The start INTRO: Martin Luther King Jr. was an American activist and leader in the civil rights movement as well as a Baptist Minister. In his brave life, Martin gave us his inspirational speeches and was a crucial essential in the demolishing of legal segregation. He was also a key role in the voting act of 1965 and the creation of the civil rights act in 1964. Martin, along with his other medals of honor won a Nobel Peace prize in 1964. To this day we continue to extol him since his assassination on the April of 1968. We know how it ended but to find out how he came this far we must start from the begging. EARLY LIFE: Born January 15, 1929, to parents Michael King Sr. and Alberta Williams with the …show more content…
original name of Michael King Jr. Martin Luther king Jr. was born the middle child in the family in Atlanta, Georgia. A.D. Williams, Martins grandfather married Jennie Celeste Parks with one surviving child, Alberta. In A.D.‘s early years he took over a small Ebenezer Baptist Church with only about 13 people. Sr. was born into a poor community and a sharecropper family. In 1926 he married Alberta and moved with her to her father's home down in Atlanta. Before college, King spent his summer in Connecticut on a tobacco farm; it was his first time out of the segregated south and first long stay from home. Martin was astounded by how the races interacted and mixed up with one another up in the north. After summer, at only 15 years, he started his college life and education in 1944. He graduated with a sociology degree then attended the Liberal Crozer Theological Seminary, in Pennsylvania. He stayed at the seminary for the next three years, there he got engrossed in the philosophy of peace and was elected student body president as well as being the valedictorian of his class in 1951. Despite his responsible ways, He was not always a saint, in college, he retaliated his father by imbibing alcohol and participating in college games and mischief. MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT: In 1955 a 15-year-old African American girl refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama violating the local law.
On December 1, 1955, they were given a second chance on the case. Last time, it was revealed that the girl was pregnant, this terrified leaders of the civil rights as that would have appalled the religious African American community. Later that day, the then 42-year old Rosa parks entered the local bus tired. The bus filled with more people and parks refused to move, she was arrested and found guilty with a $4 court fee and fined $10. E.D. Nixon being head of the NAACP, heard of the incident and met with MLK to plan a boycott. They put together a group of activists with martin as their leader because he was too new in town to have any enemies and was young and well trained. King stated in the group's first speech: "We have no alternative but to protest. For many years we have shown an amazing patience. We have sometimes given our white brothers the feeling that we liked the way we were being treated. But we come here tonight to be saved from that patience that makes us patient with anything less than freedom and justice". These words sparked true inspiration in the civil rights act. He led the boycott for a one more year and a few weeks despite the threats his family got, the buses of the city were
desegregated.
In late 1955, Dr. King was elected to lead his first public peaceful protest. For the rest of the year and throughout all of 1956, African Americans decided to boycott the Montgomery bus system in response to the arrest of Rosa Parks. After 382 days of protest, the city of Montgomery was forced to lift the law mandating segregated public transportation because of the large financial losses they suffered from the protest. King began to receive notice on a national level in 1960. On October ...
Martin Luther King Jr was a activist that was known for his famous speech “I had a dream”, he changed the lives for many people and helped changed the future. The world renowned Baptist minister and social activist had a massive impact on the American civil rights movement from the mid 1950’s until his assassination in 1968. Martin Luther King Jr was born on the 15th of January, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, known as Michael Luther King Jr and was than assassinated on the 4th of April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, United States and has still left a footprint on many people
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the most widely known civil rights activist of the 1960s. Although most famous for his I Have a Dream speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote several more influential speeches for the Civil Rights Movement – an American movement that sought to extend equal rights to all U.S. citizens. During his lifetime, he was known for practicing nonviolence in the hopes to obtain social and economic equality of all African Americans. While equality exists amongst the races today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not get to see the fulfillment of his dream. On April 4, 1968, he was assassinated on the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee.
After Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger, king wanted to end the humiliating treatment of blacks on city bus liners. He decided to start the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted 382 days. Eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court declared Montgomery bus segregation laws illegal. King showed great inspiration despite receiving several threatening phone calls, being arrested and having his house being bombed, he still firmly believed in nonviolence. The boycott was the first step to end segregation, king displayed great leadership and educated the whole nation that nonviolence was the best possible was to end a problem, even if it took a while for people to notice your protest.
Parks was immediately arrested, which sparked “…a yearlong bus boycott, [which was] the beginning of the mass phase of the civil rights movement in the South” (Foner 954). Her arrest resulted in the meeting of hundreds of blacks, all of which gathered in local churches, who called for a boycott. After “…381 days” (Foner 955) of blacks choosing to walk to their destinations rather than ride the bus, the boycott ended and in November of 1956, the Supreme Court called for the end of segregation on public transportation, deeming it as unconstitutional. During the Montgomery bus boycott, the Civil Rights Movement also witnesses the rise of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the pastor soon became the face of the movement. King used Christian values and beliefs in his calls for action, stressing that no violence must be used. He quickly became an influential figure, for he “…presented the case for black rights in a vocabulary that merged the black experience with that of the nation” (Foner 956). He called for a Christian movement, which “…resonated deeply in both black communities and the broader culture” (Foner 956), and became an important leader of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s. Overall, the 1950s led to the growing momentum of the Civil Rights Movement in the due
Because she would not move to the back of the bus, she was arrested for violating the Alabama bus segregation laws. Rosa was thrown in jail and fined $140. Enraged by Mrs. Parks arrest the black community of Montgomery, united together and organized a boycott of the bus system until the city buses were integrated. The black men and women stayed off the buses until December 20, 1956, almost thirteen months after the boycott goal was reached. The Montgomery Bus Boycott can be considered a major turning point in the Civil Rights Movement because it made Martin Luther King Jr. public leader in the movement, starting point for non-violent protest as an effective tool in the fight for civil rights, and showed that African-Americans united for a cause could stand up to segregation. Being president of the Montgomery Improvement Association taught Martin Luther the skills and gave him the exposure to become a great leader of a movement as large as the civil rights movement.
