How Did Martin Luther King Influence The Civil Rights Movement

America in the 1950s through the 1960s highlighted the struggle for racial equality through the Civil Rights Movement, a crucial step in American democracy. Social protest combined with the leadership of prominent figures like Martin Luther King Jr. helped paved way for African-American rights where they continuously faced segregation and injustice in legal and political processes in education, and economic opportunity. (University of Virginia Library) King focused on America’s interrelated flaws, racism, poverty, militarism, and materialism. (The King Center) Under his influence, he and his followers organized numerous marches, rallies, and strikes on both a national and local level that brought attention to systematic discrimination and stemmed a new era of change.
Being admitted to Morehouse College at age fifteen, Martin Luther King Jr. was undoubtedly an intelligent, outspoken, and revolutionary man. While there, he honed his oratorical skills that would later be engraved into history as he lead the Civil Rights Movement using non-violent civil
disobedience guided by Mathama Gandhi. (Clayborne, 1997) According to Stanford University, King’s beliefs were heavily rooted in the African-American Baptist church and his experiences in his hometown, Atlanta. However, King was not the first in his family to advocate for social change; King’s father and grandfather were both leaders for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People which helped strengthen his awareness for racial inequality and kept him politically involved at a young age.
King went on to pursue a doctorate’s degree in Systematic Theology from Boston University.
During this time, he became the spokesperson for the Montgomery Bus Boycott that resulted in a victory (Louisiana State University) Two years afterwards, he formed the Southern Christian Leadership conference to oppose segregation, address and achieve civil justices like voter-registration rights. Later on in 1957, the U.S. Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act since reconstruction and the Interstate Commerce Commission banned segregation in 1961. Moreover, King’s most memorable moment was during the March on Washington in 1963 where he delivered his “I Have a Dream speech” at the Lincoln Memorial. In 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for his commitment to social change. King’s victories persisted through the late 1950’s and continued even after his death in 1968 when he was assassinated by James Earl
Ray.
The news of King’s death spread quickly and prompted a series of problematic events and shocking reactions. When he was shot and killed, TIME magazine declared King as “both a symbol and a symptom of the nation’s racial malaise.” After this fatality, riots broke out in cities across the nation and the people unleashed their rage by demonstrating isolated shootings, lootings, and hostility towards policemen. (The Learning Network, 2012) The president at the time, Lyndon B. Johnson, King left a legacy on America that promoted security for basic human rights and equality for all. His devotion to civil rights movement resumed through influential activist groups like the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. (Garrow, 2014)