Who was the most influential figure in the Civil Rights Movement in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s? What impact did he/she have?

TULIP DAS

Until the 1950s, African American faced discrimination in every aspect of their lives. In practice, many US lawmakers and law enforcers approved systematic segregation according to race. This resulted in African Americans becoming victims of mob rule and lynching, being forced to use separate entrances to buildings, being separated in theatres and on buses, denied access to "whites only" swimming pools, hospitals, school and even cemeteries.

During the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans, along with other people of other racial groups within the United States, embarked on a campaign to change this situation. This campaign, the Civil Rights Movement, challenged the discrimination and fought to achieve the equality that the American constitution promised for its entire people

One of the principle leader and the most influential figure in the civil rights movement was Martin Luther King Jr.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929, the eldest son of Martin Luther King, Sr., he entered Morehouse College at the age of 15 and was ordained a Baptist minister at the age of 18. Graduating from Crozer Theological Seminary as class president in 1951, he then did postgraduate work at Boston University. King's studies at Crozer and Boston led him to explore the works of the Indian nationalist Mohandas K. Gandhi, whose ideas became the core of his own philosophy of non-violent protest. That same year the Supreme Court of the United States outlawed all segregated public education, and in the wake of that decision, the segregated South was soon challenged in every area of public adaptation. In 1955 King, who had just received his Ph.D. degree, was asked to lead a bus boycott in Montgomery. The city's black leaders had organized the boycott to protest against enforced racial segregation in public transport after the arrest of Rosa Parks, a black woman who had refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. In the course of the 381-day action King was arrested and jailed, his home was bombed, and many threats were made against his life. The boycott ended in 1956 with a mandate from the Supreme Court outlawing all segregated public transport in the city.

The Montgomery boycott was a clear victory for non-violent protest, and King emerged as a highly respected leader. Mindful of this, black clergymen from across the South organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), with King as its president.

On a visit to India in 1959 King was able to work out more clearly his understanding of Gandhi's principle of non-violent persuasion, which King had determined to use as his main instrument of social protest. The next year he gave up his pastorate in Montgomery to become co-pastor (with his father) of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, ...

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At that time, black leadership was undergoing a radical transformation. Having once focused on legal action and reconciliation, it was now demanding change “by any means possible.” Differences of ideology and influence between the SCLC and other groups were unavoidable, but King's prestige ensured that non-violence, although not universally popular, remained the official mode of resistance. In 1963 he led a massive civil rights campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, and organized drives for black voter registration, desegregation, and better education and housing throughout the South. During these non-violent campaigns he was arrested several times. He led the historic March on Washington, August 28, 1963, where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, where he spoke of his dream for a different America. In 1964 King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforst in the civil rights movement.

As time passed, King became increasingly sensitive to the variety of forms violence could take. It had also become clear that scores of Northern cities that had sent protest marchers to the South were themselves careless in correcting racial discrimination. King's campaign for civil rights became less influential as:

Many activists devoted their energies in anti-war protests against US involvement in Vietnam
Younger and more radical supporters of the civil rights movement began openly question the effectiveness of King's use of non-violent protest.

Finally, King believed that the war then raging in Vietnam poisoned the whole atmosphere and made the solution of local problems of human relations unrealistic.

On the last two issues, King's strategies were severely challenged. In Chicago, where his first major Northern campaign was launched, he was publicly opposed by local black Baptists. There, too, his marchers were met by mobs of whites, armed with clubs and led by uniformed neo-Nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan. As for the war in Vietnam, most blacks felt that their own problems deserved priority and that the black leadership should concentrate on fighting racial injustice at home. King's beliefs were also opposed by other well-known leaders such as Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm x, etc. Stokely Carmichael argued that many whites remained violently opposed to civil rights despite King's appeals to their consciences and morality. Malcolm X spoke of King's non-violence as " the philosophy of the fool" and called for a "black revolution" to overthrow white power.

King's following concern with Vietnam and his determination to lead a Poor People's March on Washington combined with shifting public priorities to challenge his leadership. He was near exhaustion from stress, and his speeches increasingly referred to his possible death. He was not discourage, however, for as he put it on April 3, 1968, he had “been to the mountain top and seen the Promised Land”. The following day King was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. Some 100,000 people attended his funeral in Atlanta. A white escaped convict, James Earl Ray, was arrested for the murder; he pleaded guilty and in March 1969 was sentenced to 99 years in prison. In 1983 the third Monday in January was designated a national holiday in honour of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday; his Atlanta birthplace and gravesite were made a national historic site.

This shows how Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most prominent and influential figures in the construction of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA. His moral beliefs had led the African Americans to an equal superiority lifestyle today. By the start of the twenty first century, open racism had become unacceptable and African Americans were playing increasingly significant roles in all aspects of United States life. At the same time, the Civil Rights Movement has yet to succeed in overcoming the prejudices that were built up across many generations.

Peer Reviews

Here's what a star student thought of this essay

garethevans

31st of Aug 2012

Quality of writing

Good. Spelling, grammar and punctuation are all sound and the essay itself is well organised. However I would advise a more concise order which allows an examiner to clearly identify your view, reasoning and conclusions.

Level of analysis

Fairly good, high level of biographical information as well as detail of certain events during his campaign and their overall impact. I would like to see a few comparisons to other significant leaders, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and W.E.B Du Bois explored further. Why did you choose King? However, on the whole, a decent level of analysis here.

Response to question

A solid response to the given question; and provides a clear and definitive answer. However, I feel there is too much 'background info' (wiki-drivel) at the start which isn't great. The main focus should be on what MLK did and evaluating his impact on the movement throughout. For example, discussing the 'March on Washington', his skills as an orator as well as some percieved negatives (Selfish? Womaniser? Hypocrite?).

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