Dr. Martin Luther King Junior was an excellent speaker and activist during the civil rights movement throughout 1954-1968. The civil rights movement was a time of racial injustice and unfair treatment towards people of different races. During that time many African Americans boycotted and protested against the unfair treatment in America at that point in time. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of these people who protested to create a difference in the community. The goal of these marches and protests that he led were to change the feelings of the government and the people’s feelings about racial injustice. However, Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4th, 1968 because he stood up for what was right. He was though able to do many
The Montgomery bus boycott was caused when Rosa Parks, an African American woman on December 1, 1955 refused to obey the bus driver James Blake’s that demanded that she give up her seat to a white man. Because she refused, police came and arrested her. During her arrest and trial for this act of civil disobedience, it triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in history. Her role in American history earned her an iconic status in American culture, and her actions have left an enduring legacy for civil rights movements around the world. Soon after her arrest, Martin Luther King Jr. led a boycott against the public transportation system because it was unfair. This launched Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the organizers of the
Introduction: Martin Luther King Jr. was a person that became an activist and with time and hard work, he soon turned out to be the most known spokesperson and leader during
The Civil Rights Movement is one of the most important events of the history of the United States. Although many people contributed to this movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., is widely regarded as the leader of the movement for racial equality. Growing up in the Deep South, King saw the injustices of segregation first hand. King’s studies of Mahatma Ghandi teachings influenced his views on effective ways of protesting and achieving equality. Martin Luther King’s view on nonviolence and equality and his enormous effect on the citizens of America makes him the most influential person of the twentieth century.
Rosa Parks was a member of the NAACP, lived in Montgomery Alabama, and rode the public bus system. In the south, during this time the buses were segregated which meant that black people had to ride in the back of the bus behind a painted line. White people entered the front of the bus and were compelled to sit in front of the painted line. Most buses at the time had more room for white riders who used the service less than the black ridership. Yet, they could not cross the line even if the seats in the front were empty (Brown-Rose, 2008). Rosa Parks made a bold statement when she sat in the “white section” of a Montgomery bus. She was asked to surrender her seat to a white man, but she did not move and was soon arrested. Her brave action started the Montgomery bus Boycott, with the help of the NAACP, none other than Dr. Martin Luther King’s leadership as part of the Montgomery Improvement Association. As its President, he was able spread the word quickly which brought national attention to the small town of Montgomery’s bus Boycott. The boycott was televised and brought so much attention that the United States Supreme Court ruled that segregation on public transportation was unconstitutional; a success spurring a more
On December 1, 1955 Rosa parks got arrested by the police in Montgomery because people thought she violated the segregation. She sat in the middle of the bus and refused to give up her seat to a white man when the bus was starting to get full. Because of this, a boycott began in the city of Montgomery. Most people regard Rosa parks as the mother of civil rights. 75% of the bus system in Montgomery was African American so they lost lots of profit when the boycott started. Martin Luther king would come a few months later to help with the boycott. This is when the movement truly begins. The boycott lasted 381 days.
Martin Luther King Jr. is considered the formative figure in the modern fight for the civil rights movement and fought for racial equality with something much stronger than tolerance. He fought for the equal rights for all people of every background. Being a leader of racial equality and spoke up for the wrong doing of society, but also the peoples' actions towards making America a better place and equal opportunity. The reason he is so unique is because he was non-violent in his goals. King had great moral and philosophical purposes by speaking out in the public of the conflicts that was going on during that time and finding ways to overcome those conflicts in a peaceful
Several white men had been standing on the bus and demanded for Rosa and other colored people to give up their seats. The others listened, but Rosa would still remain seated, but this wasn’t the first time she had messed with the bus driver, James Blake. He asked her to move to another part of the bus but again, she refused to give up her seat. Later that evening, Rosa Parks was arrested for violating the Montgomery city code. A week later, the court had held a trial and Parks was found guilty for refusal of giving up her seat. She was charged and taken to jail but by that afternoon, E.D. Nixon had met King and other civil right locals to plan a citywide bus boycott in support of Rosa and racial equality. Because of his youth, professional standing and well-trained solid family connections, King was selected to lead the bus boycott. The boycott lasted 382 days and over 552 African Americans live in
Over the course of his life, Dr. King would lead and participate in multiple non-violent protests against segregation. On the first of December, 1955, the arrest of Rosa Parks in Montgomery, Alabama would trigger the first of many protests led by King. The Montgomery bus boycott would last for 385 days and was so tense that King’s house was bombed. He was later arrested and released after the United States District Courts ruled that segregation on all Montgomery public buses was illegal. This paved the way for King to lead many more protests in his life and becoming a major leader in the desegregation movement.