Martin Luther King Jr. was an African American activist born on Jan 15, 1929 and participated in the Civil Right Movement. He joined the Civil Right Movement when Rosa Parks didn’t give up her seat. Unlike other activist, he didn’t use violence.

Every school closed in the United States on January 20 to remember Martin Luther King Jr.

I asked a 7th grade student named Jerry if he knew what Martin Luther King did and he said he talked by the Abraham Lincoln statue in Washington D.C and he gave his most famous speech, ¨I Have a Dream” speech. Another student talked about ¨I Have a Dream¨ speech Harmony said that speech impacted many people Martin Luther King.

The ¨I Have a Dream” speech was made because he demands equal rights to all people regardless of their color. Martin Luther King also fought for African Americans right to vote.

Another student named Ebeny said he impacted people by his peaceful protest. Robert said that he would prefer peaceful protest because he thinks violence wouldn’t help with anything.

Just for protesting, Martin Luther King went to jail about 29 times for acts of civil disobedience (the refusal to obey the demands or commands of a government) and on trumped-up charges (been falsely accused).

For all his actions, people had named many things for him, like hospitals, schools, colleges, statues. They even gave Martin Luther King a Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was the youngest person to get a prize.

MLK Day is a day to remember Martin Luther King and remember what he did for people. Because of that there have been many chaireds of his and many books and movies came out about him. To learn more about MLK you can visit the King Center KING CENTER.