Polk photographed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.(b.1929 - d.1968) during his address to a voting rights rally at Tuskegee Institute's Logan Hall. Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1954 outlawing segregated public education, in 1955 King became widely known for having organized a civil action against segregation on public transportation. This protest took the form of a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, that lasted 381 days.

In 1956, King was invited to be the commencement speaker at Tuskegee Institute and again appeared before Polk's camera in 1965 during the legendary march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Although the young minister is only in his mid-twenties at the time of this photograph, Polk has captured the unmistakable charisma and powerful oratory presence which, in later years, made King a legend.