Albany Movement

King had a vision that one day all races would be treated equally. Being the educated man that he was, receiving his Doctorate from Boston University, Dr. King never saw failure as an option. King was a third generation Baptist Minister and was the Leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Dr. King was from the South and was very familiar with the city of Birmingham which was known as the most violently segregated city in the United States. An affiliate of Dr. King’s invited him to Birmingham to engage in a nonviolent protest to which he agreed. During the nonviolent protest Dr. King was arrested for protesting without a permit. While in a Birmingham County jail cell Martin Luther King explains issues within the past day’s society that needed to be addressed including the church, the white moderates, and how he had been labeled an extremist.

Meanwhile, in 1963 King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), continued to fight for civil rights but this time they marched to Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham was the worst city for the blacks in the south. King went to the city’s leaders and demanded that they change the laws about public places being segregated, but the leaders of Birmingham refused to change. Many blacks were afraid to protest because they were scared that they would end up in jail. King responded with, “If the road to freedom leader through the jailhouse … then, turnkey, swing wide the gates!” (Hakim 18). On April 12, 1963 King led a march down the streets of Birmingham. They headed towards City Hall, but never made it because the police stopped the

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.

Martin Luther King Jr. wanted a demonstration, or protest, of the situation of the blacks and whites to be held in the most segregated city in the United States, Birmingham, Alabama. The Birmingham March took place between April and May of 1963. The protests and rallies were both peaceful and nonviolent. However, the police got tired of the daily protests and arrested hundreds that they found to be responsible for taking part in them and used unnecessary force, such as high pressured

King Jr. continued to endure the hardships, he would soon find out that he would be rewarded for his perseverance, when society was soon affected in a positive way. During the protests police ordered violent acts to stop the protesters and many protesters were jailed. The violent police acts were shown on television. The actions taken horrified many Americans (Marazani 3). Since the unjust acts were finally being televised, citizens of the United States, were now actually seeing and realizing the cruel actions that were being taken against protesters, by American officers. Now that America was finally realizing the harsh acts against African American protestors, Dr. King Jr’s goal of ending segregation was almost accomplished by making the problem known throughout America. Since all of America now knew about the brutality that police were enforcing against African Americans, there was an outrage and an agreement was reached and employers agreed to desegregate public places, and employ African Americans (Birmingham 3). Therefore the demonstrations finally came to an end now that Dr King Jr’s goal had finally been achieved. Dr. King Jr. and the protests had successfully desegregated the city of Birmingham, as well as achieving rights of equality for African Americans. However this would not have been possible without the Letters from the Birmingham

Dr. King was in Birmingham because of the injustice that is going on over those that believe in equality and civil rights for, on the other side there were those that didn’t. The city population was mainly KKK members, one man in particular was Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene “Bull” Connor 's who was more about segregation that equal rights that’s members needed someone in high authority on their side. While the protester marched nonviolently the were attacked by police dogs and strong blasted of water holes similar to the ones use to put out fires. ( King, 2006)

In the early 1960s, Birmingham was, culturally and forced by police, one of the most racially divided cities in the United States. Blacks did not have the same legal and economic rights as their white brethren. When attention was drawn to this issue, they were faced with violent responses. It was conceivably the most segregated city in the country. Protests began to form to fight for equal chance of employment at businesses and to end segregation in public places such as stores and schools. Sit-ins were soon organized after the failed protests to produce a copious amount of arrests and draw the country's attention towards Birmingham. Shortly after, the amount of adults to take part in the sit-ins fell harshly and there were new volunteers. High school and college students rose to the occasion and took part in passively fighting for their rights. With the addition of the students also came many of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference). Among those who came with the SCLC was a very important guest. One who was jailed, had an article criticizing himself and his methods, and was able to produce a letter in which he responded to the writers of the article while incarcerated. This man

Events, such as those mentioned above, provided the Civil Rights Movement with a great deal of publicity and revealed the intense violence that these activists were faced with. Another such series of events took place in Birmingham, Alabama in the spring of 1963. Considered to be the most segregated city in the country, Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy, and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth decided to lead a series of marches and protests here. After being released from jail following his arrest during one of the campaigns, King and others believed that the fight in Birmingham was suffering with a dwindling number of volunteers and little

King's mission was to end segregation. African Americans could not eat at the same restaurants, drink from the same water fountains or use the same restrooms. Peaceful protests erupted throughout the south which brought about nationwide attention. The Birmingham Police did not take well to the protesters and used attack dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators. Dr. King was jailed along with many of his supporters, including hundreds of schoolchildren. In his letter he defends his non-violent approach for cultural change. He makes clear his position that surpressed people past and present will eventually grow tired and will see their own justice. He wanted to lead the protesters to have a collective mindset to make change without violence and to take a moral high road to affect change. He clarifies his views as to why oppressed people resist their oppression. In addition he expresses his personal belief in the human decency of all Americans. He weaves in past world history as examples to his projected

