregation, and still holding up his legacy even after death.

The first major thing Martin Luther King Jr. did was to help end the bus boycotts. In 1955 Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to follow the law requiring segregated seating. This stirred unrest in the black community and they soon created the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and started to boycott the bus company. King was the first president to be elected and he led MIA to success. King fought for a first come first serve type of bus seating. He also managed to convince black owned taxis to lower their cost so boycotters could get a ride. Eventually the city banned that and King set up carpools. Overall, King went through being arrested, hate mail, phone threats, and even getting his house bombed. This boycott lasted around 382 days and it ended on December 21, 1956 when the US Supreme Court made the integration of city buses in Montgomery mandatory (Martin). This was a huge battle won and King decided to use this victory to propel him and his people to help the other cities. Overall, this was a gigantic victory.

Martin Luther King Jr. has done many speeches to try and end racism and segregation. Among all those speeches, only a hand few of them became famous. His speech “I Have a Dream” is often considered to be his most famous speech. This speech summarizes to be the struggle of how he wants equality and how he believes that it will happen one day. Another speech of his, “The letter from Birmingham Jail” was written when he was sent to jail for protesting equality (Editors). Most of his speeches are written  to unite humans and to have everyone strive to become better individuals. All in all, King’s most prominent thing about him is how he can give meaning to words that were used too frequently and to give light about a subject many do not know about.

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr., who was still only 39 years old, was shot standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Tennessee. James Earl Ray was arrested on June 8, 1968 and was sentenced to prison for 99 years. He later died in prison in 1998. King’s death caused a major uproar in the United States known as the Holy Week Uprising.  According to Smithsonian, A news website that published their first issue in 1970, Boissoneault states, “cities experienced looting, arson or sniper fire, and 54 of those cities saw more than $100,000 in property damage. King had done so much before his death, the country went berserk when they found out he died. His legacy carried with him through then and still even present day.

This research was meaningful because it brought up the question of if King didn’t exist, would there ever be an upstander has potent as King. How long would inequality rule the USA if he wasn’t there. Overall, King’s impact in the country shaped how we live today and the issue is still brought up today. In conclusion, Martin Luther King Junior shaped the world using his intelligence that propelled him through the boycotts and speeches which allowed him to carry on this legacy.