The rights that allow us to have free speech and allow us to protest allowed the people of the past to fight for equality for people of their race. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the leading members of the Civil Rights Movement, and he protested for his African-American rights along with others such as Malcolm X. He took advantage of his freedom to protest and his freedom of speech to further benefit the movement. If the 1st Amendment did not exist, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X would have been arrested for protesting and the Civil Rights Movement would’ve ended almost immediately. Another example of the 1st Amendment allowing people of the past to protest was the Women’s Rights Movement. Just like Martin Luther King Jr., she fought for rights, but this time it was for women. She also used her rights of free speech and her right to protest to help women across the United States have the same rights as men. Elizabeth Cady Stanton would have been arrested if not for the right of free speech and the right to petition and protest the government. These two movements are prime examples of how the 1st Amendment of the Constitution has vitally impacted our nation’s current state and society