Do you agree that Martin Luther king was the most important factor in the helping blacks gain more Civil Rights in the 1960's? Explain your answer.

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Do you agree that Martin Luther king was the most important factor in the helping blacks gain more Civil Rights in the 1960’s? Explain your answer.

In the 1950s and 60s blacks were considered as second-class citizens of the US, this was evident as they were totally ignored by the rest of America. Even though slavery was abolished years before but many Southern white Americans had not blacked out the thought. The Americans themselves had just come out of a very deadly war, which was fought to defeat racially prejudiced leaders such as Hitler who believed in a superior race; but still in America the cause they fought for was still lurking in their homeland. Blacks had also fought in the war and felt content that when they return home life would change for the better, but that wasn’t quite the case when they returned.

The minds of whites had not changed even after the fact that blacks had contributed to the war as well as the whites and, this feeling was transparently displayed by the whites situated in southern states; apart from having very menial jobs, segregation had also become a big part of their existence. Whites had separate restaurants, waiting rooms, laundrettes and drinking fountains. The subject that highlighted segregation was the case of Southern schools being segregated, which caused the blacks to be deprived of their equal educational rights; giving the whites a better chance of succeeding in society. This was looked at as a vital issue, as with no education the path would seem very short for black children who where supposed to be the future of America.

The national Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) picked up on the segregated education matter straight away; they challenged the fact that blacks did not have equal educational rights. Even though the `separate but equal` doctrine had been enforced. In 1954 the Supreme Court banned the segregation of the educational system, and the ruling practically fired the southern whites into a rage as lynching and beatings of blacks were at a high.

Civil Rights was the key thing blacks desperately wanted to have for many years but were ruthlessly denied; the right to have the right to be a civilian and not to be judged by the colour of their skin. A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another; gives rise for action, an example being the segregation of Southern schools. Main examples of civil rights are things such as freedom of speech, press, assembly, the right to vote, freedom form involuntary servitude and the right to equality in public places. Discrimination occurs when the civil rights of an individual are denied or interfered with because of the membership in a particular group or class. Laws have been enforced to prevent discrimination based on a person’s race, sex, religion, age, previous condition and also national origin.

Martin Luther King was a man of integrity, who used his power of speech to get across to people of all walks of life. He was seen as the main body of the Civil Rights movement as he made a great impact. King was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929 into a Christian bred home, and he studied at a segregated school where he surpassed with brilliant grades. King went on to study Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania and Boston University where he deepened his understanding of theological scholarship and explored Mahatma Ghandi’s non-violent strategy for social change. King went on to marry Coretta Scott in 1953 and the following year he accepted pastorate at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery; King received his Ph.D. in systematic theology in 1955. Also King visited India to have a better understanding of Satyagraha, which was Ghandi’s code of non-violent persuasion, which King used as his stepping-stone to equality among the black and whites. King had also picked up on the fact that Ghandi and his non-violent policy brought about a very positive result in India.

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The boycott could have been said to be the key point to the civil rights movement, in 1955 civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused a bus driver’s request to give up her seat to a white passenger; her arrest sparked up the Montgomery bus boycott which was a struggle to desegregate Montgomery’s city buses. Black residents launched a bus boycott in which they appointed King as the president of the newly formed Montgomery Improvement Association; Rosa Parks’ act was the enforcement Martin Luther King needed to bring across his beliefs to the nation. The boycott continued throughout 1956 and ...

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