In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, he talks about the four basic steps of a nonviolent campaign, “the collection of facts..., negotiation, self-purification, and direct action.” Direct action is taken when the attempt to negotiate fails to reach the end goal. Through direct action, Dr. King hopes to create tension in the community that they are “forced to confront the issue.” There would not have been any need to create tension through direct action if the attempts to negotiate were not refused. He creates this tension by taking measures to show the community the evils of segregation through sit-ins, marches, bus boycotting, etc. The goal of these actions was to open the eyes of the community to realize the effect

Dr. Martin Luther King wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in response to seven clergymen who misinterpreted peaceful protests by the Southern Christian Leadership. Dr. King, being the president of the Southern Christian Leadership, organized these peaceful protests for part of the black community of Alabama, which were desperate for change. King’s definitive goal for his letter to the clergymen was to explain what he, and majority of the blacks in Alabama, were experiencing. He wanted to give them insight on the actuality of the amount of oppression received by blacks from whites, including the police officers that were ultimately supposed to enforce legal equality. The clergymen claimed that Dr. King and his colleagues were outsiders that had no real business in Birmingham, Alabama. In King’s response, he counters by stating the reason for his appearance. He states that he was invited to Birmingham by the Alabama Christian Movement, on behalf of the African Americans that resided there. He went to Birmingham to confront the racial injustices that lived there. He and his associates had peaceful marches and sit-ins in order to gain the attention of the white community; however, their gatherings and protests, not approved by the city, were unpermitted, thus against the law. King acknowledges that they were breaking a law, but the fact that blacks were being so mistreated by whites caused him to make the sacrifice of disregarding that unjust law in order to gain the oppressor’s attention. He also argues that people of color should be able to have a peaceful protest, and should be supported by the rest of the community because they are protesting equality and justice. Dr. King argued that the Birmingham government failed to compromise with the African American community on rights that they were very much entitled to. After witnessing this firsthand, he acknowledged the clergymen to clarify his intentions, as well as to address the amount of obvious oppression that blacks were forced to face.

This town was the worst in the South for African Americans.” One of the most racist individuals Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor and the Mayor of Birmingham disregarded any of the directives regarding desegregation given to them. Challenges did not end once these two individuals were out of office. They still controlled the police of Birmingham and vowed to put all persons in jail that violated any laws. Abernathy and King knew if they could win Birmingham in their efforts to segregate then they very well could win the nation. So they set out to do this very thing. Abernathy spoke at rallies in Birmingham while others organized a march. King and Abernathy received warnings from ministers, Rabbi’s and priest that the proposed march was “untimely and unwise”. Once receiving this information Dr. King addressed the committee and declared that they would march right here and now! He along with Abernathy walked right out the door leaving a room full stunned and silent individuals. They walked past many of Bull Connor's advanced scouts and police cars to where they could hear the singing of the sixteenth Baptist Church. Once Dr. King stepped up to the pulpit he addressed the crowd. Once they stepped out of the church they faced a number of demonstrators which had grown tremendously, so had the number of others who were joining in the march. It didn’t take long for the police to intervene and Abernathy along with King were arrested. They

The aims of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was to end racial discrimination and segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the leaders of this movement and an advocate for non-violent protests and peaceful resistance. Starting with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, MLK lead a series of non-violent protests, inspired by Thoreau’s essay. Blacks marched, boycotted, and protested for their rights and were arrested in the process. In 1963, the March on Birmingham occurred, to encourage integration and desegregation in Birmingham. Children as young as six years old marched and were arrested. It captured the attention of the nation and employed real social and legal change, as the city was required to integrate and hire African Americans downtown. MLK was a part of the Birmingham Campaign and was arrested and imprisoned, writing his famed “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. In this letter, MLK expresses his reasons for the protest and his desire for equality. MLK stated “in no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law … I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law” (King). In this passage, he states his willingness to accept his punishment for breaking the law, a small price to pay for the possible change he could make in

The Birmingham campaign was a movement organized by King Martin Luther in the spring of 1963 to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. In the early 1960s, Birmingham was a very segregated city. This meant that black and white people were kept separated. They had different schools, restaurants, water fountains and even different place to stay. There were laws that allowed and enforced segregation called Jim Crow Laws. The movement which began in April, utilized massive direct action to attack Birmingham’s strongly engrained system of segregation. The protests were co-named “Project C”. The “C” stood for “confrontation”. The protests were non violent and included boycotting downtown stores, sit-ins, marches. The organizers thought that if enough people protested, then the local government would be forced to confront them and this would make national news gaining them support the federal government and the rest of the country. This project C brought national attention to the inequality of America’s economic, legal and social system- attention that led to the civil rights act of 1964.

In April and May of 1963, Birmingham, Alabama was a focal point for the civil rights movement. Birmingham was home to one of the most violent cells of the KKK and violence against black people was so commonplace (especially in the form of explosives) that it was referred to as “Bombingham.” It was these conditions that lead Martin Luther King to arrive and organize a series of non-violent protests in the city. These protests were relatively low key and weren’t very well attended. This was due to the fact that political rivalries between King’s organization, the SCLC, and other civil right’s organizations like CORE and the NAACP. However, the Birmingham protests soon became headlines due to the response of the city’s police