Why was Martin Luther King given the Nobel Peace Prize?
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Why was Martin Luther King Given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964? Martin Luther King was one of the most successful leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. He had many methods and tactics that he used to make sure that the black community had their freedom and rights. Carry on reading to find out more about him and the way he led the Civil Rights Movement. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” Quote from MLK’s speech ‘I have a dream’ Martin Luther King’s methods were pretty simple. Most of his methods used were same as the ones used by Gandhi. He believed that using violence to fight was not the answer. He set up non-violent protest marches in white territories to get their attention, for example ‘The March on Washington’ in August 1963. Bayard Rustin was given the role to control the march. The march was a great success and there were about 250,000 to 400,000 people in the
crowd; some speakers included were Philip Randolph , Martin Luther King, Floyd McKissick , John Lewis, Roy Wilkins, Witney Young and Walter Reuther. Martin Luther King was the final speaker and made his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. He would also give lots of emotional speeches that were heartbreaking. He used civil disobedience a lot to show that everyone was equal, black or white. As well as the mentioned above, King also enforced boycotts; one of them being the bus boycott. Rosa Parks, whom you may have of, was given a harsh time when she refused to give up ...
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crowd; some speakers included were Philip Randolph , Martin Luther King, Floyd McKissick , John Lewis, Roy Wilkins, Witney Young and Walter Reuther. Martin Luther King was the final speaker and made his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. He would also give lots of emotional speeches that were heartbreaking. He used civil disobedience a lot to show that everyone was equal, black or white. As well as the mentioned above, King also enforced boycotts; one of them being the bus boycott. Rosa Parks, whom you may have of, was given a harsh time when she refused to give up her seat in the bus to a white person who wanted the seat. The police was called and she was arrested. She was fingerprinted, booked and briefly imprisoned her for, what was called, ‘crime’. This infuriated the Black Community; because of this they planned to boycott the buses. All black communities were persuaded to do this and they did. But anyone seen giving lifts or waiting for lifts, was arrested. Due to this, the bus companies had starting losing money as most of the black community used the busses. Finally, segregation on busses was dropped. The black community had won! Another example of MLK’s work was the demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama in April 1963. The Civil Rights Movement had joined with Alabama’s existing local movement, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR). The enhanced group set up a campaign to diminish segregation. The desegregation campaign was launched on April 3rd; there were mass meetings, lunch counter sit-ins, direct action and marches, the City Hall and also a boycott of the large department stores. The number of people volunteering the campaign increased each day; actions expanded to kneel-ins at churches, sit-ins at the library, and a march on the county building to register voters. Lots of people were arrested. On Good Friday, 12 April, King was arrested in Birmingham after violating the anti-protest injunction and was kept in solitary confinement. On 8 May King called the demonstrations to a halt. He indicated that demonstrations will be resumed if the negotiators did not resolve to an agreement. By 10 May negotiators had reached an agreement; to remove the ‘whites only’ and ‘blacks only’ signs from toilets and drinking fountains, desegregate lunch counters, ongoing program of employing black people, form a black and white committee to monitor the progress of the agreement and release the jailed protestors. Birmingham segregationists responded to the agreement with violent attacks. That night an explosive went off near the Gaston Motel room where King and SCLC leaders had previously stayed, and the next day the home of MLK’s brother Alfred Daniel King was bombed. President John F. Kennedy responded by ordering 3,000 federal troops into position near Birmingham and making preparations to bring the Alabama National Guard under control. Four months later, on 15 September, Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members bombed Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing four young girls. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC, was founded in 1957 after the bus boycott. SCLC’s first major campaign, the Crusade for Citizenship began in late 1957. The campaign objective was to register thousands of deprived voters in time for the 1958-1960 elections. The SCLC had played a big part in ‘The March on Washington’. Martin Luther King had faced many problems and challenges, mainly catapulted by the KKK. He had faced imprisonment as well. Basic problems for him and the community was that the police officers or any white person in charge could have been part of the KKK, so if any situation aroused they would probably just stand there and watch them instead of helping out. After all this, MLK had a lot of achievements. He had gained equality and freedom for all the black community using non-violent procedures. Segregation had been collapsed due to him and his fellow black communists. African-Americans owe him big time! Tayaba Ahmed 9ME HISTORY Why was Martin Luther King Given the Nobel Peace Prize?
