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How Did Martin Luther King Jr's Influence On Society

1190 Words5 Pages

Yazmin Espinoza
Mrs. Holloman
AVID
16, May 2016 Great Leader Research Paper
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s work and life were influenced by the fact that many African Americans in the South suffered from violence and from being treated as a second-class citizen. Segregation, sit-ins, “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, and Jim Crow laws may have influenced the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. for civil rights.
The landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, demonstrated that “ separate but equal” violated the 14th amendment of the United States of Constitution. As one of the thirteen parents of the Brown v. Board of Education case, filed a lawsuit on Topeka school board because their African American child was unable to attend …show more content…

African American were tired of the Jim Crow laws that made them sit in the back seat of a bus. So they organized to bus boycott. They would walk instead of riding the bus. While Fred caught the KKK attentions (Brimner 22). The Montgomery bus boycott ended the Jim Crow seating in Birmingham buses. Fred sent a telegram to Birmingham 's commissions when the Supreme Court order to desegregate the buses (Brimner 26,27). Many African Americans worked silently on the civil rights . Pacifist Bayard convinced King to lower down the violence with Montgomery bus boycott. Dr. King and Harry Belafonte encouraged others to support the civil rights movement (Brimner …show more content…

It was on April 16, 1963 that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote a letter from Birmingham jail to respond the clergy request to stop demonstrating. Dr. King explains why African Americans patience has run out, since his clergy men kept telling him to be more patient and to use less problematic methods. “ Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt te stinging darts of segregation to day, ‘Wait’” (Kronenwetter 58). “... I can across your recent statement calling my present activities ‘unwise and untimely’ ...” ( King 85) King explains how there is injustice in Birmingham and that 's why he there. “Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” ( King 87). The protesters were focused on showing the cruelty of the Jim Crow Laws. Bull Conners, city police, attacked, bullied, and used attack dogs on calm and dignity

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Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail, which was written in April 16, 1963, is a passionate letter that addresses racial segregation and all the injustices to the black American society. He writes this letter as a response to the eight clergymen, but it also became one of the most influential letters in defense of nonviolent movement ever written. Birmingham was one of the most segregated cities in the country and the most violent. Even after segregation was found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1954. In Birmingham, white and black Americans were very much separate with “white only” hotels, restaurants, and even bathrooms.

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On April 16, 1963 Martin Luther King, Jr. while confined in the Birmingham City Jail wrote a letter to the clergymen whom disapproved of his actions by calling him and other nonconformists “outsiders coming in”. During the civil rights movement the city of Birmingham was known to be one of the most segregated city in the United States. The City of Birmingham was known for its police brutality against blacks. They’re where also many unsolved cases such as bombing of homes and churches occupied by blacks. Kings letter was an opportunity for him to express the purpose behind the nonviolent campaign.

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In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King, Jr. is responding to criticism of the peaceful protests and sit-in’s that were taking place in Birmingham, which led to his being arrested and the reason that he was in jail. He first responds to the accusation of being an “outsider” by setting the stage for his being in Birmingham due to being invited because of his ties to the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights organization and due to the fact that he is president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Next, Martin Luther King expands on his moral beliefs that there is “injustice” in the way that Birmingham is “the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States”.

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Summary of “Letter from Birmingham Jail” In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. writes about the issue of waiting for justice and God given rights for African Americans, the need for a good faith negotiation quickly, and using the strategy of a non-violent campaign and protest to achieve it all. His initial reasoning for writing these letters was to answer the sincere criticism he had received from a fellow clergymen in hopes to bring about a negotiation of peace. Dr. King hoped to shed light on the reasoning be hide the protesting and explain why the protesting needed to take place and at such an “untimely” time. He also yearned to shed light on the racism that had engulfed the nation and the ugly record of brutality that African Americans had suffered in the past and at that moment currently.

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In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. led a peaceful movement in Birmingham, Alabama. The purpose of the demonstration was to bring awareness and end to racial disparity in Birmingham. Later that night, King and his followers were detained by city authorities. While in custody, King wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” This letter voiced out his disappointment in the criticisms, and oppositions that the general public and clergy peers obtained.

