How Did Martin Luther King Influence The Civil Rights Movement

The pentagon, a relatively recent american building, has twice as many bathrooms as are necessary. The famous government building was constructed in the 1940s, when segregation laws required that separate bathrooms to be installed for African Americans. Across the United States there are many examples of leftover laws and customs that reflect the racism that once permeated throughout American society. The civil rights movement beginning in the 1860’s after the American civil war is a pivotal point in American history, it was the struggle to create equality. Many key figures such as Martin Luther King but also Presidents and more radical activists, have influenced decisions yet some have stood out more than others. King is remembered by most

However “King was no uncle tom, his non-violent strategy was by no means passive, King himself went to jail many times King was feared … He used tactics like boycotts, sit-ins, and freedom rides to force businesses and governments to their knees.” The nonviolent tactics that King employed were more effective and had a significantly larger impact than the violence used by Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam. The nonviolence strategy exposed the violent attitude of the southerners which in turn brought sympathy to the King and the civil rights from many whites in the

rose to national prominence professing nonviolent direct action and interracial organizing in the late 1950s and 1960s. The nonviolent strategy proved crucial throughout the civil rights movement Martin luther King’s approach to civil rights is still celebrated today whereas advocates of violent protest are seen as radicals. For example the 1963 march on Washington remembered more favourably than Watts riots that swept through the Compton region of Los Angeles. Where King was a great organiser of the people, his form of protest attracted support from whites and helped forward the civil rights and voting rights act, the violence that Compton is now notorious for, lost sympathy that white middle classes may have had for the civil rights movement. Consequently this shows how without King the civil rights movement lacked the leadership that it needed in order to progress. It was King’s charisma and energy that meant he was the leader the civil rights movement. furthermore this is shown by after King's death the non-violent civil rights movement did not progress without him, there were leaders that had the potential to continue the nonviolence movement but all failed to fill the gap that Martin Luther King had left. Demonstrating the extent to which he was a great, and irreplaceable