What Did Martin Luther King Do To Improve the Lives of Black People in the United States of America?
Nearly 100 years after the 13th Amendment had freed the slaves; Black Americans still did not have equal rights. Black citizens were stopped from using the same facilities as whites in restaurants, hotels, theatres, and cinemas. Many states forbade marriage between black and white people. Separate, and always inferior, schools were set up for black children. Separate black and white residential areas in towns were created, and there was even segregation in the armed forces! Ways were even found to prevent most black people from having the right to vote. The Ku Klux Klan was an organization that still used violence against any black people who tried to stand up for themselves. Police, judges, lawyers, and juries in the south were all black so any attackers on black people were not punished. Martin Luther King, a young Baptist minister became the leader of the movement to win civil Rights for black people. This essay will investigate what Martin Luther King did to improve the lives of Black people in the USA.
In Alabama it was law that a black person would have to give up their seat for a white person on a bus if there wasn't enough room. In 1955 Rosa Parks, an old black woman refused to give up her seat on a bus; she was arrested and fined by the state police. Martin Luther King became involved when he was told about the incident by one of Rosa's friends. He told all of the black people of Montgomery to take part in a peaceful protest that would involve refusing to go on the buses. He knew that this protest would hurt the bus companies because very few black people could afford cars as they had poor jobs. On Monday 5th December 1955 the protest began, most people walked to their work or school refusing to go on the buses. By February the following year the Bus Company was in danger of going bust! Martin Luther King and 100 other protesters were arrested and charged for plotting an illegal boycott. Martin was ordered to pay a $1000 fine. Martin Luther King became famous as reporters came from around the world to Montgomery. The US government felt embarrassed because other countries supported the black people and were sending money to help them. On 13th November 1956, after 13 months of protesting and a lot of pressure from other countries, the Supreme Court announced that segregation on buses was illegal. Martin Luther king took an important role in this protest as he came up with the idea of having this protest and he encouraged the people of Montgomery to walk and not use the public buses. But I think the people of Montgomery were just as important because so many of them didn't use the buses. The protest wouldn't have worked if only a few people had walked to work because the Bus Company would not have lost very much money. Although the Supreme Court announced that segregation on buses was illegal I don't think that they were very important as they only changed the law because they were put under so much pressure by other countries. The boycott gave Martin Luther King a position of leadership within the national movement and showed that the non violent method of protest was very effective.
