When MLK Jr. was a little boy, it saddened him that he could not befriend people who were not black.  He knew in his heart that just because people may look different on the outside, the contents of their hearts and their character is what makes a person valuable.  Martin Luther King Jr. saw a social problem, developed a dream, and eventually by taking action he changed the United States as well as the world.  He is still today among the most well known social activists in the world.
 

• Martin Luther King Jr. led the bus boycott in 1955 that was sparked by Rosa Parks.
• He helped form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957 which was an organization that worked for civil rights.
• He was the leader of the entire civil rights movement in the 1960s that called for working out conflicts with kindness and love as opposed to hate and violence.
• Martin Luther King Jr. fought for and achieve mandatory equal voting rights in America for blacks and whites.
• Martin Luther King Jr. led lunch counter sit-ins where he and other blacks and whites demanded equal treatment in restaurants for people of all races.
• Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent peaceful demonstrations proved to the world that action without violence can be effective and successful.
• Because of Martin Luther King Jr., it is no longer legal in the United States to segregate or discriminate based on skin color.
• The standard has been set for all nations to treat everyone equally regardless of skin color because of the work of Martin Luther King Jr.