Great Man Theory

The civil rights movement began when the inequality and injustice faced by the black community in America became too much to handle and when one woman refused to back down to the white standard. This defiance set in motion the start of a movement fighting against segregation policies and inequality happening everywhere and the lack of support service available to African-Americans (Chernus 2013; Erwitt 1950). In this essay, I will be demonstrating that Martin Luther King although a great man, was not central to the civil rights movement. In saying that, I acknowledge that although Martin Luther King Jr was a great man who did contribute to the success of the civil rights movement, the movement would still have occurred without his influence
The ‘great man’ theory is defined by 19th-century historian Thomas Carlyle in the text (Hennessy, 2008) as a man who is highly influential and had great charisma, intellect, and political skills in a way that impacted history. Historians acknowledge King as a “great man” because he was very influential in bringing the black community together and fighting for civil rights. He influenced multiple non-violent protests and boycotts, one of his most influential boycotts was the Montgomery Bus Boycott that lasted over a year which resulted in the success of getting the bus seat policy revoked. King used his charisma and preaching to his advantage to encourage black communities to stand up for what they believe in and to fight for civil rights (Carson,1987). King attended Booker T. Washington High School where he was known for his public speaking ability, he also skipped the 9th and 12th grades of high school and went on the Morehouse as they were desperate during WW2 (Gordon,2000). Once he turned 18 he joined the ministry where he put his public speaking to work and went on to be a minister while also studying at Boston university and earned his Ph.D. in systematic theology which resulted to him being acknowledged as a ‘great man’. Although it is evident that he clearly had a great impact on the civil rights movement due to his charisma among others, he did not start the civil
One of the most successful movements that didn’t involve Martin Luther King Jr was the sit-in movement (Gordon, 2000). The sit-in movement was formed in February of 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina when four African-American college students sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter to purchase food, they were refused service but did not leave the store until it’s closing (Cozzens 1998). The first sit-in had little to no effect, it wasn’t until the next day when the number of students sitting in diners began to grow and continue to grow, gaining more publicity and the attention of local civil rights organisation (The Reader’s Companion to American History, N/A). The word began to spread the word about this upcoming movement with people like Gordon Cary, a Congress of Racial Equality representative became involved in organising broader sit-ins. The sit-in movement continued to grow within eleven cities across America and the sit-in organisers formed a new organisation called the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). The sit-in movement was successful in their protests and on May the 10th 1960, several diners in Nashville, Tennessee started serving black customers. After this victory, the movement forged ahead and became fighting for integration in public facilities such as movie theatres.