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
The civil rights movement was a popular historical movement that worked to allow African Americans to have equal rights and privileges as U.S. citizens. The movement can be defined as a struggle against racial segregation and discrimination that began in the 1950s. Although the origins of the civil rights movement go back to the 1800s, the movement peaked in the 1950s and 1960s. African American men and women, along with whites, organized and led the movement from local to national levels. Many actions of the civil rights movement were concentrated through legal means such as negotiations, appeals, and nonviolent protests. When we think of leaders or icons of the movement we usually think of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. Even though Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. are important figures, their participation in the movement was minimal compared to other unknown or forgotten figures. Howell Raines’s, My Soul Is Rested, contains recollections of voices from followers of the civil rights movement. These voices include students, lawyers, news reporters, and civil right activists. Although the followers of the movement were lesser known, the impact they made shaped the society we live in today.
To build on the Montgomery victory, black leaders and ministers convened in Atlanta, GA in 1957 to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC main function would be to coordinate the efforts of the many church-based civil rights groups. The mission of the SCLC was to gain all civil liberties by law and not by violence. With Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as its president, the SCLC would become the country’s most powerful civil rights organization.
From the early 1940s to the late 1960s the civil rights movement in America took on the many racial injustices faced by black people. It represented the battle for social, economic, and political freedoms; which were denied by the Jim Crow laws which were viciously supported in the south by whites. These laws were enacted from as far back as in 1876 and reinforced the idea of “equal but separate” in the landmark Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The majority of the justices argued that, “as long as racially separate facilities were equal they did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantees of equal protection of the law” ("Separate but Equal: The Plessy v. Ferguson Case"). This philosophy of racial segregation as Aldon Morris points out , “was the linchpin of Jim Crow” he also adds that, “following slavery [Jim Crow laws] became the new form of white domination, which insured Blacks would remain oppressed well into the twentieth century” (518).
The Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's was arguably one of the most formative and influential periods in American history. Hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists utilized non violent resistance and civil disobedience to revolt against racial segregation and discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement began in the southern states but quickly rose to national prominence. It is of popular belief that the civil rights movement was organized by small groups of people, with notable leaders like—Martin Luther King, Jr, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and even John F. Kennedy—driving the ship. That is partly correct. The Civil Rights Movement, in its truest form, was hundreds of thousands of people organizing events and protests, working together to ensure that every American—whether black, white, brown and anything in between—had the right to a prosperous and harmonious life.
Rosa Parks was an African American who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white men. She was bailed out of jail by president, Edgar Nixon, of the NAACP. After hearing about what occurred to Rosa Parks, the black community formed a boycott of Montgomery’s bus system. “Calling themselves the Montgomery Improvement Association, they chose a young minister named Martin Luther King, Jr., to lead the struggle f...
On June 11th, 1963, the Civil Rights Act was sent to congress by President Kennedy. It wasn't until July 2nd, 1964 though that it was signed by President Johnson. The bill outlawed discrimination based on race, offer equal employment opportunities, and schools were required to be integrated. The Civil Rights Act was also known as the Second Emancipation Proclamation. Three people extremely involved in black rights were Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. Rosa Parks is known mostly for refusing to give her seat to a white person on a Montgomery bus. Parks was known as "The mother of the civil rights movement." Another heavily involved person in the civil rights movement was Malcolm X. Malcolm was a very influential and controversial person in the movement. X was a spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Eventually, Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21st, 1965 by Thomas Hagan. One of the most influential people in the Civil Rights Movement was Martin Luther King Jr. King led many non-violent protests to help raise awareness of racial inequality. One of the most famous, is the March on Washington, which King led 200,000 supporters of the Civil Righ...
The Civil Rights Movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s was a mass mobilization and unification of people from varying backgrounds fighting for equal rights and equal opportunity for Black Americans. Black male leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. preached about equality and challenged people to consider social injustices within society. The leadership qualities and influence of Dr. King are undeniable. His rhetoric united Black America and identified their entitlement to the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Dr. King’s inspiring speech for Black’s to “one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”, motivated White and Black
Martin Luther King Jr., was influenced by his father and followed in his footsteps to continue to have freedom for the colored race. Born on January 15, 1929, he had a lot to live up to. According to experts King “attended Atlanta public schools and graduated Morehouse College in 1948 and was ordained (make (someone) a priest or minister; confer holy orders on.) the previous year into the Ministry of Baptist Church.”(“Martin
If you grew up in the 60s’, it was a time where major protest groups began to appear all over the place with one protest or another against things like the war, women’s rights, school protests, etc. But in the 60s, there was one of these groups that want to fight for equity and that group was the civil rights group. Therefore, even though the civil rights group began in the 50’s it did not really come into the forefront until the 1960s, where they emerged and greatly expanded in the 1960s. This group was the first movement group of the 1960s-era social movements. This movement was also responsible for producing one of the most significant American social activists every of the 20th century, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Civil Rights Movement began in 1954 with the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, this ruling struck down the doctrine of “Separate but Equal”. The Brown v. Board of Education case was a start of many that began to transform American Democracy. African-Americans soon realized that they had to do something if they wanted to gain their rights back. They saw that they all had the responsibility to fight back against the government’s decision of de jure segregation. Many saw that they had to use the path of civil disobedience as portrayed through Martin Luther King Jr., but the rise of Black Nationalism made many people around the country forget that they had a responsibility as a people. Militant groups and leaders such as the Black Panther Party and Malcolm X started riots and “rebellions” that not only showed that they were very serious about gett...
The 1960's Civil Rights Movement had numerous leaders who had a lasting and influential impact towards the movement. Inspiring people and leading the movement towards desegregation, racial equality and legal recognition for African Americans in the US. The significant leaders in the movement being James Farmer, Roy Wilkins,. John Lewis, A.Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King,Jr, Whitney Young and Rosa Parks.
The civil rights movement, by many people, is though to have happened during the 1950's and 1960's. The truth of the matter is that civil right has and always will be an ongoing issue for anyone who is not of color. The civil rights movement started when the black slave started arriving in America centuries ago. The civil rights movement is one of the most known about issues in American history. Everyone at some point in their life has studied this movement. This movement is particularly interesting due to the massive amounts of different stories and occurrences through the course of the movement. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a vital figurehead to this movement. He inspired many people who had lived their whole lives in the shadow of fear of change.
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.
The Civil Rights Movement is the story of the struggle of African-American people and their fight for equality. Although exceptional leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Ralph Abernathy fought long and hard and carried the burden of the movement on their shoulders, they were not alone. The struggle was fueled by the commitment and the hard work of thousands of everyday people who decided that the time had come to take a stand.