The Civil Rights Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King

The Civil Rights Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King

The Civil Rights movement is still identified by people across the

world with Dr Martin Luther King. His day of birth is remarked with a

national holiday in the United States and there are many historic

sites dedicated to MLK across the nation. His funeral in Atlanta on 9th

April 1968 was attended by political leaders from around the world and

later in 1977 King was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom which

stated that MLK was “the conscience on his generation” who…”saw the

power of love could bring down segregation”.

It is clear that MLK had a huge impact on how the civil rights

movement was to be perceived by all people in the years to follow.

‘Martin Luther’s Style of Leadership’ written by Peter J Ling for the

BBC Website suggests that King is “…Vividly remembered…thanks to the

miracle of Television”. It is apparent that the boom of household

televisions and the rising involvement of media and news coverage

helped king to demonstrate his communicational skills through his

speeches which were broadcasted across the nation. However many people

argue that the media played a huge part in his prominence and focused

on his achievements and successes rather than his faults.

MLK’s approach to achieving racial equality is admired by many. His

non-violent peaceful protests gained more support from African

Americans, who realised that this was the only realistic approach for

them to achieve civil rights. They had seen various other leaders

attempt violent direct action which resulted in even more turmoil for

the blacks. This non-violent strategy gave the whole movement a

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...n”, which made it

difficult for her to conform to male-dominated hierarchies. . She quit

the NAACP when she could no longer abide Walter White and left SCLC

after becoming disenchanted with King. It could be said Baker had a

personal vendetta against MLK, who was constantly receiving

recognition for the hard work that many unsung civil rights heroes

like Baker were putting in.

The Freedom Rides of 1961 were credited as being the work of King and

his Southern Christian Leadership Conference organisation. However it

was the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) who were behind the rides.

When MLK was asked to join the freedom riders into Mississippi he

declined their invitation, thus resulting in the organisation to

publicly show their mistrust in a leader who, As Ling puts it,

“preferred to cheer from the sidelines.”