Clara Luper, advisor for the Oklahoma City NAACP Youth Council, was inspired by the leadership of a young Martin Luther King Jr., his involvement in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, and his teachings of nonviolence. Luper, also a teacher at Dunjee High School, wrote and directed a play about Dr. King entitled Brother President. It received critical acclaim within the African American community, which led to an invitation for Luper and a group of students to perform the play for an audience of NAACP members in New York City. The trip to New York City would turn out to have a great impact on both Luper and the students.