In the 1950's, America had a racial problem with African Americans in the South. It was a time where Jim Crow Laws were created and everything was segregated. At the time, Martin Luther King Jr. was an activist who fought for equal rights and civil disobedience. He was a believer of Mahatma Gandhi which through his actions reflected on Gandhi because he utilized principles of nonviolent civil disobedience and struggled to achieve equal rights. Although the majority of white citizens in the South were against what Martin Luther King Jr. was doing by trying to achieve equal rights, he also created a movement for people to continue in our world today. After the Civil War, former slaves and their family tried to fit in and figure out what to do in their new way of living. African Americans thought that they were finally free and no longer had to be slaves to any white masters, be able to get an education, vote and become a citizen of the U.S. But what stopped them was not only did they not have money but white people in their towns would prevent them to do the things anyone else would do. If a black man wanted to vote and put his vote in the ballot box, right after that a group of white men would lynch him and take his vote out of the ballot box. By 1865, President Abraham Lincoln created three amendments called the "Reconstruction Amendments." The purpose was to extend the right of the citizenship of African Americans and try to protect them. The 13th Amendment was to abolish slavery; since African Americans had no money, they had no choice but to become slaves and work for the white people in their town. The 14th Amendment was that all people who are naturalized in the United States are automatically a citizen and has the right to be provided with protection under the law. The 15th Amendment was that every citizen has the right to vote regardless of what skin color they have (United States Senate, 1). In 1863, Fredrick Douglass once said, "Slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot." Therefore when the first African American was able to vote, it was a privilege for them because voting was now a critical step in protecting their civil liberties. The African American community were able to elect African American state legislatures which broke the color barrier in Congress. Before Martin Luther King Jr. was born, America still developed the way African Americans were living. Towards the end of the Reconstruction Era, Jim Crow Laws were established to keep the black community oppressed because having them vote was bad enough for the white citizens. Everything was "separate, but equal" because there were many cases of African Americans being accused of doing something wrong by a white person. To keep it contained, Jim Crow Laws were created which is what Martin Luther King Jr. had to experience in his childhood and throughout his life. African Americans were treated unfairly and but were able to finally achieve some rights of their own (Stanley, 1-3). In King's childhood, he experienced the discrimination and racism which affected him in the future to try and stop it. As a child, Martin Luther King Jr. was a very fortunate and religious child for being in a financial secure middle-class family therefore having a better education for their race. His father was a pastor, his father-in-law presided at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and King was also trying to build himself a reputation to become a pastor at his local church. He was raised up surrounded by good morals and beliefs. In school, however, his friends were no longer allowed to go to the same school as him and their parents didn't want King to come over and play with them (Wheeler, Williams, 1). When it came to the first experience of King being faced with segregation, his family was ushered to the back exit of a shoe store and was asked to leave because the owner did not want African Americans in the store. Growing up, Martin Luther King Jr. had to grow up bein