Throughout the period following the bus boycott and leading to the Albany campaign the SCLC organised ‘sit ins’ throughout many southern states, and after the formation of the student non-violence coordinating committee, freedom ride began. Martin Luther King did not play so much of a role during these events however in 1961 he became involved in the Albany campaign. This however was deemed as a failure, perhaps the low point of Kings involvement in civil rights, it failed to attract the attention that the boycott had enjoyed, there was no confrontation that would inspire people to act and the movement resulted in mass arrests with little being achieved. As a result of this King reassessed his tactics and changed strategy; he realise that he had to campaign in a highly racist area, where he could provoke strong opinions and confrontation which would be likely to attract media attention. He also realised that underlying this still needed to be the concept of non violent direct action.
Less than a year after the Albany campaign King and the SCLC realised they needed one main focal point in order to achieve something, they had learnt from Albany not to be vague and not to encompass too many different points. And so they undertook the Birmingham campaign in 1963, focusing on the desegregation of businesses. The area and campaign was well planned as to provoke a response from the authorities. The violence of Eugene ‘bull’ Connor and the police highlighted the irony and unfairness of the situation, and enabled King and his fellow activists to remain calm, collected and retain the moral high ground. It was during this campaign that King began to reach the high point as the leader of civil rights; here he demonstrates an intelligent, tactful and carefully planned movement, ensuring response that would attract media and world wide attention. It was in Birmingham that King wrote his letter from jail, outlining his reasons and establishing a firm ethos, answering criticism from other clergy he puts forwards his four steps for non violent direct action, ensuring a successful strategy is understood by all. By bringing many groups together and coordinating the campaign King made sure it was successful and that people across America, and indeed the world, would know about it. Following the success of Birmingham, King organised the famous ‘march on Washington’ what has been deemed by many as the pinnacle of the movement. King bought his charismatic, inspirational oratory and his ability to unite people to the cause, hundreds of thousands of people turned up, from many different faith groups. King was the figure head of the event, delivering a powerful speech demanding life, liberty and happiness for all. The march on Washington is arguably the high point of Kings time in the movement. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed, the movement had in theory achieved what it had been campaigning for; equality in the eyes of the law. Although voting was not included, 3 months after the march from Selma to Montgomery for fair voting acts, the Voting Rights Act was signed.
After the civil rights act, the voting act and the success King had enjoyed in the south, he tried to move north. However his southern, Christian message was not so well received in places such as Chicago, where he was booed and stones were throne. It comparison to earlier years King was not as popular, he began to lose presidential support as a result of his criticisms of the Vietnam war, people in the north were not as susceptible to his messages of passive resistance and non violence. Although he led the poor peoples march, which king called ‘the second phase’ of civil rights. He was neither as successful nor high profiled as in preceding years. Reasons for this may include the emergence of black power, splinter groups moving the focus away from one clear aim. Also the geographical movement meant that at this stage in Kings time as a civil rights leader he was not as widely supported as he did not appeal to his audience.
Nevertheless King used his talent of rhetoric, his ability to inspire and unite people to become the figure head of the movement, through bringing together different groups King made his way from the Bus Boycott in the 1950s to the height of civil rights with the march on Washington in front of the Lincoln memorial, to the passing of the civil rights act.