How Did Martin Luther King Contribute To The Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther King’s birthdate was on January 15th, 1929 and his demise was on April 4th in Atlanta, Georgia. His mission was to achieve undistinguishable rights for everyone no matter the race, colour or culture. His leadership was vital to the Civil Rights Movement’s accomplishment in ending the segregation of African Americans (primarily focused in the southern regions) in the united states of America. He became the core leader in the Civil Rights Movement to end racial discrimination and the segregation of African Americans in America during the 1950s and 1960s and was formally well-known for his effective non-violent strategies to overcome this intense and unjust situation. The three key contributions Martin Luther King Jr had in achieving
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rights and freedom within the civil rights movement are: Being an activist for nonviolent protesting in the Memphis sanitation work strike, providing leadership in the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 and his famous speech in the colossal march for equal rights that was held in Washington, DC.
On the 1st of February in 1968, two garbage collectors in Memphis (a city in Tennessee U.S.A), Robert Walker and Echol Cole were crushed to their death by a faulty truck.
12 days after that, frustrated by the city’s reply to the incident and constant neglect of its African American employees, 1300 African American employees working in the Memphis Department of Public Works participated in a work strike. This strike was first lead by the garbage collecting union organiser T.O Jones, and supported by Jerry Wurf (Who was the president of the nation’s largest union of public employees). On 11 February over 700 men attended a union meeting and unanimously decided to strike and requested a pay increase from the mayor (Loeb) but he rejected the request and only he had the authority to do so. The following day, non-violent campaigners were marching to the city hall and the police were ordered to show resistance so they used tear gas against the campaigners. The African American Memphis community were outraged and used this to create momentum in their next campaign. A meeting in a church basement took place on February the 24th. Approximately 150 ministers created a group called the ‘Formed Community on the Move for Equality’ (COME). They used non-violent strategies to fill up the jails in the city of Memphis to attract a lot of
attention. This was lead by Martin Luther king’s close friend and ally, James Lawson. By March, High school and college students in which almost a third of them where white, participated with the workers in marches. On the 18th of march, Martin Luther King arrived in Memphis to deliver a speech in front of a crowd of about 25,000, which was the largest civil rights indoor gathering at the time. He praised other civil rights activists and members of ‘the powerful black chuch’ saying: “You are demonstrating that we can stick together. You are demonstrating that we are all tied in a single garment of destiny, and that if one black person suffers, if one black person is down, we are all down” (king, 18 march 1968) this speech motivated 22,000 students to skip school and participate in the protest lead by him on march 22nd. On April 1968, The night before Martin Luther King’s assassination, he told a large group of work strikers in Mmephis: “We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at th
rights and freedom within the civil rights movement are: Being an activist for nonviolent protesting in the Memphis sanitation work strike, providing leadership in the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 and his famous speech in the colossal march for equal rights that was held in Washington, DC.
On the 1st of February in 1968, two garbage collectors in Memphis (a city in Tennessee U.S.A), Robert Walker and Echol Cole were crushed to their death by a faulty truck.
12 days after that, frustrated by the city’s reply to the incident and constant neglect of its African American employees, 1300 African American employees working in the Memphis Department of Public Works participated in a work strike. This strike was first lead by the garbage collecting union organiser T.O Jones, and supported by Jerry Wurf (Who was the president of the nation’s largest union of public employees). On 11 February over 700 men attended a union meeting and unanimously decided to strike and requested a pay increase from the mayor (Loeb) but he rejected the request and only he had the authority to do so. The following day, non-violent campaigners were marching to the city hall and the police were ordered to show resistance so they used tear gas against the campaigners. The African American Memphis community were outraged and used this to create momentum in their next campaign. A meeting in a church basement took place on February the 24th. Approximately 150 ministers created a group called the ‘Formed Community on the Move for Equality’ (COME). They used non-violent strategies to fill up the jails in the city of Memphis to attract a lot of
attention. This was lead by Martin Luther king’s close friend and ally, James Lawson. By March, High school and college students in which almost a third of them where white, participated with the workers in marches. On the 18th of march, Martin Luther King arrived in Memphis to deliver a speech in front of a crowd of about 25,000, which was the largest civil rights indoor gathering at the time. He praised other civil rights activists and members of ‘the powerful black chuch’ saying: “You are demonstrating that we can stick together. You are demonstrating that we are all tied in a single garment of destiny, and that if one black person suffers, if one black person is down, we are all down” (king, 18 march 1968) this speech motivated 22,000 students to skip school and participate in the protest lead by him on march 22nd. On April 1968, The night before Martin Luther King’s assassination, he told a large group of work strikers in Mmephis: “We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at th