The Civil Rights Movement was a powerful force in the United States and around the world, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played a vital role in its success. In his youth, he was a brilliant student, and his adolescence helped him gain national attention for his activism. He would eventually earn a doctorate in systematic theology from Boston University and become president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. His greatest achievements included leading massive protests in Birmingham, Alabama and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
After his arrest, King was arrested along with thousands of supporters, and his plans to stage a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C., were soon shattered. City police used fire hoses and dogs to attack the demonstrators. Critics criticized King for using children as a shield for his activism. Meanwhile, Stokely Carmichael became a militant Black leader. His work on civil rights was recognized by leaders from all walks of life, and he was jailed in 1956.
A biography of Dr. King was published in 1965 and included excerpts from the Nobel Lectures on Peace 1951-1970. A recent biographer, David J. Garrow, wrote a detailed biography in the Current Biography Yearbook. In 2011, the American Society of Biographers published a volume titled Martin Luther, Jr. During the civil rights movement, King was targeted by white segregationists and protestors. The Voting Rights Act was passed as a result of the march.
After his death in 1968, King’s legacy continues to be reflected in popular culture. In fact, the civil rights movement began as a peaceful one. He took risks in order to achieve equality for the black population. He was arrested, he was bombed and he had to walk miles to get to work. In the process, he achieved a huge victory, and segregation in transportation was officially ruled unconstitutional.
King’s father was a Baptist minister and served as Ebenezer Baptist Church’s pastor. He remained in Atlanta until December 1959 after his father’s death. He had lived in Montgomery for five years and returned to Atlanta at the request of the SCLC. After he was deported, he had spent his last years in Montgomery. He had worked with the SCLC and a community of middle class people. He had a great impact on the civil rights movement and he continued his activism after he was arrested.
The civil rights movement was a major force in the United States during the 1950s. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public buses was unconstitutional, and King’s March for Jobs and Human Rights became an internationally famous slogan. After his arrest, he was a member of the executive committee of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP was a powerful organization and King became a target of segregationists.