Summary Of Martin Luther King's Stride Towards Freedom: The Montgomery Story
When Dr. King was 25, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and accept an offer to become the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery. During King’s tenure at Dexter, the leading political activists in Montgomery formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to protest the arrest of Rosa Parks, an influential political figure and important NAACP official. Rosa Parks is now remembered today for sitting at the front of a public bus, sectioned for “whites-only”, and refusing to move. This famous and well known example of political activism inspired King and the MIA to lead a boycott on public bus transportation in Montgomery, the first major example of King participating in political activism. With the important encouragement
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This publication led to Martin Luther King Jr. becoming the most prominent civil rights activist in the entire country. King’s rapid rise to fame led to more activist groups being formed throughout the South, and although many remember King for his nonviolent protest, many of these activist groups wished to see King take the fight to the state governments in the South by leading riots. King was extremely cautious whenever he organized political activist protest. Instead of organizing massive protests against the widespread segregation in the South, King decided to start on a small and basic platform, gaining voting rights for African Americans. While the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”, the state governments in the South always found ways to prevent African Americans from voting in state, local, and nationwide voting (Amendment XV to the United States Constitution, 1870). Dr. King put great emphasis on acquiring full voting rights for African Americans instead of protesting full desegregation when he led the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in
This publication led to Martin Luther King Jr. becoming the most prominent civil rights activist in the entire country. King’s rapid rise to fame led to more activist groups being formed throughout the South, and although many remember King for his nonviolent protest, many of these activist groups wished to see King take the fight to the state governments in the South by leading riots. King was extremely cautious whenever he organized political activist protest. Instead of organizing massive protests against the widespread segregation in the South, King decided to start on a small and basic platform, gaining voting rights for African Americans. While the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”, the state governments in the South always found ways to prevent African Americans from voting in state, local, and nationwide voting (Amendment XV to the United States Constitution, 1870). Dr. King put great emphasis on acquiring full voting rights for African Americans instead of protesting full desegregation when he led the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in