Montgomery Alabama was a heavily segregated state in Southern America. On 1 December 1955, Mrs Rosa Parks, an African-American was arrested in Montgomery for not giving up her seat for a white bus rider. The Alabama law said that Blacks should give up their seats if there was not enough room for White people to sit down. The bus became occupied and there were no seats left, so a white man demanded that Rosa give him her seat. She quietly refused, neither arguing nor moving. The white bus driver threatened to call the police unless she gave up her seat. She merely replied:
“Go ahead and call them”
The police arrived and Park was jailed. Rosa Parks was the secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People; therefore news of what happened spread across Montgomery. Rosa’s friend phoned a new young Baptist to ask for help and advice; his name was Martin Luther King.
Martin Luther King called for a protest, which was the start of racial equality. Thousands of People turned up to his meeting and there he decided to start a boycott of Montgomery’s buses. Blacks agreed not to use the buses, which would deprive the bus company of 65% of its income, as blacks were the main users of buses as not all of them could afford to have a car. King was fined $500 and charged with plotting an illegal bus boycott. He was taken to court to be found guilty that bus segregation violated the constitution. On 13th November 1956 the Supreme Court declared that segregation on buses was illegal. Through this bus boycott King regained the confidence for the blacks, which removed the fear of ‘white revenge’ from their hearts. Martin Luther king succeeded here however, he was not involved in the struggle of desegregation in schools. On 25 September 1957 Little rock Arkansas was desegregated without the help of Martin Luther King.
In 1957, Black ministers formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and King was named the first president, giving blacks a leader however he was not the only black leader; Malcolm X was also a civil rights leader. The two differed greatly but reached the same point. King believed in non-violent protests influenced by Mahatma Ghandi however these campaigns led to more white violence e.g. four black children were shot by whites whilst attending Sunday School.
The next campaign organised by Martin Luther King was the Birmingham campaign in 1963. Along with other black leaders Martin Luther King organised a new campaign to desegregate Birmingham in Alabama. This was one of the worst states for discrimination of the blacks. At least 30, 000 people were involved in the Birmingham campaign, including students and schoolchildren. On Good Friday King was arrested whilst leading the march through the centre of Birmingham. Many others involved in the marches were imprisoned and the jails of Birmingham were full. King organised the people and the campaigns, he chose the place to protest where he knew the chief police would react violently and notified the world press (TV and newspaper industry). He began to use the media to get more supporters to gain more civil rights, the more King used the media the more support he gained. This showed USA to be hypocrites at a time of the Cold War when the USA were said to be leaders of the free world but a joke to the blacks.
In 1963 President Kennedy was asking congress to pass a civil rights bill with the purpose of ending racial discrimination in all public places. Kennedy feared that their would be a danger that congress would not pass the bill as some politicians declared they would fight against the bill, therefore he organised a demonstration. This was one of the biggest demonstrations in American History as it attracted 50,000 people. On 20th August 1963 nearly 50, 000 people marched on Washington and gathered at the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King delivered one of his most famous and powerful speeches, “I have a Dream”. In 1964 congress passed the Civil Rights Bill. King inspired the blacks to join the protests and influenced them to speak out. King made them believe that it was possible for them to have a part in the “American Dream”.
King moved his headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to Chicago, as he believed that civil rights must be taken to all of America for all blacks people. However, the blacks living in the North rejected him. He wanted to improve the life for blacks living in the North, but most of the blacks in the North were the young blacks that were impatient and refused to demonstrate peacefully while being abused and discriminated by whites. They followed Malcolm X with his violent protests. These brought immediate results but not all of King’s protests brought immediate results. Malcolm X believed violence must meet violence to remove violence and this appealed to the youth who were jobless with no hope or future, this gave them pride.
In 1960’s Martin Luther King was not involved in the Freedom Rides, which were made to integrate blacks and whites. It was the Congress Of Racial Equality, which started these Freedom Rides. The buses became integrated, but there were other places such as restaurants, shops etc which persisted to have ‘White Only’ signs. Black civil rights protestors would try to use ‘whites only’ facilities and were sometimes beaten up. President Kennedy sent 500 constabulary to shield a group of freedom riders who set off from Montgomery nonetheless they were attacked. This triggered off a race riot. Ultimately President Kennedy got the Interstate Commerce Commission to end segregation.
In 1965 a voting rights act was passed through congress, which allowed the blacks to vote. It prohibited the states from using literacy tests, interpreting the constitution and other method of excluding blacks from voting. Registration to vote for blacks rose from 6.7 % to 66.5 %.
In 1968 black power demonstrators started a battle with the police when the police broke up a demonstration in Memphis, Tennessee. A boy died in the battle. King approved to direct a march through Memphis, even although he had received numerous death threats. On 4 April 1968, the evening of the march Martin Luther King was stood on the balcony of his Memphis Motel room when he was assassinated. World leaders attended his funeral showing how he was honoured around the world for his civil rights. The death of King shocked the world and president Kennedy gave a speech to the world on the death of King.
Martin Luther King was a pacifist arguing that non-violent direct action was the best method of achieving success. Being a Christian he preached love for your enemy and the need for no violence in life. He never gave up when he received death threats and when his house was bombed, he put himself in danger proving to be a true leader. He was a symbol of hope and was respected. He made 208 speeches travelling 1,250,000 kilometres campaigning for black rights. His campaigns and speeches changed the hearts of white Americans towards black Americans. He was awarded the Nobel Prize as the world saw the way he changed the attitudes to whites through his love and character. He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the Federal Government acknowledged his efforts of being the most important factor in contributing to gain more black civil rights. In 1973 a blacks was elected as Mayor of Los Angeles where only one in eights is black he pointed out that if it had not been for King there might have been a bloodbath in parts of America in the 1960’s. Another man remarked:
“ A man with a conscience of his generation”
Shaming America into the passing of civil rights for all Black people, through his gift of oratory; his great organizational skills which he used into inspiring others into accepting his message, his vision of freedom for all. He was the uncrowned leader of the Civil Rights Movement. He was an admiration, inspiration, elegance and father of four who motivated others for a just cause.