The screams of hundreds ring through the streets of Birmingham Alabama as the race for equality is ignited like the Olympic torch in Athens. Birmingham would become the front lines for racial inequality and the race towards an equal rights revolution.  This story has three great figures of the race towards equality and the fair treatment of all. These people all played their part in the civil rights movement and the need for equality in a country that was founded on the saying “all men are created equal”, it is these words that drove these humanitarians to fight not just on the streets but through literature as well. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, and Harper Lee all deserve credit for the work they did in the civil rights movement and the people that they inspire today with their bravery and sacrifice.

Click, click, click, the sounds of a revolution begin as Harper Lee sits at her type writer. Harper Lee was not a person that would march through the streets and participate in the sit-ins for equality. She did so much more by using her gift of writing to make sure that no one ever forgot what life was like for African-American people and the daily struggle of dealing with racism. In her award winning book To Kill a Mockingbird she tell about the life of the Finch family in Maycomb Alabama, a town that was small but represented the country by showing the true side of racism in the United Stated. She was criticized for writing about the truth and the things that she wrote about were not to be mentioned in public let alone be published for the whole world to see. It is in the court case where Tom Robinson, a black man is charged with rape by a white woman. With the huge racial divide at the time any person of color that is accused of a crime by a white person already has their verdict, “guilty.” The lack of inequality shocked Harper Lee so she did what she does best and wrote to make sure that no generation would forget the horrors that happened during the civil rights movement. With her death in 2015 the world lost an angel that touched this county one chapter at a time. This story of hardship and perseverance went way beyond the pages of a fictional book it went to the streets of the capital.

Bang, bang, bang! The sound of gunfire takes the life of the most known human rights activist to ever live, Martin Luther King Jr. is dead. The year is 1968 and the life of an American hero is taken from the world at the age of 39 the biggest voice of the civil rights movement has been silenced. Mr. King was known for his “ I Have a Dream Speech”, where he spoke on the nation’s capital about the dream of equality for all and the notion that all men are created equal would finally have true meaning. Mr. King had been arrested over 30 times during his short life and during this life he had lead marches that ended in the brutal beating and arrests of many peaceful protesters. MLK had used the views of Gandhi when he promoted the use of non-violence as a form of civil disobedience. It was this form of protesting that got him the large quantity of supporters that helped make his movement an army not an organization. One of MLK’s most known demonstrations was actually nothing but the use of pen and paper to write “Letter From Birmingham Jail” a letter that put into writing the requirements that a country that has true equality would possess and the steps people have to take to rid hatred and bigotry from their hearts and their souls. Though MLK was taken from this world in a time that needed him the most his message will always resonate with the American people and the core American values that this country should possess, but every angel has their dark horse and for MLK that was Malcom X.

Malcom X was a man that stood firm on the issues and believed that to get his rights he would have to fight for them. Born in Omaha 1 of 8 children Malcom X wasn’t the ideal man to lead a civil rights revolution. Arrested for burglaries as a child and did drugs and drank constantly he wasn’t much of a natural born leader, but this man could sell ice to a polar bear. He was known for his speeches that would ignite the fire in people’s souls, and made them join the civil rights movement. Malcom X and MLK could not have been bigger opposites. MLK believed in peaceful protests and civil disobedience, Malcom X believed that in order to get what you want you have get it by, “any means necessary.” These two men are only brought together by their one true passion in life and that is the notion that any man, woman, and child are created equal and that their life should not be decided by the color of your skin, but the will of their soul and the fight of their heart. It was inequality that brought these two men together and the United States will always be indebted to them. Malcom X may have been the dark horse of civil rights movements but he will always be remembered as one of the greatest civil rights leaders of his time.

Those hundreds of voices that day in Birmingham may have been suppressed but they grew into the thunderous sound of hope, change, and most of all equality. Because of those that gave up their freedom and even their lives America is now a country that has equality for all and the equal rights that they rightfully deserved according to the constitution. Harper Lee a women that proves that the pen is mightier than the sword used her words as a way to show the world the truth about life in America. MLK gave his life to his cause and became the most known civil rights leader ever in American history. Malcom X, a man of humble and troubled beginnings made a life for himself through hard work and dedication he made America a country that truly offered equality for all. These three people all from different backgrounds came together in one common cause to show the country the error of its ways and made the biggest impact they could in their own way. Though many say that the country has become equal at last and all have equal rights there are still those that are denied their rights on a national level. Those that are a part of the LGBTQ community are the next big civil rights activist only they face a bigger uphill battle because they are the smallest minority to ever take on a country.