I was reading Richard Kings 'Civil Rights and the Idea of Freedom', in it he quotes various sources such as Clayborne Carson who claims that "black students would have rebelled-without king- for they had other tactical and ideological inspiration besides king". So I ask, what else impacted the Civil Rights movement? and How much of an impact did MLK have? Thanks
Just a quick note.
You are likely referring to Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Sr. was also involved in the civil rights movement but was considerably less influential than his son. Martin Luther King III is also involved in the civil rights movement though his primary role is to preserve the legacy and continue the work of his father Martin Luther King Jr.
Because all three have worked in the Civil Rights movement including suffixes is important to ensuring that history distinguishes between the three. Not so important today as MLK has popularly come to designate Martin Luther King Jr. However, in 400 years records of "Martin Luther King" might show him as being active in Civil rights from 1931 to 2015 which could be very confusing.