Nonviolent Resistance In Martin Luther King

Times were looking up for African Americans, their new freedom gave them the option to go down a road of either criminal actions or to make something out of themselves. But the presence of racism and hatred was still very much so alive, Klu Klux Klan, although not as strong as they were after the Civil War was still present. Laws like Jim Crow laws and “separate but equal” came into play and continued to show how racism was alive. Besides these actors of racism, blacks still started gaining a major roll in American society. Racial segregation hits its peak in the early 60’s and goes on into the 70’s with the civil rights movements become a know event around the world. In this time period we see the rise of people such as Dr. Martin Luther

Martin Luther King was a huge figure in the civil rights movements, while protesting a non-violent protest he was arrested and taken to Birmingham Jail. He is writing to his clergymen, describing the situation he is in. King says “Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States” Martin Luther King Jr. Explains Nonviolent Resistance in [Reading the American Past] edited by Michael Johnson (New York: Bedford/St. Martin, 2012), 255. King goes on to describe how Birmingham is a very segregated place with high police brutality and the most unsolved cases on bombing on negro’s houses. The letter King writes demonstrates that times for African Americans are very poor and need to improve. King relates African Americans to “Christian who were willing to face hungry lions and chopping blocks before submitting to laws of the Roman Empire” (Martin Luther King Jr. Explains Nonviolent Resistance, 257). King ends his letter by asking for the negroes who do these nonviolent protests to be recognized for their

Anne was too young to realize that whites and blacks were treated different. “Sometimes Mama would bring us the white family’s leftovers. It was the best food I had ever eaten. That was when I discovered that white folks ate different from us” Moody, Moody, Anne. Coming of Age in Mississippi. New York: Dial, 1968. 29. At this moment Anne realized that her family was treated different then the white family’s’ and she knew things were different. Later in the book it is described how a black kid was found dead for simply whistling at a woman. “A boy from Mississippi would have known better than that. The boy was from Chicago. Negroes up North have no respect for people. They think they can get away with anything" Moody, Anne 132. This event showed how for one black were being watched on almost everything they did and, how the quote explained a black boy from Mississippi would of know better because they have more respect. As the protests and killings escalated Anne wanted a stop to it all and she said “I hated myself and every Negro in Centreville for not putting a stop to the killings or at least putting up a fight in an attempt to stop them. I though to waging a war in protest against the killings all by myself" Moody, Anne 202-203. Anne shows through this quote how she was tired of the killing and protesting and was wanting to end all this madness