preview

How Did Martin Luther King Influence The Civil Rights Movement

Decent Essays

In the early 1950s and 1960s, protests were organized by major Civil Rights groups to end Jim Crow laws and gain racial equality and eliminate segregated facilities and the unfair treatment of African-Americans. [1]
Four college students sat down to eat in Greensboro, North Carolina on February 1, 1960 at the Woolworth lunch counter. They were refused service but stayed seated to fight back against the discrimination they were facing. This was a demonstration of peaceful protest that turned into a six month long process of getting the Woolworth lunch counter desegregated. This example of peaceful protests against segregated lunch counters spread nationwide. [3]
Martin Luther King Jr., born Michael King Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia on …show more content…

Later on, Dr. King was influenced by Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience. Thoreau's essay promoted disobeying the law if given just cause. Dr. King's nonviolent approach was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, who lead a number of peaceful protests in India. [1]
At 18 years old in 1948, Martin Luther King Jr. became a minister in the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Then in 1954, he became a pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. This is where his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement began. [1]
In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and put into the Birmingham Jail for protesting against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Here he wrote the Birmingham Jail letter, which stated that civil rights were God-given rights. He also defended the non-violent strategies he and others used during the Civil Rights Movement. [3]
Martin Luther King Jr.'s goal was economical and social equality for not only African-Americans, but all races. He never used violence when organizing a protest in order to achieve a …show more content…

This action prompted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to organize bus boycotts in Reverend King's church. In the court case Browder V. Gayle in 1956, segregated buses were determined unconstitutional. The Montgomery Bus Boycotts ended on December 20, 1956. [2]
Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent principles impacted many organizations, such as the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee. This committee was organized in order to have young voices heard during the civil rights era. [3]
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska on May 19, 1925. His parents were Reverend Earl Little and Louise Little. Malcolm's father organized for Marcus Garvey, whose teaching was Black race purity. Malcolm X's father's death was suspected to be result of the KKK. Malcolm X dropped out of school in the eighth grade because his teachers told him is goal of being a lawyer was unrealistic. [1]
Malcolm X was greatly influenced by his father, Reverend Earl Little. Reverend Little organized for Marcus Garvey, who pushed for African-Americans to return back to their African roots. Later on, Malcolm X's siblings would also push him to join the Black Muslims while he was in prison in 1944.

Get Access