The Contribution of Martin Luther King to US Affairs free essay sample

Introduction: 1. Before 1945, the Negro community was regarded as socially inferior within the United States. 2. While slavery had been abolished in 1863 under President Lincoln, segregation was commonplace, especially in the southern sates. 3. The Jim Crow laws were in place to maintain this segregation and in 1896, the Supreme Court ruled these laws constitutional. 4. However, the growing discontentment among the Negro community, helped by the new wave of liberalism spreading throughout the US in the late 1940s, meant that pressure for change was building. 5. In the late 1950s and 1960s the movement began gathering legs through the successful cases of black Americans such as Oliver Brown and James Meredith, both backed by the NAACP. 6. However, these individual victories needed to be consolidated into one movement, the Negro community needed to become united for any significant change to occur; one man who realised this was Martin Luther King. 7. By sticking to his christian ideals and his skills as an orator, King would become one of the most iconic figures in not only the African-American community, but in the world. We will write a custom essay sample on The Contribution of Martin Luther King to US Affairs or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 2) Background of King: 1. The upbringing of Martin Luther King had a profound effect on the nature of his approach to the oppression experienced by the Negro community. 2. Throughout his life, King was lauded for his condemnation of violence, a stance most likely forged during his time in the baptist ministry and though his studying of theology in Boston. 3. From an early age King was involved in the pursuit for racial equality and served on the executive committee of the Montgomery branch of the NAACP. 4. In 1954 King became pastor of the baptist church in Montgomery and in 1955 he was awarded his PhD in theology. 5. Martin Luther King was now a very well educated and respected member of society in Montgomery, giving him a platform to begin publicly discussing his ideals. 6. The well spoken and unblemished character of Martin Luther King would go on to become the unelected leader of the civil rights movement, beginning with his involvement in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. 3) The Montgomery Bus Boycott 1. King’s involvement in the Montgomery Bus Boycott was his first contribution to the civil rights movement and to US affairs. 2. In conjunction with the NAACP taking Rosa Parks’ case to the Supreme Court, a city-wide boycott of the bus services was planned, with King asked to lead. 3. The 26-year-old Martin Luther King was elected as head of Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) with the task of overseeing and maintaining the boycott. 4. King had to travel to many different states in order to fundraise the money to fund the temporary taxi alternatives being organised by the Transportation Committee. 5. King had to maintain his peaceful resistance for over a year, before the Supreme Court ruled the segregated seating on buses unconstitutional on the 20th of December 1956. 6. The MIA subsequently called off the boycott and King, along with other civil rights leaders, sat in the front seats of a bus on the 21st of December 1956. 7. King’s well-organised and peaceful boycott was one of the main contributing factors to the success of the Rosa Parks Trial and he gained national publicity, with Times Magazine christening him â€Å"the American Ghandi†. 4) Rise in Popularity and Involvement: 1. The Montgomery Bus Boycott launched King’s career and he soon had the necessary authority and power to drastically impact on US affairs. 2. King became head of the non-violent civil rights organisation the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957. 3. As leader SCLC, King organised and led marches in an attempt to achieve equal voting rights, labour rights and desegregation for the Negro community. 4. On the SCLC’s Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in 1957, King addressed a national audience for the first time. 5. King had a set a clear precedent through the success of his peaceful protests and the Negro community obliged. 6. The non-violent Lunch Counter Protest in 1960 saw groups black students defying the whites only lunch counters in 54 cities across the Old South. 7. Similarly in 1961, the Freedom Riders tested the supposedly desegregated interstate buses, without the use of violence. 8. King had shown to the minorities of America that violence was not necessary to achieve change, a message adhered to by the Chicanos and Native Americans in the years to come. 5) Marches: 1. The campaigns and marches organised by Martin Luther King greatly impacted on US affairs. 2. In April 1963, the SCLC began a campaign against racial segregation and economic injustice in Birmingham, Alabama. 3. King organised intentionally contentious sit-ins and marches in occupied public spaces across Birmingham City. 4. King and the SCLC were also the driving forces behind the intense demonstrations in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1964. 5. The movement marched nightly through the city and suffering violent attacks from white supremacists, with hundreds of the marchers arrested and jailed. 6. Later that year in December 1964, King and the SCLC joined forces with the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Selma, Alabama. 7. The march from Selma to Montgomery was in protest of the voting inequality in Alabama and 25,000 civil rights activists partook. 8. King used the contrast between white backlash and the peaceful protestors to get national and world media coverage, publicity that would ultimately force the US Government’s hand. 6) Speech – Washington: 1. Martin Luther King’s oratorical talents and speeches influenced public opinion and affairs in the United States. 2. On the 2nd of January 1965, a Martin Luther King speech defeated a local judge’s injunction banning the gathering of any people affiliated with the SCLC at Brown Chapel. 3. One of the single greatest factors in achieving minority equality in across America was Martin Luther King’s speech in Washington in 1963. 4. On the 28th of August, King delivered his â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech to a rally of 250,000 peaceful protestors, which was also internationally televised. 5. The march, and especially Kings speech, helped put civil rights at the top of the liberal political agenda in the United States and facilitated passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 6. On February 6, 1964, King delivered another inaugural speech at the New School in New York called The American Race Crisis. 7. The now infamous speeches of Martin Luther King strengthened the cause internally and externally; maintaining the belief of the Negro community while achieving international sympathy and support for the cause. 7) Conclusion: 1. Today, Martin Luther King is regarded as one of the single greatest contributors to civil rights of all time and has his own federal holiday in the US. 2. Even before his death in 1968, King’s contribution was recognised with his awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and American Liberties Medallion. 3. King has also been poshumerously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004. 4. Martin Luther King’s speech in Washington was a major factor in the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 under President Johnson. 5. The march from Selma to Montgomery also influenced public and political support of the Voting Rights Act, which was passed in 1965. 6. Martin Luther King had arguably impacted on US society and affairs more than any individual had in the history of the state.