Martin Luther King was extremely significant as he took part in a national movement. In the 1950s, legal changes had been local and changed state laws rather than federal laws. On the other hand, in 1963, he led the Washington march in which 200,000 blacks and 50,000 whites attended to listen to his “I have a dream” speech. The speech had a huge impact on the American public and President Kennedy promised he would introduce a Civil Rights Law which would give all people equality. It was passed in 1964 and it covered the whole of America allowing all black people the same legal rights as whites.
Martin Luther King was, undoubtedly, a catalyst for change as he contributed much to the Blacks gaining Civil Rights. Pre-war Civil Rights leaders lacked a consistent and united message. The movement was ineffectual as various people had various approaches to solve racial discrimination however these conflicted with other people’s approaches. Each leader had different views; some views such as Marcus Garvey’s were extreme. He doubted whether whites would ever treat blacks as equals, he therefore wanted complete separation from whites and he thought Blacks should return to Africa. He also formed an army to fight for the cause. Other leaders such as Booker T Washington believed that in order to deserve full legal and political rights, blacks needed to prove their loyalty to the United States by working hard. Others include William Du Bois who strongly opposed to Washington as Du Bois believed that Washington was teaching Blacks to accept low status occupations. William Du Bois helped to form the Niagara Movement and he campaigned for freedom of speech, the vote and an end to racial discrimination. Due to all the disagreement it was easy for the US government to ignore them. Martin Luther King, however, created a unified message of non-violent protest; this can be proven by the Washington March.
Martin Luther King was criticised for not improving the living standards of ordinary black people. Despite the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 30% of Black Americans remained unemployed and on average black workers earned half of what white workers seemingly earned. Racial discrimination was still an ongoing problem for blacks in America despite the fact the Civil Rights Act of 1964 declared black people were to be treated equally to whites. People began to doubt Martin Luther King’s ideas of non-violent protests leading to many riots between 1965 and 1967. The most serious was in the Watts area of L.A during August 1965; there were around 30,000 rioters and 34 deaths during this period. Although this was said to be because of Martin Luther King’s failures, he remained more successful than Black Nationalists. King passed many significant laws and helped give Black Americans rights, while Black Nationalists did not. Furthermore, Martin Luther King had millions of supporters while the Black Panthers, for instance, had a mere 2000. Between 1967 and 1969 the Black Panthers killed 9 policemen. In support of the Black Power movement, in 1968 two black athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, gave the Black Power salute after winning their gold’s at that year’s Olympics. They were later banned from running for the US. In 1966, a survey showed that less than 5% of black people supported Black Nationalism- this highlights King’s success.
We can clearly see that the importance of King was, and is, unquestionable; however, there were many other factors that influenced the Civil Rights Movement. One essential factor was World War II, World War II and the immediate years which followed inspired the 1960s Civil Rights movement as the wartime experience highlighted the extent of racism. Black Americans were integrated during the war, however, troops returned to segregated regiments after the war. This made the Black Americans feel like they were being used and this therefore fuelled anger and the strong desire for change. In the army, black soldiers usually served in black-only units with white officers. US marines did not allow black soldiers into combat- discrimination was at its worst in the navy. By the end of the war, only 58 black sailors had risen to officer rank. It was exclusively black sailors who were assigned to the dangerous job of loading ammunition on to the ships bound for the war zones, on average black workers earned half of what white workers did. Black leaders led by Philip Randolph threatened a mass march of 50,000 people to Washington to end discrimination at work. The war highlighted racial tensions, but it also helped the success of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s.
The local protests in the 1950s and the 1960s helped to make legal changes and provided Martin Luther King with a foundation to build upon. Rosa Parks made an important contribution to the Civil Rights Movement. In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for white people. She was arrested for this reason and the local black Civil Rights movement decided to protest. The best way to do this was to boycott the buses. This caused the local bus company in Montgomery to lose 65% of their profit due to black people refusing to travel by bus. In 1957, the law regarding segregation on the buses was changed. Moreover, in 1957 the first black children entered Little Rock High School in Alabama. This was due to the NAACP. Another group that contributed to the Civil Rights are the Freedom Riders; they were black and white students from across the southern States of America that protested against segregation on buses. This showed the willingness of many Americans to campaign for change but the changed, however, were small scale and local- King’s methods led to bigger changes more quickly. The Freedom Riders were assaulted and arrested and this was seen on TV therefore, President Kennedy set up protection for the Riders.
Another factor which affected the Civil Rights was the broader societal changes. In the 1960s, the power of the media was immense. The Vietnam photo by Eddie Adams was extremely powerful; it shocked millions around the world and caused an antiwar sentiment in the United States. Also, many students were protesting at universities. The criticism of ‘hypocritical’ government policies also helped for the Civil Rights Movement, the Americans were fighting against a racist Nazi state and they were criticised for being hypocrites as they were racist to their own nation. This was pressure Martin Luther King was able to capitalise on- using, for example, the media.
In conclusion, Martin Luther King was clearly essential in changing rights for black people in America but he was not the most important figure, he was the catalyst. For instance, the media, local pressure groups, WWII, Kennedy and broader societal changes also played a immense part. There were many pressure groups that laid the foundation for legal changes. Although many other factors were important in helping Blacks to gain more Civil Rights in the 1960s, King’s importance cannot be doubted. He was the catalyst for change; he unified the Civil Rights Movement and created a message of non-violent protest. He also manipulated the media in order to gain the public support and changed many laws, rapidly.