How Did Religion Influence The Civil Rights Movement

Martin Luther King was a honourable leader during his time he was famous for his speech “ I had a dream’ In this speech he calls for an end to racism in the United States and preaches his vision of a society in which race was not an issue in how people were treated or in how they were allowed to live their lives. Because of this speech the Negros respected him. He said this speech in front of millions who came to listen and for that he is a very brave man.

In Chapter 2, “Religion Matters”, Prothero briefly discusses how religion has impacted America even if it seems subsided, and why we tend to neglect it. When it comes to some of the major events of American history, Prothero argues that “none of the classic events in American history…can be understood without some knowledge of the religious motivations” of its major players. (Prothero) Perhaps part of the reason we generally ignore this statement is because of confusion and controversies it presents in government rulings and school teachings.

Martin Luther King Jr. is renowned as the leader of the great Civil Rights Movement. Throughout his letter from Birmingham Jail, King employs pathos, ethos, and logos to persuade his audience to join forces in order to overcome the physical and mental barriers of segregation.

Martin Luther King Jr. is a well known and an inspiring man to all cultures of the world. King was and still is one of the most influential heroes. King 's views and believes helped African Americans through the 50 's and 60 's to the rights and liberties that was their right. King faced many obstacles on his journey, things like jail and even assassination attempts. Despite these obstacles, he became a successful leader during the Civil Rights Movement and after his death, by guiding African Americans in a non-violent and positive direction for the fight to secure rights and equality for blacks.

Nearly 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern states still lived in a unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and various forms of oppression, including race-inspired violence. This is when the Civil Rights Movement was introduced; an era dedicated to activism for equal rights and treatment of African Americans in the United States. During this period, people rallied for social, legal, political, and cultural changes to end discrimination and segregation. This era included endless amount of events involving discrimination to minorities. This movement occurred somewhere between 1955 and 1965 but the exact time span is debated.

The struggle to obtain gay and civil rights has been directly influenced by religion, either in a positive or negative way. More specifically, religion has served as a disadvantage to achieving gay rights and an advantage to those that participated in the civil rights movement. Contrary to the recent successes of the gay rights movement, there have been a lot of obstacles along the way and most of them have been due to religious beliefs and practices. Religion opposes gay rights, especially gay marriage on the basis that it immoral and unnatural, it is against the word of God and it is incompatible with religious beliefs, sacred texts, and traditions of many religious groups(Eskridge,15). On the other hand, religion more directly influences the outcome of the civil rights movement by providing a basis for unity among African Americans. The concepts and strategies of the civil rights movement alluded to Biblical stories and admonitions. The church provided a physical shelter for African Americans to congregate and organize marches, sit-ins and protests, but also a spiritual overlook that guided them to the freedom that they always deserved.

     Being an African American in the United States during the civil rights movement was one of toughest times to live through. The African American felt as if they were treated as non-humans being sent to the United States as slaves, being deprived of their education, forced to live in separate segregated areas, and given the careers that were the lowest paying jobs. They also had no political rights or legal protection. After the North had fought for the African American population to gain freedom from slavery, they were abandoned and were forced to fight for themselves. The Blacks were then left with much ambivalence in regard on how they would go about achieving civil rights. During this time was

Martin Luther King Jr. is a household name. He became a martyr, known for exclusively preaching about love and dreams of equality. MLK was impassioned and eloquent and palatable enough for white people. He never wavered from the idea that the resolution to

Dr. King was a sensational leader. He led African Americans in nonviolent protests to fight for their freedom and equality. He taught them to fight with their mouth and not with their hands. He was a man of peace, so he did not believe in violence.

One unique quality that anyone King has affected can tell you, is how committed he was to his cause. Most people, if it came down to life or death, would back out and try to save themselves, but King was willing to die, just so all blacks then and in the future could experience a life with out segregation, without prejudice, and without discrimination.

The black church did several things for the boycott. Some of those things are it put Martin Luther King in the spot light of the civil rights movement. The church also help educate the black people on their own situation. Some that attended the meetings in the black church were able to shed the fear they had held for a long period of time.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress” (Douglas 2). This quote by Frederick Douglas, describes in only nine words the hardships and turmoil African Americans experienced throughout the decade of the Civil Rights Movement. During the 1960’s, African Americans suffered from racial segregation which consisted of; separate bathrooms, seating at the rear of public transportation, and unequal treatment from their white counterpart. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, Rosa Parks, and many others led the push to end all racial inequalities between blacks and whites; however, throughout this movement, many activists experienced assault along with violent behavior, incarcerated, and even killed fighting for their right of racial equality.

They both portrayed God as a source of hope and motivation during their speeches and interviews, and as a protector for all nonviolent protestants. John Lewis was very attached to the bible since childhood, and he kept this attachment during the years, that in his belief helped him gain the strength necessary to lead nonviolent movements. During the march on Selma in 19--, the leader of the movement John Lewis suggested to Hosea: “we shall knee and pray” (Lewis and Aydin 199) once they were stopped and ordered to disperse by the police. By making everybody kneel and pray once he saw no option other than a violent encounter with the police, he restored the hope and motivation of facing violence that the people might have lost when they were stopped by the police. Because of the use of God and prayers during the movements, nonviolent leaders attracted more and more people, and thanks to the support from the church, their beliefs spread rapidly in the black community.

Dr. King had the courage to face the risk and pursed non-violent call to arms. He led a social movement of equality during a time when he wasn’t supported by most. He was threatened and despised by many but he did not show reluctance or even shaken. In fact, he encouraged others by telling them cold facts

The Civil Rights Movement played a very important role for African Americans in the Unites States. In the early 1960s The Civil Rights Movement was unified to end racial segregation and discrimination. African Americans still lived in an unequal world of disenfranchisement, segregation and injustice, like race inspired violence. many Americans united together across color lines to protest the racism and discrimination that existed in the United States. During the 1950s and the early 1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr. became an important leader of the Civil Rights Movement. He advocated non-violent protest. He believed that people of all races would look favorably on a movement that encouraged peace and equality and did not meet injustice with violence. King's peaceful message attracted thousands of supporters of all races who agreed that segregation and the lack of rights for African Americans could not continue. But some of the African Americans became frustrated and began to reject the calls for non-violent protests. They wanted changes to occur much more