One of the biggest influences on Martin Luther King Jr. was a former sharecropper and mother of six named Johnnie Tillmon. As chairperson of the National Welfare Rights Organization, Tillmon advocated for a guaranteed standard of living for all people, be they stay at home mothers or members of the workforce — an early push for the movement for “guaranteed income” or “universal basic income” that’s seen renewed interest in recent years. This radical approach to welfare was eventually adapted by MLK and helped shape the civil rights movement.