How Did Martin Luther King Influence The Civil Rights Movement

One of the most iconic figures in the US civil rights movement of the 1950s, Martin Luther King Jr. played a tremendous role in promoting the idea of nonviolent protest to accomplish social change. King was a Baptist minister who engaged in important activism while also delivering speeches that were inspirational, causing many African-Americans and people of all races to follow the precedent that he established regarding protests. This paper will describe King's contributions to the civil rights movement that ultimately led to the elimination of Jim Crow laws. In the 1950s, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, resulting in a challenge to the segregationist policies that were so prevalent in

Over 60 ministers and other activists including King formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957 to build on the moral authority and organizational powers of churches in the black community. The group became involved in other nonviolent protests in order to facilitate reforms in the civil rights movement. King's commitment to nonviolence combined with activism resulted from his admiration of the tactics of Mahatma Gandhi of India. Using these methods, the civil rights movement led by King and other ministers tackle the "Jim Crow" laws of that

In fact, these facilities were not equal African-Americans generally had to tolerate conditions that were inferior to those that have been provided to white Americans (Hansan, 2011). For black people had to attend separate churches and schools, use restrooms that were designated "for colored only", had to eat separately in restaurants, and were forced to sit in the back of buses. Hence, the previously mentioned Montgomery bus boycott typified the kind of Jim Crow laws that were alive and well in the South well into the 20th