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In A letter from Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King Jr writes to the clergy men and his supporters as “A Call for Unity”. King had been put under arrest from partaking in a peaceful march against segregation on property that he did not have permission to be marching on. In the 1960’s segregation laws and policies were under the Jim Crow regulations; separate racial schools, colored-only bathrooms, separate places for the colored to eat and they would have to sit in the back of the bus. The letter King wrote was critical because he reaches out to the Clergymen from Birmingham Prison and uses the rhetorical appeal of his own character to establish his credibility on the subject of racial discrimination and injustice.

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It caused further segregation throughout the country. As blacks began to speak out for freedom and equality, whites pushed back. Rather than listening to the speeches of black leaders in order to understand their plight for equality, whites ignored peaceful protests and instead used police force to subdue large crowds. The Montgomery bus boycott succeeded in ending the ordinance for the segregation between blacks and whites on public buses. However, it further segregated the social interactions between the two races.

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“Along with the march as a weapon for change in our nonviolent arsenal must be listed the boycott”(Doc F). Boycotts were nonviolent ways to protest against segregation in public facilities. One being “Rosa Parks’ decision to remain seated in front of a Montgomery bus, he was chosen to lead a boycott that would send shock waves throughout America”(Background Essay). After a white man told her to move to the back of the bus, Parks denied and was arrested shortly after. After the protests the United States confirmed that segregation on busses was unconstitutional.

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A Letter From Birmingham Jail Martin Luther King Jr. is a name that will never be forgotten, and that will go down in the books for all of time. He was foremost a civil rights activist throughout the 1950s and 1960s. during his lifetime, which lasted from January of 1929 to April of 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and a social activist and was known for his non- violent protests. He believed that all people, no matter the color, have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take a direct action rather than waiting forever for justice to come through and finally be resolved. In the Spring of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stated in a speech that Birmingham was among one of the most segregated cities in the world.

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It was 1963, a time of deep segregation and prevalent racism in America, especially in Birmingham, Alabama. Martin Luther King, Jr. decided to hold a nonviolent direct action demonstration in Birmingham in hopes of opening negotiations to better circumstances for colored people and ended up being detained in solitary confinement. He receives a letter from several notable clergy members who admonish his actions in Alabama and accuse him of being an untimely extremist that has caused violence in Birmingham, intended or not. After King receives the letter, he refutes and addresses the clergy members' criticisms of his actions. In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” iconic American civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. alludes to the

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Even through all of the threats King received, after going to jail and having his house bombed, he persevered and pressed on against segregation. This was only another of his many achievements that greatly affected the civil rights movement. One of King’s most popular achievements was the Birmingham Campaign. King organized large groups of students to march from the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to City Hall. Eugene Connor, Birmingham's commissioner of public safety, met the students with fire hoses and and police attack dogs.

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1489 Words | 6 Pages

On April 16, 1963, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, to the local clergymen who were critiqued his beliefs and peaceful protests, starting off by saying “While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities ‘unwise and untimely’” (271). This was one out of many historical events that occurred during the civil rights movement, namely in 1963. The impact in which the civil rights movement had on Birmingham, then the entire nation, was of such massive scale that after nearly a century since the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery in 1865. The years of the lingering discrimination following that was finally brought to a halt. The strategies used

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In 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. was sent to jail because of a peaceful protest, protesting treatments of blacks in Birmingham. Before the protest a court ordered that protests couldn’t be held in Birmingham. While being held in Birmingham, King wrote what came to be known as the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Not even King himself could predict how much of an impact this letter would have on the Civil Rights Movement. In the letter kind defended Kings beliefs on Nonviolent Protests, King also counters the accusations of him breaking laws by categorizing segregation laws into just and unjust laws. King uses this principle to help persuade others to join him in his acts of civil disobedience.

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Martin Luther King Jr. had a big impact on us during the 1950s and 1960s. He spoke out against racial discrimination and delivered the “I Have a Dream…” speech to end, or at least try, to put a stop to segregation. Though he never got to fulfill his “dream” of seeing our nation become free of racism (because he was shot on April 4, 1968), he does still have an impact on us today. Here’s why. Civil rights have impacted our nation in a tremendous way.

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Did Martin Luther King impact the American society? In the now days, all creatures have their rights even animals. Black Americans during 20th century did not have any of their rights. But Martin Luther King fought to regain everyone stolen rights.

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