Martin Luther King Jr. was a Civil Rights activist in the 1950s and 1960s. He was an African American who fought for the rights of Black people who were experiencing discrimination and segregation. King was an active leader in the Montgomery Boycott in 1955, and he was a firm believer in the non-violent approach–a precedent set by Mahatma Gandhi.

“I also believe in the non-violence approach; you know growing up I have learned to use my head instead of my fists,” said Mr. Dowler.

King held several non-violent protests even though those protest were met with hostility by white supremacists and racists. During the Montgomery Boycott, King experienced a lot of assaults; his house was bombed, and he was beaten and even thrown in jail.

Despite all the challenges that occurred during the boycott, King and many Black people fighting for the end of segregation on buses emerged victorious because segregation on bus was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on December 21, 1956.

King said of the bus boycott: “We came to see that, in the long run, it is more honorable to walk in dignity than ride in humiliation. So … we decided to substitute tired feet for tired souls, and walk the streets of Montgomery.”

King also gave the famous “I Have a Dream” speech on his March on Washington. The March on Washington took place on August 28, 1963, and it was a march to protest job discrimination against African Americans. It was a march for jobs and freedom for all. In his speech, King gave his vision of a world where equality and equal opportunity would exist.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

His speech helped bring about the 1964 Civil Rights Act that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion or national origin.

Exactly four years after the Civil Rights Act was signed, King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in his hotel balcony at a Memphis hotel in Tennessee while preparing to support the sanitation workers strike. The death of King was a low blow to the Black community. Thousands of mourners gathered in the street to honor him because he was seen as a hero for the black community. His death did not stop his followers, but rather it inspired them to continue in the fight for equality for Black people.

“They burned his house. He was beaten, thrown into prison and he still gets assassinated. It showed how our country was back then and how far we have come,” Mr. Dowler said.

On August 28, 2011, the 48^th anniversary of his March on Washington, Martin Luther King Jr. was memorialized. King’s memorial is the first to honor an African American on the National Mall. His memorial will serve as a reminder of all he stood for: nonviolence, peace, equality and inclusiveness.

“I definitely believe that what Martin Luther King dreamed of can be seen now–America is now built for everybody. And we still continue his fight every day to make America a better place,” Mr. Dowler said.