Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Nobel Peace Prize Winner, a Civil Rights Activist, a Worldwide Figure

Martin Luther King Jr. was a heroic man, because he never resorts to violence, he inspired many with courteous words, and formed a civil rights movement for justice. To begin, king never tried to brutally earn civil rights. King once stated “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only love can do that” (king). This means hating one another doesn’t improve the situation but loving one another could. He is basically demonstrating how you can’t fight fire with fire, it solves nothing.

She was an important part of the Civil Rights Movement; she was arrested for not giving up her seat on a public bus to a white man when he wanted it. She was sick of being pushed around and shamelessly showed it by demanding respect. After this incident the black community started a major bus boycott. It started as a laughable situation that was expected to stop in a few days but ended as a serious problem for the Montgomery Bus Company. For over a year, the black community would not ride the buses.

And this was not just Africans but whites ended up riding along. In the first few days, the riders encountered only minor hostility, but in the second week the riders were severely beaten. (Congress of Racial Equality ) “We had most trouble, it turned into a struggle, Half way 'cross Alabam, And that 'hound broke down, and left us all stranded, In downtown Birmingham.” Said Chuck Berry one of the original freedom riders. Later on in time with the new freedom rides more and more activist began to join in. Just a few of the famous people were among Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

The involvement of women in politics only angered the white segregationists further. The boycott, which was originally intended to last only a single day, lasted for a total 381 days and it only ended when the American Supreme Court ruled that segregation on the buses was unconstitutional. This would have had a rather large impact on the business economy within Montgomery and possibly even Alabama. Montgomery subsequently changed its laws so that buses were integrated. Even though the supreme court ruled that segregation on the buses was unconstitutional it did not overturn all of the segregation laws.

This action ruined his relationship with President Johnson and news companies. Despite his speech about the Vietnam war, Martin Luther King won the Nobel Peace Prize. King won the Nobel Peace Prize because of his nonviolence strategy that was originally used by Mahatma Gandhi. “Martin Luther King gave away his prize money of 54,123

This boycott would probably be successful since 70% of the riders were black. The bus company did not take them seriously, because if there was bad weather, they would have to take the bus. The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was established to co-ordinate the boycott. They had a special agreement with black cab companies, in which they were allowed to get a ride for a much cheaper price than normal. Blacks had to walk to work, and so they did not have time to do any shopping and therefore the sales decreased dramatically.

At Boston University, he met Coretta Scott; they were married in 1953. King's rise to national and international prominence began in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. In that year, Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to obey a city ordinance that required African Americans to sit or stand at the back of municipal buses. The African American citizens of the city (one of the most thoroughly segregated in the South) organized a bus boycott in protest and asked King to serve as their leader. Thousands boycotted the buses for more than a year, and despite segregationist violence against them, King grounded their protests on his deeply held belief in nonviolence.

All four- black people that were asked to stand stood up and gave their seat up except Parks, because she was tired of being pushed around, and she believe in “first come first serve.” She also had been working all day doing her job, which was for white people tending to their clothes. Parks and other African-Americans’ have had plenty of issues before with the racist bus driver James Fred Blake. James Blake always used expletive language against black people, and tried to make them obey what he said. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a 13- month mass protest that ended with the United States Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. Martin Luther King Jr, a African-American leader, encouraged his fellow African-American people to come together.

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 of the buses until December 20, 1956, almost thirteen months after the boycott their 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, 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 the exposure to become a great leader of a movement as large as the civil rights movement.

90 percent at least of the regular negro bus passengers are staying off the buses and we plan to continue until something is done” – Martin Luther King, Jr. Discussing the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Rosa Parks started something big tired from a long day work. Rosa sat in a row reserved for blacks, when all of the front white rows had filled the bus driver asked Rosa and three others to move so that a white man could have a seat. At that time blacks and whites weren’t allowed to occupy the same row. Parks refused and was arrested.