African American Civil Rights Turning Points

Martin Luther King Jr. showed African Americans nonviolent ways to resist. He did not want African Americans to commit violent acts for their rights. For example, slaves resist by not picking cotton or picking below their usual amount. Resistant in nonviolent ways require people to find other ways to resist without fighting or hurting someone. According to Pitney, he believes King wanted African Americans “to resist white racism through nonviolent actions undertaken in a spirit of love” (Pitney 2). In other words, he wanted African Americans to fight for their rights but he did not want them harm someone else to get equality. For instance, if a white man was using racial slurs toward a

Martin Luther King Jr. was a brilliant man who preached non-violence to his followers during the fight of equality in deeply

In 1963, minister and rights activist, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech in front of Lincoln memorial to bring awareness to the unfairness of injustice for black people. King's speech was an effort to try and mandate the coming together of the black and white race and finally have the equality between us all be put into force for a free nation. As the speech left King’s mouth and entered 250,000 citizens ears, it left them to think about what point he was trying to make because he uses pathos, logos, and ethos.

Martin Luther king Jr, and his followers stood for non-violent protests, despite being victims of threats. Although King was highly recognized, and praised amongst the black community not all African American’s agreed with his ideology of obtaining their civil rights through peaceful non-violence protest. Therefore other movements were created such as the Black Power Movement which was a group that emphasized that blacks should claim their civil rights through violence. Overall Martin Luther King Jr had an major impact on the civil rights movement, and will always be remembered for his famous impactful “I have a dream speech” which was his vision of black & white people coinciding with one another, and ultimately living in peace together where blacks do not have to worry about being judged by their skin color, but instead their actions. “I have a dream that my four little children will 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.”

Dr. King was looking for support from members of society in order to create an effective change in society’s ethics. Moreover, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s large audience and public movement used nonviolent tactics, such as sit-ins, marches, and freedom rides to put the Civil Rights Movement in action. Before directly acting against the law, Dr. King had used other means to try to obtain justice for all; he used the four basic steps of a nonviolent campaign to decide how he would approach this cultural issue of racism: determination of whether injustices exist, negotiation, self-purification, and direct action (King 1). After the first three steps of his nonviolent campaign proved to be ineffective, he decided to seek direct action through a large demonstration of civil disobedience. Dr. King had a tremendous impact on the segregation issue in not just Birmingham, but the entire country, by leading the Civil Rights Movement, which eventually helped influence anti-segregation legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that affected a massive population of the entire country. Although Dr. King’s journey ended in his assassination, his relentless passion for equal rights was empowering to many and helped to create a more just society.

Key Catalysts in the civil rights movement where also the individual stories that spread, helped inspire masses to

The Civil Rights Movement’s influence has been extensive and enduring. It has transformed the American culture and society up until this present day. Even though racism has not disappeared, there is far less tolerance for racist attitudes and behavior than before the 1960s. It has occupied a large part of the American history and is still a very controversial subject today. The goal of the Civil Rights Movement was to end racial segregation and discrimination against the African Americans or as were called at that time “Negros”. African Americans also sought for federal protection of their citizenship rights and to grant them equal protection under the 13th and 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. Below are three of the landmark cases heard

Martin Luther King Jr dedicated his life fighting to end discrimination against African-American men, women, and children. Martin did not believe in violence at all and would use kindness and love as opposed to violence and hate, this would help set the tone of his iconic movement to end racism. Martin was able to prove that a world without violence can be successful. He would be able to establish equal voting rights between the black and white people, and establish that all nations must treat all people equal no matter their skin color.

Martin Luther King Jr. started a revolution in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in change. He wanted to put an end to the Jim Crow laws which gave Negroes economic, educational, and social disadvantages. These laws made white people more superior than the blacks. Martin Luther King Jr.’s voice was heard when he chose to boycott these laws after a woman by the name of Rosa Parks was arrested because she

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Believed in achieving equality through peaceful demonstrations: “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred” (King, pg.3 ¶.1). He felt that equality had to be gained through honorable, civil ways otherwise those fighting for equality were no better than the slave owners. We can see this best when he says, “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence” (King, pg.3 ¶.2). MLK felt that it was in the best interests of all parties for black to integrate into society. A couple of his quotes that show this best are, “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood” (King, pg.4 ¶.6). and “I have a dream that one day in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers” (King, pg.5 ¶.2).

Many people think that Martin Luther King, Jr. is a great warrior because no one stood up against the government, but he stood up against oppression against his race. Even when, threatened he kept fighting : “On September 30, 1956, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s house was bombed by segregationists in retaliation for the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott”. He didn’t run when he got attacked; He tried to save everyone. For example, when he experienced terrorism by a bad squad, he didn’t run away. I might be very scared, but Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t run away and he tried to protect people from terror. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew many people thought oppression against race has to be changed : “ When he was a young man, Martin Luther King wanted a career helping people. He felt that as a minister, he could speak out “against racial injustice”. Following the example of the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. King chose nonviolence as the keystone of his fight for civil rights”.

The majority of participants in the civil rights movement chose the non-violent way. Within this path, individuals and groups took different approaches to the method. There were individual protests here and there. The prominent of the black civil rights movement began after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision where the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be constitutional. The court case brought notice to the world about the state of African Americans. Organized Civil Rights Movements went on the rise after that. People began to apply civil disobedience to achieve their goals. Rosa Parks, a prominent figure in the Movement, was famous for her action on one of her bus rides. The law back then required African Americans to sit in the back of the bus but she refused to do

During his lifetime, Martin Luther king dared to not only dream about a better future but also fight for it. He was not afraid from having confrontations in order to promise a change. We can see his decisiveness when his arguments for stopping discrimination against black were not enough to change the situation. He decided to make a direct action in order to make society confront the issue.

During the course of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, there were several black and white supporters who had brave roles. The most prominent and persistent activist of African American rights movement was Martin Luther King Jr. King’s ideas sparked the ideal perspective of equality. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for equality by organizing marches, giving powerful speeches, and staying positive through adversity.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December, 1955 till to April 4, 1968, African Americans accomplished more genuine progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years had produced. Dr. King is broadly regarded as America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence and one of the greatest nonviolent leaders in world history. Drawing inspiration from both his Christian faith and the peaceful teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. Dr. King led a "nonviolent movement" in the late 1950’s and ‘60s to accomplish legal equality for African-Americans in the United States. While others were supporting for liberty by “any means necessary,” including violence, but Martin used the power of words and acts of nonviolent resistance, such as protests, grassroots organizing, and civil disobedience to achieve seemingly-impossible goals. He went to lead similar campaigns against poverty and international conflict, always preserving loyalty to his principles that men and women everywhere, regardless of color or creed, are equal members of the human family